Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Signet Jewelers Third Quarter Fiscal 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Vinnie Sinisi, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead, sir.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 2022 財年第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的活動正在錄製中。我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係和財政部高級副總裁 Vinnie Sinisi。請繼續，先生。

Thanks very much, Rocco, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to our third quarter earnings conference call. On the call are Signet's CEO, Gina Drosos; and Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, Joan Hilson. During today's presentation, we'll make certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. We urge you to read risk factors, cautionary language and other disclosures on your annual report on 10-K, quarterly reports on 10-Q, current reports on 8-Ks.

非常感謝，Rocco，大家早上好。歡迎參加我們的第三季度收益電話會議。參加電話會議的是 Signet 的首席執行官 Gina Drosos；和首席財務和戰略官瓊·希爾森。在今天的演講中，我們將做出某些前瞻性陳述。任何非歷史事實的陳述都受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能存在重大差異。我們敦促您閱讀 10-K 年度報告、10-Q 季度報告、8-K 當前報告中的風險因素、警示性語言和其他披露。

Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. During the call, we'll discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For further discussion on those non-GAAP measures as well as reconciliations of them to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, investors should review the news release we posted on our website at www.signetjewelers.com/investors. With that, I'll turn the call over to Gina.

除法律要求外，我們不承擔根據新信息或未來事件修改或公開更新前瞻性陳述的義務。在電話會議期間，我們將討論某些非公認會計原則的財務措施。要進一步討論這些非公認會計原則措施以及它們與最直接可比的公認會計原則措施的對賬，投資者應查看我們在我們的網站 www.signetjewelers.com/investors 上發布的新聞稿。有了這個，我會把電話轉給吉娜。

Thank you, Vinnie. And thanks to all of you who are on the call with us today. Our performance in Q3 reflects the continuing progress of our inspiring brilliance transformation and the innovation, agility and passion of our entire organization. I continue to be inspired by our team quarter-after-quarter, and I am proud to work at their side every day.

謝謝你，維尼。感謝今天與我們通話的所有人。我們在第三季度的表現反映了我們鼓舞人心的輝煌轉型的持續進展以及我們整個組織的創新、敏捷性和熱情。我一個季度一個季度地繼續受到我們團隊的啟發，我為每天在他們身邊工作而感到自豪。

As we look back at this past quarter and our year-to-date, I want to leave you with one core message, our inspiring brilliance transformation is working, making Signet a much healthier and more agile company today than we were a few years ago. We believe our top and bottom line growth is sustainable, and we're growing share while also investing in important new capabilities and customer experiences at a rate that is currently unrivaled in our category.

當我們回顧過去的這個季度和年初至今，我想給您留下一個核心信息，我們鼓舞人心的輝煌轉型正在發揮作用，使 Signet 成為比幾年前更健康、更敏捷的公司.我們相信我們的收入和利潤增長是可持續的，我們正在增加份額，同時也以目前在我們的類別中無與倫比的速度投資於重要的新功能和客戶體驗。

We still have important work to do to complete this phase of Signet's transformation, but we have the strategic clarity, structural advantages, operating discipline and high-performing team to continue driving growth ahead of the jewelry sector.

要完成 Signet 轉型的這一階段，我們仍有重要工作要做，但我們擁有清晰的戰略、結構優勢、運營紀律和高績效團隊，可以繼續推動珠寶行業的增長。

We saw this in Q3. Our team delivered the strongest, most profitable third quarter in Signet's history, a quarter that has often been challenging because there's no broad scale gift-giving occasion. We've been taking steps to mitigate our dependence on big holiday cycles and move to a more always-on approach. This is evidenced in our investments in consistent marketing and customer engagement throughout the year, our year-round bridal cycle and our efforts to increasingly support early holiday shopping in October.

我們在第三季度看到了這一點。我們的團隊交付了 Signet 歷史上最強勁、利潤最高的第三季度，這個季度往往充滿挑戰，因為沒有大規模的送禮活動。我們一直在採取措施減輕我們對大型假期週期的依賴，並採用一種更加始終在線的方法。這體現在我們在全年一致的營銷和客戶參與方面的投資、我們全年的婚禮週期以及我們在 10 月份越來越多地支持提前假日購物的努力。

This approach is paying off. We delivered a same-store sales increase of almost 19% to the third quarter last year, with notable growth acceleration in October. The overall jewelry category was strong this quarter, but we believe we're gaining market share. We're achieving this growth by leveraging 5 structural advantages that we've built throughout our transformation.

這種方法正在取得成效。去年第三季度，我們實現了近 19% 的同店銷售額增長，10 月份增長顯著加速。本季度整體珠寶類別表現強勁，但我們相信我們正在獲得市場份額。我們正在通過利用我們在整個轉型過程中建立的 5 個結構優勢來實現這一增長。

Number one, our distinctive portfolio of banners; two, our connected commerce presence; three, data analytics capability; four, financial flexibility and five, scale. We've built these strategic advantages through a series of investments and innovation that we continue to build upon. For example, we've made significant progress differentiating our banner value propositions with distinctive marketing campaigns and unique product assortments, delivering 14% sales growth in bridal and over 30% growth in fashion.

第一，我們獨特的橫幅組合；二，我們的互聯商務存在；三、數據分析能力；四、財務靈活性 五、規模。我們通過一系列投資和創新建立了這些戰略優勢，並繼續以此為基礎。例如，我們在通過獨特的營銷活動和獨特的產品分類來區分我們的橫幅價值主張方面取得了重大進展，實現了 14% 的新娘銷售額增長和超過 30% 的時尚銷售額增長。

We've invested in connected commerce capabilities that now exist in virtually every part of our business. This is reflected in capabilities such as seamless virtual and in-store consulting, asynchronous chat, product visualization, buy online pick up in store, ship from store, curbside delivery, same-day delivery and more.

我們已經投資於互聯商務功能，這些功能現在幾乎存在於我們業務的每個部分。這反映在無縫虛擬和店內諮詢、異步聊天、產品可視化、在線購買店內提貨、店內發貨、路邊交付、當日交付等功能上。

We've streamlined our fleet, enabling us to serve customers across channels while also leveraging fixed costs as we drive the top line. We've eliminated consumer credit risk from our balance sheet, enabling us to focus entirely on jewelry retail leadership while offering a broader array of payment options that continue to gain traction.

我們精簡了車隊，使我們能夠跨渠道為客戶提供服務，同時在提高收入的同時利用固定成本。我們已經從資產負債表中消除了消費者信用風險，使我們能夠完全專注於珠寶零售領導地位，同時提供更廣泛的支付選項，這些選項將繼續受到關注。

By leveraging third-party expertise and focusing on what we do best, our financial services transformation is increasingly an enabler of customer acquisition and satisfaction. We've also eliminated costs the customer doesn't see or care about. Our expected cumulative 4-year savings is now over $400 million through the end of fiscal '22. One example of how we're doing this is our data-driven labor model that enables us to dynamically plan staffing needs; store-by-store, hour-by-hour, delivering a 75% improvement in productivity compared to this time 2 years ago.

通過利用第三方專業知識並專注於我們最擅長的領域，我們的金融服務轉型越來越成為客戶獲取和滿意度的推動力。我們還消除了客戶看不到或不關心的成本。到 22 財年末，我們預計的 4 年累計節省現在超過 4 億美元。我們如何做到這一點的一個例子是我們的數據驅動的勞動力模型，它使我們能夠動態地規劃人員需求；與 2 年前的這個時候相比，逐個商店、逐小時地提高了 75% 的生產力。

And we've improved inventory turns 50% by defining our product assortment more precisely by banner and by providing a much broader range of fulfillment options. We are becoming the consumer-inspired data-driven jewelry leader and innovator that we aim to be. Given the very uncertain environment today, we are mindful of the challenges still ahead of us.

我們通過橫幅更精確地定義我們的產品分類並提供更廣泛的履行選項，從而將庫存周轉率提高了 50%。我們正在成為以消費者為靈感的數據驅動珠寶領導者和創新者，我們的目標是。鑑於今天非常不確定的環境，我們意識到我們仍然面臨著挑戰。

That said, Joan and I would like to use our review of Q3 and our look ahead at Q4 to show how the advantages we've created are driving our performance and growth and positioning us for a strong holiday this year and beyond within all the factors we can control. Let's look first at how we're leaning into holiday earlier than ever. Our research indicates that roughly 25% of shoppers finished their holiday shopping before Black Friday this year, up from 17% a year ago.

也就是說，瓊和我想利用我們對第三季度的回顧和對第四季度的展望來展示我們創造的優勢如何推動我們的業績和增長，並使我們在所有因素中為今年及以後的一個強勁假期做好準備我們可以控制。讓我們先看看我們是如何比以往任何時候都更早地進入假期的。我們的研究表明，大約 25% 的購物者在今年黑色星期五之前完成了假日購物，高於一年前的 17%。

This trend is being driven by concerns about out of stocks, which we anticipated and planned for. We took action months ago to ensure that our holiday assortment would be stronger and available earlier than ever before. We pulled forward our premarket qualification of new merchandise, strengthened our core assortments, leaned into trends, identified in our research and placed orders a month or more earlier than we typically do.

這種趨勢是由對缺貨的擔憂推動的，這是我們預期和計劃的。我們在幾個月前採取了行動，以確保我們的假期分類比以往任何時候都更強大和更早可用。我們推進了新商品的上市前資格，加強了我們的核心分類，傾向於趨勢，在我們的研究中確定並比我們通常提前一個月或更早下訂單。

We also prepared for continuing increases in digital sales and connected commerce this holiday. At this time last year, our jewelry consultants were providing new experiences like curbside pickup and virtual consultations to provide our customers a safe and convenient shopping experience.

我們還為這個假期的數字銷售和互聯商務的持續增長做好了準備。去年這個時候，我們的珠寶顧問正在提供路邊取貨和虛擬諮詢等新體驗，為我們的客戶提供安全便捷的購物體驗。

This year, we've improved the customer experience, allowing customers to select curbside service online during checkout and stay connected to the store throughout the process from purchase to receipt to pick up. And we've expanded curbside delivery to more than 800 stores. We're offering ship from store at 1,850 stores, 5x more than last year. And we're offering buy online pick up in store at 2,100 locations. In addition, we've enhanced our distribution capabilities particularly by building in a layer of surge capacity to fulfill customer e-commerce orders on our busiest days.

今年，我們改善了客戶體驗，允許客戶在結賬時在線選擇路邊服務，並在從購買到收貨到取貨的整個過程中與商店保持聯繫。我們已將路邊配送擴展到 800 多家商店。我們在 1,850 家商店提供從商店發貨的服務，是去年的 5 倍。我們在 2,100 個地點提供在線購買店內取貨服務。此外，我們增強了我們的分銷能力，特別是通過建立一層激增的能力來在我們最繁忙的日子完成客戶的電子商務訂單。

This is a good demonstration of the ongoing transformation at scale we're striving for. Last year, we increased our e-commerce supply chain capability fivefold. This year, we're building on that foundation, increasing the capacity of our distribution centers again, nearly 25% more than last year, and adding a nationwide fleet of local distribution centers with our ship-from-store capability.

這很好地證明了我們正在努力實現的大規模轉型。去年，我們將電子商務供應鏈能力提高了五倍。今年，我們將在此基礎上再接再厲，再次增加配送中心的容量，比去年增加近 25%，並在全國范圍內增加了一支具備門店發貨能力的本地配送中心車隊。

We're working to extend these distribution advantages even further in the coming year. We're building an AI-driven digital simulation of our entire supply chain. This digital twin will enhance our planning with scenarios that identify potential issues before they occur, giving us insights that enable us to provide faster delivery while driving cost efficiency.

我們正在努力在來年進一步擴大這些分銷優勢。我們正在為我們的整個供應鏈構建一個人工智能驅動的數字模擬。這個數字雙胞胎將通過在潛在問題發生之前識別潛在問題的方案來加強我們的規劃，為我們提供洞察力，使我們能夠在提高成本效率的同時提供更快的交付。

We're also improving our employee experience to maximize our advantages in talent and staffing. We increased our hourly wage this year, significantly expanded benefits to respond to the changing needs of our team members and have continued to invest in training, development and career growth. In addition, we continue to leverage the power of our purpose, inspiring love and our innovative agile culture to strengthen our team's pride, motivation and performance.

我們還在改善員工體驗，以最大限度地發揮我們在人才和人員配備方面的優勢。今年我們增加了小時工資，顯著擴大了福利以應對團隊成員不斷變化的需求，並繼續投資於培訓、發展和職業發展。此外，我們繼續利用我們的目標、鼓舞人心的愛和我們創新的敏捷文化的力量來增強我們團隊的自豪感、動力和績效。

These and other efforts are making a difference. We've seen a 60% decrease in new employee turnover during their first 2 months at a time when turnover continues to top the headlines across retail. This is important because tenure matters in the jewelry category, where expertise and personal relationships lead to lifetime value. In fact, a jewelry consultant with at least 1 year of tenure achieves on average, 60% more sales than a new team member. All of these readiness efforts are driven by the structural advantages I mentioned a moment ago and will help us deliver a strong holiday.

這些和其他努力正在發揮作用。在新員工離職率繼續成為零售業頭條新聞的頭兩個月內，我們看到新員工離職率下降了 60%。這一點很重要，因為在珠寶類別中，任期很重要，專業知識和人際關係會帶來終身價值。事實上，擁有至少 1 年任期的珠寶顧問的銷售額平均比新團隊成員高 60%。所有這些準備工作都是由我剛才提到的結構性優勢推動的，並將幫助我們度過一個愉快的假期。

I'd now like to highlight the meaningful progress we made this quarter within each of our 4 where-to-play strategies, winning in our biggest businesses, expanding accessible luxury and value, accelerating services and leading digital commerce. Winning in our big businesses is our foundational strategy.

我現在想強調一下我們本季度在我們的 4 種遊戲戰略中取得的有意義的進展，贏得了我們最大的業務，擴大了可訪問的奢侈品和價值，加速了服務和領先的數字商務。在我們的大企業中取勝是我們的基本戰略。

The story here is that the clearer our banner value propositions become, the faster we grow. We've gained real traction with this strategy over 3 consecutive quarters now. For example, Kay and Zales are appealing to increasingly differentiated consumer segments. While both appeal to bridal customers, almost 30% of New Zales customers are on a self-purchase journey, up 400 basis points compared to 2 years ago, and 64% of new Kay customers are on a milestone or gifting journey to celebrate special moments in the lives of those they love, which is 700 points higher than 2 years ago.

這裡的故事是，我們的旗幟價值主張越清晰，我們的成長就越快。我們已經連續三個季度通過這一策略獲得了真正的吸引力。例如，Kay 和 Zales 正在吸引日益分化的消費群體。雖然兩者都對新娘客戶有吸引力，但近 30% 的新 Zales 客戶正在進行自助購買之旅，與 2 年前相比增加了 400 個基點，64% 的新 Kay 客戶正在進行里程碑或送禮之旅以慶祝特殊時刻在他們所愛的人的生活中，比兩年前高出700分。

We plan our assortments with these journeys as our compass. We were able to introduce newness with much better success rates because our customers are more precisely defined and because our assortments are more relevant to the journey our customers are on. The success of the Monique Lhuillier launch at Kay is a clear example. Monique is an acclaimed fashion designer known for her captivating bridal gowns. Her brand is all about celebrating life's most special moments. She's partnering with Kay because she considers Kay to be an authority in both the bridal experience and the celebration of milestone moments.

我們以這些旅程作為我們的指南針來計劃我們的分類。我們能夠以更高的成功率引入新產品，因為我們的客戶定義更精確，而且我們的分類與客戶的旅程更相關。 Monique Lhuillier 在 Kay 發射的成功就是一個明顯的例子。 Monique 是一位著名的時裝設計師，以其迷人的新娘禮服而聞名。她的品牌旨在慶祝生活中最特別的時刻。她與 Kay 合作是因為她認為 Kay 在婚禮體驗和里程碑時刻的慶祝方面都是權威。

We just launched this line at the end of September, and it has already delivered more than $2 million in merchandise sales ahead of expectations. Our second strategy, expanding the accessible luxury and value tiers of the mid-market is also an important driver of growth because it's bringing new customers into our banners. Accessible luxury is appealing because it's a growing higher price point mezzanine segment that sits between luxury and the mid-market.

我們剛剛在 9 月底推出了這條線，它已經交付了超過 200 萬美元的商品銷售額，超出了預期。我們的第二個戰略是擴大中端市場的無障礙奢侈品和價值層級，這也是增長的重要驅動力，因為它將新客戶帶入我們的旗幟。無障礙奢侈品之所以吸引人，是因為它是位於奢侈品和中端市場之間的一個不斷增長的更高價位的夾層市場。

We've built a portfolio that is attracting a diverse mix of highly valuable customers. Jared offers exclusive designer lines, concierge-level service, custom design studios and a rich assortment of diamonds and fine jewelry for bridal, fashion and gifting. James Allen is our digital bridal mega store, the company that continues to pioneer the way that customers shop for engagement rings online, setting new standards for custom design and selection with over 300,000 natural and lab-created diamonds.

我們已經建立了一個吸引各種高價值客戶的投資組合。 Jared 提供獨家設計師系列、禮賓級服務、定制設計工作室以及用於新娘、時尚和禮品的各種鑽石和高級珠寶。 James Allen 是我們的數字新娘大型商店，該公司繼續開創客戶在線購買訂婚戒指的方式，以超過 300,000 顆天然和實驗室製造的鑽石為定制設計和選擇設定新標準。

And Diamonds Direct, our newest banner, is our highly personalized bridal destination. They offer customers high-touch bridal experiences with a highly productive operating model, unlike any other in the jewelry category. This portfolio is designed not only to give accessible luxury customers a wide range of options but also to compete even more effectively with independent jewelers who make up more than 65% of the specialty jewelry category, and it's beginning to work as the integrated mix we've envisioned.

我們最新的橫幅 Diamonds Direct 是我們高度個性化的婚禮目的地。與珠寶類別中的任何其他產品不同，它們以高效的運營模式為客戶提供高度接觸的新娘體驗。該產品組合不僅旨在為輕奢品客戶提供廣泛的選擇，還能更有效地與占專業珠寶類別 65% 以上的獨立珠寶商競爭，並且它開始作為我們的綜合組合發揮作用。我設想過。

Jared's average transaction value this quarter was up 35% versus the third quarter 2 years ago through increased custom design and higher quality merchandise that includes larger stones and precious metals like platinum. James Allen had 50% more customer transactions this quarter than 2 years ago, again, demonstrating our ability to attract and close highly discriminating bridal customers online.

通過增加定制設計和更高質量的商品（包括更大的寶石和鉑等貴金屬），Jared 本季度的平均交易價值比 2 年前的第三季度增長了 35%。詹姆斯艾倫本季度的客戶交易量比 2 年前增加了 50%，這再次證明了我們在網上吸引和關閉高度挑剔的新娘客戶的能力。

And Diamonds Direct offers customers a differentiated accessible luxury experience, which is currently generating a median annualized revenue of approximately $18.5 million per store over the last 12 months. We're confident we can learn from their model while also bringing Signet's best practices and our scale to their approach.

Diamonds Direct 為客戶提供差異化的無障礙奢侈品體驗，目前在過去 12 個月中，每家商店的年收入中位數約為 1850 萬美元。我們有信心可以從他們的模型中學習，同時將 Signet 的最佳實踐和我們的規模帶到他們的方法中。

We see similar opportunity on the value end of the mid-tier. Banter by Piercing Pagoda, is generating higher sales and resonating with customers we want to attract to our portfolio, young social media savvy and highly expressive Gen Z consumers and confident creative consumers of all ages. We're also growing banter.com, which has relatively low digital penetration with significant upside remaining. We're continuing to accelerate the expansion of the banter concept based on these early positive results.

我們在中端的價值端看到了類似的機會。 Banter by Piercing Pagoda 正在產生更高的銷售額，並與我們希望吸引到我們的產品組合的客戶、精通社交媒體的年輕和富有表現力的 Z 世代消費者以及所有年齡段的自信創意消費者產生共鳴。我們還在發展 banter.com，它的數字滲透率相對較低，但仍有很大的上升空間。基於這些早期的積極成果，我們將繼續加速擴大玩笑概念。

Accelerating services is our third growth strategy. Providing services is the glue that build lifetime relationships across every banner while also supporting our margin goals. We remain confident that our services strategy is a $1 billion opportunity on Signet's path to $9 billion in total revenue.

加速服務是我們的第三個增長戰略。提供服務是在每個橫幅上建立終生關係的粘合劑，同時也支持我們的利潤目標。我們仍然相信，我們的服務戰略是 Signet 實現 90 億美元總收入的一個 10 億美元機會。

Extended service agreements are a good example of the progress we're making with this strategy. One of the largest factors driving ESA growth is interaction with a salesperson. This happens naturally in store, but we are focused on enabling this kind of interaction for purchases made online.

擴展服務協議是我們在這一戰略中取得進展的一個很好的例子。推動 ESA 增長的最大因素之一是與銷售人員的互動。這在商店中自然發生，但我們專注於為在線購買啟用這種互動。

We've empowered our virtual consultants to sell ESAs and have launched a series of educational videos that engage customers and discuss the benefits of our programs. In addition, we've simplified our ESA offerings, which, along with these other improvements, has helped us nearly triple our attachment rate online compared to this time 2 years ago and has lifted our overall attachment rate across channels by 60 basis points.

我們授權我們的虛擬顧問銷售 ESA，並推出了一系列教育視頻，吸引客戶並討論我們計劃的好處。此外，我們還簡化了我們的 ESA 產品，連同這些其他改進，與 2 年前的此時相比，我們的在線連接率幾乎增加了兩倍，並將我們跨渠道的整體連接率提高了 60 個基點。

Another example is our launch of a new loyalty program. Our loyalty world is currently being piloted at a number of Jared stores. And after making refinements based on what we're learning, we expect to extend it across all our banners. This is a program that customers have expressed a desire for. It currently includes exclusive discounts, a Rocksbox trial membership and unlimited jewelry cleaning.

另一個例子是我們推出了一項新的忠誠度計劃。我們的忠誠度世界目前正在 Jared 的多家商店進行試點。在根據我們所學的內容進行改進之後，我們希望將其擴展到我們所有的橫幅。這是客戶表達了渴望的計劃。它目前包括獨家折扣、Rocksbox 試用會員資格和無限制的珠寶清潔服務。

These programs are a great way to reward customer loyalty, stay connected and provide additional data on how to better customize our assortment and services. Leading digital commerce is our fourth strategy. Digital is our accelerator, especially for our biggest businesses. The story in digital is data. This is becoming a real structural advantage for us, one of the biggest interventions we've made since we began our transformation. Our data analytics capabilities enable us to operate with increasing precision. For example, building on the insights of our initial real estate greenfield analysis, we are now taking a connected commerce approach to the next phase of this work.

這些計劃是獎勵客戶忠誠度、保持聯繫並提供有關如何更好地定制我們的分類和服務的額外數據的好方法。領先的數字商務是我們的第四項戰略。數字化是我們的加速器，尤其是對於我們最大的企業。數字的故事是數據。這正成為我們真正的結構性優勢，這是我們自轉型以來所做的最大干預之一。我們的數據分析能力使我們能夠以更高的精度進行操作。例如，基於我們最初的房地產綠地分析的洞察力，我們現在正在採用一種互聯商務方法來進行這項工作的下一階段。

We didn't have capabilities like ship-from-store during our original analysis and no real way to capture each store's e-commerce halo. But now we do, and we're building on our trade area data with customer e-commerce trends, location data like GPS tracking and tracking and macro level data, including traffic draw, tenant adjacencies and customer demographics for more than 30,000 retail venues in the U.S.

在我們最初的分析中，我們沒有像從商店發貨這樣的能力，也沒有真正的方法來捕捉每家商店的電子商務光環。但現在我們做到了，我們正在利用客戶電子商務趨勢、GPS 跟踪和跟踪等位置數據以及宏觀層面數據（包括客流量、租戶鄰接情況和客戶人口統計數據）來構建我們的貿易區域數據，這些數據包括 30,000 多個零售場所美國

We're analyzing customer needs down to an even more precise level to determine where connected commerce opportunity exists and how we can drive market share growth on a more localized basis. For example, we're now analyzing opportunities beyond just trade areas. We're micro-targeting customers using populations of 3,000 or fewer people. This focused level of data at scale is a significant advantage in the jewelry category and will serve us for years to come.

我們正在將客戶需求分析到更精確的水平，以確定互聯商務機會存在於何處，以及我們如何在更本地化的基礎上推動市場份額增長。例如，我們現在正在分析貿易領域以外的機會。我們使用 3,000 人或更少的人口進行微觀定位客戶。這種集中的大規模數據水平是珠寶類別的一個顯著優勢，並將在未來幾年為我們服務。

We're also leveraging our analytics capability to optimize the way we introduce product assortments, a good example being our expansion of lab-created diamonds. Our merchandise teams have used our data to build and tier our LCD assortment in a way that doesn't compete with natural stones. For example, customers who come into our stores this holiday with a certain piece in mind, will in some cases, be able to choose a lab-created piece in a similar style that offers higher clarity or even higher carat weight.

我們還利用我們的分析能力來優化我們引入產品分類的方式，一個很好的例子是我們擴大實驗室製造的鑽石。我們的商品團隊使用我們的數據來構建和分層我們的 LCD 分類，而不是與天然寶石競爭。例如，在這個假期來到我們商店的顧客會考慮到某件作品，在某些情況下，他們可以選擇具有更高淨度甚至更高克拉重量的類似風格的實驗室製作的作品。

We're also offering an exclusive LCD cut through Zales called the Vera Wang true line, and we're offering an LCD option of Kay's Leo cut through the Leo legacy line. Our database approach is ensuring that LCD is additive. It is increasing selection, appealing to different customers and driving incremental sales. In these and so many other ways, we're building and leveraging a culture of agility and innovation that is driving growth in every part of our business.

我們還提供通過 Zales 的獨家 LCD 切割，稱為 Vera Wang 真線，我們提供通過 Leo 傳統線切割的 Kay 的 Leo 的 LCD 選項。我們的數據庫方法是確保 LCD 是附加的。它正在增加選擇，吸引不同的客戶並推動銷售增長。通過這些以及許多其他方式，我們正在建立和利用一種敏捷和創新的文化，這種文化正在推動我們業務各個部分的增長。

What I hope you can sense is that the momentum we've been building is intentional and disciplined and reinforces our conviction that Signet is a healthy and agile company. The strategic clarity and structural advantages we've created, combined with the disciplined execution that our team is providing quarter after quarter, is building momentum and driving top line growth, margin expansion and liquidity that we believe is sustainable over the long term.

我希望您能感覺到，我們一直在建立的勢頭是有意的和有紀律的，並強化了我們對 Signet 是一家健康而敏捷的公司的信念。我們創造的戰略清晰性和結構性優勢，加上我們的團隊每季度提供的嚴格執行，正在建立動力並推動我們認為長期可持續的收入增長、利潤率擴張和流動性。

We continue to work hard at our transformation efforts, and we know there are many uncertainties in today's environment, but we're energized by the impact we're having in our customers' lives, and we're proud of what we're achieving and delivering together. We also take pride in what our company stands for, and I want to close on this point.

我們繼續努力進行轉型工作，我們知道當今環境中存在許多不確定性，但我們對我們對客戶生活產生的影響感到振奮，我們為我們所取得的成就感到自豪並一起交付。我們也為我們公司所代表的東西感到自豪，我想結束這一點。

Just as we're building momentum in our business, so are we building momentum in our leadership as a purpose-inspired company, and we're doing this from the inside out with our highly engaged team. A year ago, we announced on our Q3 earnings call that Signet was, for the first time, named a certified Great Place To Work company. Today, we're pleased to announce that not only was Signet recertified as a great place to work this year based on our strong employee trust index survey results but that all of our scores improved year-over-year.

正如我們在業務中建立動力一樣，作為一家以目標為靈感的公司，我們也在建立領導力，我們正在與我們高度敬業的團隊一起從內而外地做到這一點。一年前，我們在第三季度財報電話會議上宣布，Signet 首次被評為經認證的 Great Place To Work 公司。今天，我們很高興地宣布，Signet 不僅根據我們強大的員工信任指數調查結果在今年被重新認證為理想的工作場所，而且我們所有的分數都比去年同期有所提高。

For us, our partnership with the Great Place to Work Institute gives us the ability to continuously advance our employee experience by listening to our team, taking action to improve and benchmarking ourselves against other great companies. Significantly, this year, 90% of our team share that they feel a sense of pride in what we are accomplishing and 82% believe wholeheartedly that Signet is a great place to work.

對我們而言，我們與 Great Place to Work Institute 的合作使我們能夠通過傾聽我們團隊的意見、採取行動改進並與其他偉大公司進行對比，從而不斷提升我們的員工體驗。值得注意的是，今年，我們團隊 90% 的人表示他們對我們所取得的成就感到自豪，82% 的人全心全意地相信 Signet 是一個工作的好地方。

We can confidently assure you that our Signet team is fully engaged and passionate about delivering for our customers this holiday. Additionally, this quarter, we paid close attention to the UN conference on climate change that concluded just a few weeks ago. As a member of the UN Global Compact, we are fully committed to enhancing our business practices to meet evolving expectations from our investors, employees and customers.

我們可以自信地向您保證，我們的 Signet 團隊將全力投入並熱情地在這個假期為我們的客戶提供服務。此外，本季度，我們密切關注了幾週前剛剛結束的聯合國氣候變化大會。作為聯合國全球契約的成員，我們完全致力於改進我們的業務實踐，以滿足投資者、員工和客戶不斷變化的期望。

We have established our own Signet Climate Action and Sustainability Committee, a cross-functional team tasked with preparing Signet for the future with our own net-zero strategy as we articulated in our corporate sustainability goals released earlier this year.

我們已經建立了自己的 Signet 氣候行動和可持續發展委員會，這是一個跨職能團隊，其任務是按照我們在今年早些時候發布的企業可持續發展目標中闡述的我們自己的淨零戰略，為 Signet 的未來做好準備。

These quarterly milestones advancing Signet's commitment to corporate citizenship and sustainability matter because consumers are increasingly seeking out companies that share their values. On that note, I'll turn this over to Joan, who will provide deeper insight into what's driving our growth and where we're headed this fiscal year. Joan?

這些季度里程碑推進了 Signet 對企業公民和可持續發展的承諾，因為消費者越來越多地尋找與其價值觀相同的公司。關於這一點，我將把它交給瓊，她將更深入地了解推動我們增長的因素以及我們本財年的發展方向。瓊?

Thanks, Gina. Hello, everyone. There are 3 important messages that I'd like to leave you with today. First, we delivered cost leverage on top line growth again this quarter as a result of our strengthened operating structure. Second, we achieved a trailing 12-month leverage ratio of 2.1x. We returned value to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases and continue to invest in long-term growth.

謝謝，吉娜。大家好。今天我想給你留下 3 條重要信息。首先，由於我們加強了運營結構，我們在本季度再次實現了對收入增長的成本槓桿作用。其次，我們實現了 2.1 倍的過去 12 個月槓桿率。我們通過股息和股票回購向股東回報價值，並繼續投資於長期增長。

Third, we are raising fiscal 2022 guidance to reflect enhanced connected commerce capabilities and business momentum, which continued through Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. Also concluded in today's update is higher expected cost savings. In Q3, we achieved total sales of $1.5 billion, growth of approximately $237 million over last year. Compared to 2 years ago, sales are up $350 million with few -- with 423 fewer stores.

第三，我們正在提高 2022 財年的指導，以反映增強的互聯商務能力和業務勢頭，這種情況一直持續到黑色星期五和網絡星期一周末。在今天的更新中還得出結論是更高的預期成本節約。第三季度，我們實現了 15 億美元的總銷售額，比去年增長了約 2.37 億美元。與 2 年前相比，銷售額增加了 3.5 億美元，但門店數量減少了 423 家。

While retail foot traffic remains down to pre-pandemic levels, our team effectively used enhanced connected commerce capabilities to drive increased conversion and higher average transaction value. So substantially, all merchandise categories and banners demonstrated growth supported by a roughly 50% increase in advertising to strategically drive earlier shopping and reduce reliance on traditional fourth quarter profitability.

儘管零售客流量仍降至大流行前的水平，但我們的團隊有效地利用增強的互聯商務能力來推動增加的轉化率和更高的平均交易價值。如此大體上，所有商品類別和橫幅都在廣告增長約 50% 的支持下實現了增長，以戰略性地推動早期購物並減少對傳統第四季度盈利能力的依賴。

We delivered approximately $576 million this quarter in gross margin or 37.4% of sales. This is a 380 basis point improvement to last year, and a 630 basis point improvement to 2 years ago. Leveraging of fixed costs contributed roughly 2/3 of the improvement in both years, driven by fleet optimization efforts.

我們本季度的毛利率約為 5.76 億美元，佔銷售額的 37.4%。這比去年提高了 380 個基點，比兩年前提高了 630 個基點。在車隊優化工作的推動下，固定成本的槓桿作用在這兩年的改進中貢獻了大約 2/3。

Additionally, the remainder of gross margin improvement relates to merchandise margin and was driven by fundamental changes in our operating model. These significant changes include enhanced discount controls and reduced promotions as well as strategic inventory initiatives that I'll discuss in a moment.

此外，毛利率改善的其餘部分與商品利潤率有關，並受到我們運營模式的根本變化的推動。這些重大變化包括增強折扣控制和減少促銷活動以及我稍後將討論的戰略庫存計劃。

Moving on, SG&A was approximately $471 million or 30.6% of sales. This rate is 70 basis points higher versus a year ago from investments in both advertising and labor as we anniversary the reopening of stores after the COVID shutdown. Compared to 2 years ago, we leveraged 380 basis points. We leveraged 300 basis points, reflecting changes in our cost structure. These changes include cost savings from new credit agreements, a more efficient labor model and continued cost discipline across the organization.

接下來，SG&A 約為 4.71 億美元，佔銷售額的 30.6%。由於我們在 COVID 關閉後重新開張周年紀念日，因此對廣告和勞動力的投資與一年前相比高出 70 個基點。與 2 年前相比，我們利用了 380 個基點。我們利用了 300 個基點，反映了我們成本結構的變化。這些變化包括新信貸協議帶來的成本節約、更高效的勞動力模式以及整個組織的持續成本紀律。

These improvements help to fund increased advertising as well as investments in our connected commerce capabilities. Non-GAAP operating profit was $105 million compared to $46.8 million last year and a loss of $29.3 million 2 years ago. Third quarter non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.43 compares to the prior year of $0.11 and a non-GAAP loss per share of $0.76 2 years ago.

這些改進有助於資助增加的廣告以及對我們互聯商務能力的投資。非美國通用會計準則營業利潤為 1.05 億美元，而去年為 4680 萬美元，兩年前虧損 2930 萬美元。第三季度非 GAAP 攤薄後每股收益為 1.43 美元，上一年為 0.11 美元，兩年前非 GAAP 每股虧損為 0.76 美元。

Looking deeper into our financial health, overall liquidity of $2.7 billion includes $1.5 billion of cash at quarter end. Working capital efficiency improved approximately 40% to last year, net of cash through strategic reduction of inventory, collaboration with vendors on payment terms and the sale of our in-house receivables.

深入了解我們的財務狀況，27 億美元的整體流動性包括季度末的 15 億美元現金。通過戰略性減少庫存、與供應商就付款條件進行合作以及出售我們的內部應收賬款，營運資金效率比去年提高了約 40%，扣除現金。

Turning to inventory. We ended the quarter at $2.1 billion, even with a 15% increase in holiday receipts compared to last year, inventory was down $26 million, and sell-down and clearance inventory was lower by roughly 14 points. These improvements were driven by strategic inventory initiatives, including new flexible fulfillment capabilities, life cycle disciplines that includes SKU rationalization and data-driven allocation of product.

轉向庫存。我們在本季度結束時為 21 億美元，儘管假日收入與去年相比增加了 15%，但庫存下降了 2600 萬美元，銷售和清倉庫存下降了大約 14 個百分點。這些改進是由戰略庫存計劃推動的，包括新的靈活履行能力、包括 SKU 合理化和數據驅動的產品分配在內的生命週期規則。

The cumulative result of these actions was a 50% improvement in inventory turn to last year. Alongside the fundamental improvement in owned inventory, we've been partnering with our vendors to eliminate slower turning consignment inventory and strategically shift focus to just-in-time core products and data-driven testing of newer collections.

這些行動的累積結果是庫存周轉率比去年提高了 50%。除了從根本上改善自有庫存外，我們還一直在與供應商合作，以消除周轉較慢的寄售庫存，並戰略性地將重點轉移到及時的核心產品和新系列的數據驅動測試上。

As a result, consignment inventory was lower by $315 million, which has effectively doubled its productivity over the last 2 years.

結果，寄售庫存減少了 3.15 億美元，這在過去 2 年中有效地將其生產力翻了一番。

Moving on to capital. The $2.7 billion of liquidity at quarter end supports our capital priorities. Our first priority remains investing in growth opportunities, including our connected commerce and technology advancements, continued differentiation of our banners as well as the recent acquisition of Diamonds Direct.

轉向資本。季度末 27 億美元的流動性支持我們的資本優先事項。我們的首要任務仍然是投資增長機會，包括我們的互聯商業和技術進步、我們旗幟的持續差異化以及最近對 Diamonds Direct 的收購。

We continue to expect capital expenditures in the range of $190 million to $200 million for fiscal '22. Our second priority is ensuring liquidity through a strong cash position to provide financial flexibility. Recall, we extended our ABL facility through calendar 2026, providing enhanced flexibility to address calendar 2024 maturities of senior notes and preferred share obligations.

我們繼續預計 22 財年的資本支出在 1.9 億美元至 2 億美元之間。我們的第二個優先事項是通過強大的現金頭寸確保流動性，以提供財務靈活性。回想一下，我們將我們的 ABL 設施擴展到 2026 年日曆，為解決 2024 日曆年到期的優先票據和優先股義務提供了更大的靈活性。

As mentioned earlier, the trailing 12-month adjusted leverage ratio of 2.1x is nearly half that of prepandemic levels. Our third priority is returning capital to shareholders. We reinstated our common dividend earlier this year and this quarter, we repurchased for approximately $41 million.

如前所述，過去 12 個月調整後的槓桿比率為 2.1 倍，幾乎是大流行前水平的一半。我們的第三個優先事項是向股東返還資本。我們在今年早些時候和本季度恢復了我們的共同股息，我們回購了大約 4100 萬美元。

We have roughly $185 million remaining under the current share repurchase authorization. Now I'd like to discuss our fiscal '22 financial guidance. We are raising our full year guidance to reflect business momentum as well as the acquisition of Diamonds Direct.

根據當前的股票回購授權，我們還剩下大約 1.85 億美元。現在我想討論一下我們的 22 財年財務指導。我們正在提高全年指導以反映業務發展勢頭以及對 Diamonds Direct 的收購。

We expect fourth quarter total sales in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.48 billion and same-store sales in the range of 6% to 9%. We believe the momentum in our business is in part due to earlier shopping behavior that pulled forward a portion of traditional post Thanksgiving business.

我們預計第四季度總銷售額在 24 億美元到 24.8 億美元之間，同店銷售額在 6% 到 9% 之間。我們認為，我們業務的發展勢頭部分是由於早期的購物行為推動了傳統感恩節後業務的一部分。

While we've managed the factors within our control, our guidance also considers headwinds outside of our control as we move closer to peak holiday selling. These headwinds include disruptions emerging from COVID variants, government mandates and consumer behavior changes toward experience-related spending.

雖然我們已經控制了我們控制範圍內的因素，但我們的指導也考慮了我們無法控制的逆風，因為我們越來越接近假期銷售高峰。這些不利因素包括新冠病毒變體帶來的破壞、政府指令以及消費者行為向體驗相關支出的轉變。

That said, it remains difficult to predict the magnitude and timing of these expected changes in consumer behavior. We expect non-GAAP EBIT of $280 million to $317 million. Compared to Q4 of last year, guidance includes higher marketing, incremental store labor costs, which include additional holiday incentives, higher domestic transportation costs and provides for promotional flexibility.

儘管如此，仍然很難預測這些預期的消費者行為變化的幅度和時間。我們預計非 GAAP 息稅前利潤為 2.8 億美元至 3.17 億美元。與去年第四季度相比，指導包括更高的營銷、增加的商店勞動力成本，其中包括額外的假期獎勵、更高的國內運輸成本並提供促銷靈活性。

Lastly, we have raised cost savings expectations for fiscal '22 to $100 million to $115 million. Now turning to real estate. For fiscal '22, we expect approximately 75 closures across the fleet and 85 openings primarily in highly productive Banter by piercing Pagoda format.

最後，我們將 22 財年的成本節約預期提高到 1 億美元到 1.15 億美元。現在轉向房地產。對於 22 財年，我們預計整個機隊大約有 75 次關閉和 85 次開口，主要是通過刺穿 Pagoda 格式的高產戲謔。

This update to our guidance is a result of stronger-than-expected performance in select locations, favorable lease economics on short-term extensions and a shift in project timing. Looking deeper at our store footprint, we remain focused on optimizing our fleet through data-driven analytics.

我們對指引的此次更新是由於選定地點的業績強於預期、短期延期的有利租賃經濟以及項目時間的轉變。深入了解我們的商店足跡，我們仍然專注於通過數據驅動的分析來優化我們的車隊。

This includes the transition of traditional mall formats to highly productive off-mall locations. Over the past 2 years, we've increased the off-mall penetration within the Kay banner by 4 points. Now with nearly half of Kay locations and off-mall formats, we're seeing growth at these locations outpace traditional mall formats and carry more favorable economics.

這包括將傳統的購物中心形式轉變為高效的非購物中心位置。在過去的 2 年中，我們將 Kay 旗幟內的非商城滲透率提高了 4 個百分點。現在有近一半的 Kay 地點和非購物中心形式，我們看到這些地點的增長超過了傳統的購物中心形式，並帶來了更有利的經濟效益。

Additionally, this strategy to off-mall has reduced our exposure to declining malls by approximately 8 points in our biggest banners. Now I'd like to address operating margin. We're often asked, given current jewelry category strength about the sustainability of our operating margin performance.

此外，這種非商場策略使我們在最大橫幅廣告中對衰退商場的敞口減少了約 8 個百分點。現在我想談談營業利潤率。鑑於當前珠寶類別的實力，我們經常被問到我們的營業利潤率表現的可持續性。

We believe our margin performance is sustainable in a normal environment because of fundamental changes that have created a healthier and more agile operating model. I'd like to reiterate the following fundamental changes in our business.

我們相信我們的利潤率表現在正常環境下是可持續的，因為根本性的變化創造了更健康、更靈活的運營模式。我想重申我們業務的以下根本變化。

Data analytics inform critical decisions, and we will continue to mature and build on these competencies. Banner portfolio differentiation is driving growth and includes an increased focus on higher-margin services. Inventory management improved significantly through the implementation of capabilities such as flexible fulfillment, life cycle and price management, SKU rationalization as well as strategic use of consignment inventory. Fleet optimization remains a critical part of our margin expansion and we will continue to refine our trade area analysis.

數據分析為關鍵決策提供信息，我們將繼續成熟並建立在這些能力之上。橫幅產品組合的差異化正在推動增長，包括更加關注利潤率更高的服務。通過實施靈活履行、生命週期和價格管理、SKU 合理化以及寄售庫存的戰略使用等能力，庫存管理顯著改善。船隊優化仍然是我們擴大利潤的關鍵部分，我們將繼續完善我們的貿易區域分析。

Cost savings will continue to help fund long-term growth initiatives, including always on marketing and investments in digital capabilities, technology harmonization and talent. Fully outsourced financial services transitioned expertise to third parties, removed consumer credit risk from our balance sheet and provides customers with a broader and more modern range of payment options.

成本節約將繼續為長期增長計劃提供資金，包括始終在營銷和數字能力、技術協調和人才方面的投資。完全外包的金融服務將專業知識轉移給第三方，從我們的資產負債表中消除了消費者信用風險，並為客戶提供了更廣泛、更現代的支付選擇。

Liquidity and working capital management improved our financial strength and flexibility to continue investing in strategic initiatives while also returning capital to shareholders. We still have important work to do to continue Signet's transformation. That said, we've made fundamental changes that have built structural advantages and created strong operating discipline, and we have a high-performing team to continue growth within the jewelry category. Before we open the call for Q&A, I'd like to thank our team for their agility, innovation and commitment to our inspiring brilliant strategy, and I look forward to what we will continue to build together. I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. And now I'll turn the call over to the operator to begin the Q&A session.

流動性和營運資金管理提高了我們的財務實力和靈活性，以繼續投資於戰略計劃，同時也向股東返還資本。我們還有重要的工作要做，以繼續 Signet 的轉型。也就是說，我們已經做出了根本性的改變，建立了結構優勢並建立了強大的運營紀律，我們擁有一支高績效的團隊，可以在珠寶類別中繼續增長。在我們開始問答之前，我要感謝我們的團隊的敏捷性、創新性和對我們鼓舞人心的輝煌戰略的承諾，我期待著我們將繼續共同建設。祝大家度過一個安全快樂的假期。現在我將把電話轉給接線員開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from Mauricio Serna with UBS.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 UBS 的 Mauricio Serna。

Great. And congratulations on the results. I wanted to ask first about the market share trends. You comment that you believe you're gaining market share. Maybe you could give us -- maybe a little bit more details on how is your growth compared to the industry that gives you that confidence that you're gaining market share? And also, if you could provide us maybe a little bit more details on Diamonds Direct, the business. You talked about in your previous release about the EBITDA and sales expected for this fiscal year or calendar year.

偉大的。並祝賀結果。我想先問一下市場份額趨勢。你評論說你相信你正在獲得市場份額。也許你可以給我們——也許你的增長與行業相比的更多細節，讓你有信心獲得市場份額？此外，如果您可以向我們提供有關 Diamonds Direct 業務的更多詳細信息。您在之前的版本中談到了本財年或日曆年的 EBITDA 和預期銷售額。

So I wanted to know a little bit more about how do the margins compare to your overall business on a gross margin and SG&A basis?

因此，我想進一步了解在毛利率和 SG&A 基礎上，利潤率與您的整體業務相比如何？

Mauricio, thanks so much for your questions. Starting with market share. As we've repeatedly said, and I think everyone knows the data in the jewelry industry is far from perfect. But what we do is we aggregate a number of annual projections from industry experts like Euromonitor, Mintel, Mastercard, IBIS, NRF. And what all of those are showing us is that we believe that expected jewelry category growth for this year is in the range of around 30%. So a very strong year for the jewelry category. The high end of our guidance today implies more than 43% growth in total sales, and that reflects our belief that we will outpace the industry and gain market share.

毛里西奧，非常感謝您的提問。從市場份額開始。正如我們反复說過的，我想每個人都知道珠寶行業的數據遠非完美。但我們所做的是匯總來自 Euromonitor、Mintel、Mastercard、IBIS、NRF 等行業專家的一些年度預測。所有這些向我們展示的是，我們相信今年珠寶品類的預期增長在 30% 左右。對於珠寶類別來說，這是非常強勁的一年。我們今天指導的高端意味著總銷售額增長超過 43%，這反映了我們相信我們將超越行業並獲得市場份額。

I think notably, part of the jewelry category that's growing the fastest is luxury that competes at the tier above where Signet plays today. And what that says to me is that the work we're doing differentiating our banners and trying to broaden the mid-market segment that we play in with accessible luxury, as I discussed in my remarks, including the Diamonds Direct acquisition, including all of the work we've done to build a higher merchant -- higher quality merchandise assortment and custom capabilities at Jared. And of course, the continuing work that James Allen does to really pioneer creating the optimal online bridal buying experience.

我認為值得注意的是，增長最快的珠寶類別中的一部分是奢侈品，它在今天 Signet 所在的級別之上競爭。這對我說的是，正如我在講話中所討論的那樣，我們正在做的工作是使我們的橫幅與眾不同，並試圖擴大我們所涉足的中端市場，包括收購 Diamonds Direct，包括所有我們所做的工作是在 Jared 建立一個更高的商家——更高質量的商品分類和定制能力。當然，詹姆斯艾倫為真正開創最佳在線新娘購買體驗所做的持續工作。

These things are important because they're giving us access to new customers that are coming into the mid-market. So these are all things that are part of our inspiring brilliant strategy, differentiating our banners, bringing connected commerce capabilities, serving customers whenever, wherever they want to shop. And that's one of the things that gives us confidence that the strategy is working.

這些事情很重要，因為它們使我們能夠接觸到進入中端市場的新客戶。因此，這些都是我們鼓舞人心的卓越戰略的一部分，使我們的橫幅與眾不同，帶來互聯商務功能，隨時隨地為客戶提供服務。這是讓我們相信該戰略正在發揮作用的原因之一。

I'll start on Diamonds Direct and then turn it over to Joan for more detail. But the first thing I would say is we are very excited to welcome the Diamonds Direct team into our family. Every single person that we have been working with in Diamonds Direct is smart, talented and just as focused on purpose as our company is. Inspiring love while maybe articulated in different ways in the past is very much part of the ethos of Diamonds Direct just like it is part of Signet. And so I think the cultural set of our 2 companies is fantastic.

我將從 Diamonds Direct 開始，然後將其交給 Joan 了解更多詳細信息。但我要說的第一件事是，我們非常高興歡迎 Diamonds Direct 團隊加入我們的大家庭。在 Diamonds Direct 中與我們共事的每一個人都很聰明、有才華，並且和我們公司一樣專注於目標。鼓舞人心的愛情雖然在過去可能以不同的方式表達，但在很大程度上是 Diamonds Direct 精神的一部分，就像它是 Signet 的一部分一樣。所以我認為我們兩家公司的文化背景非常棒。

Secondly, the leaders at Diamonds Direct have really created a very special model, and it actually goes all the way down through the team where it's a scaled kind of a bridal experience. I mean you go into a store and there's so much selection and opportunity to experience bridal in a different way, that it's really driven almost a mega store-like concept where the median sales of a Diamonds Direct store are over $18 million.

其次，Diamonds Direct 的領導者確實創造了一個非常特殊的模型，它實際上一直貫穿整個團隊，這是一種規模化的新娘體驗。我的意思是你走進一家商店，那裡有很多選擇和機會以不同的方式體驗新娘，這實際上推動了一個類似大型商店的概念，其中 Diamonds Direct 商店的中位數銷售額超過 1800 萬美元。

That's a scaled model in jewelry that just doesn't exist in many places, and we think it's something that we can learn from while we can also help share some of our best practices to make their business model even stronger.

這是珠寶中的一個縮放模型，在很多地方都不存在，我們認為這是我們可以學習的東西，同時我們也可以幫助分享我們的一些最佳實踐，以使他們的商業模式更加強大。

And Mauricio to address the Diamonds Direct profitability and the purchase price or just the economics. As we said in our recent releases that we expect Diamonds Direct to be immediately accretive, we have included a view of Diamonds Direct performance within our guidance with our update today. As you know, we disclosed that the trailing 12-month sales, the purchase price represented a 1.1x multiple of sales. And on the $490 million purchase price and EBITDA trailing 12 months of 7.1x. So we really feel very strong about the strength of the business, the management of the business, the economics of Diamonds Direct and really feel that it's a natural fit within our structure, as Gina just mentioned.

而毛里西奧則解決了 Diamonds Direct 的盈利能力和購買價格或僅僅是經濟學問題。正如我們在最近發布的版本中所說，我們預計 Diamonds Direct 將立即增值，我們在今天的更新中包含了對 Diamonds Direct 績效的看法。如您所知，我們披露了過去 12 個月的銷售額，購買價格是銷售額的 1.1 倍。以 4.9 億美元的購買價格和過去 12 個月的 EBITDA 為 7.1 倍。因此，正如 Gina 剛剛提到的，我們對業務實力、業務管理、Diamonds Direct 的經濟性感到非常強烈，並且真的覺得它與我們的結構非常契合。

Great. And just a quick follow-up. One, just how is the holiday season trending so far? I know you mentioned that you feel like a lot of people have done some of their shopping earlier, but just trying to get a sense of how you're seeing like things in Black Friday and also regarding the things that you mentioned that you have like promotional flexibility? I mean does that imply that you could become more promotional in the short term, if needed. I mean how does that also play out into your expectations looking into next year with some tougher compares?

偉大的。只是一個快速的跟進。一，到目前為止，假期的趨勢如何？我知道你提到你覺得很多人之前都做過一些購物，但只是想了解你在黑色星期五看到的東西，以及你提到的你喜歡的東西促銷靈活性？我的意思是，如果需要的話，這是否意味著你可以在短期內變得更具促銷性。我的意思是，通過一些更艱難的比較，這也將如何影響您對明年的期望？

Well, what we can address today is the guidance that we've given Mauricio, includes, as you noted, our flexibility for promotion should be needed in the fourth quarter. We did note, as you did, that we believe that the momentum in part that we've seen that continue through Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend was in part due to the pull forward of earlier customer shopping.

好吧，我們今天可以解決的是我們給毛里西奧的指導，包括，正如你所指出的，第四季度應該需要我們的晉升靈活性。正如您所做的那樣，我們確實注意到，我們認為，我們所看到的持續到黑色星期五和網絡星期一周末的勢頭部分是由於早期客戶購物的推動。

Gina noted that 25% of shoppers completed their holiday shopping prior to Thanksgiving this year, and that's up 8 points from the prior year. So that's the basis for our belief that some of the momentum we're seeing today is a result of that pull forward.

Gina 指出，今年感恩節前有 25% 的購物者完成了假日購物，比去年增加了 8 個百分點。所以這就是我們相信我們今天看到的一些勢頭是這種推動的結果的基礎。

We also have included in our guidance a view of Diamonds Direct, as I noted, but also the idea that there is still some concerns around the macro environment, the unknowns around government mandates, the impact of stimulus, the new COVID variants that are -- may impact shopping behavior and also the potential shift in consumer behavior towards more experience related.

正如我所指出的，我們還在指導中納入了對 Diamonds Direct 的看法，但也包括對宏觀環境、政府授權的未知數、刺激的影響、新的 COVID 變體存在一些擔憂的想法—— - 可能會影響購物行為以及消費者行為向更多體驗相關的潛在轉變。

So all that in mind, our guidance reflects a strong view of holiday. We're very pleased with the 6% to 9% comp store sales growth for the quarter. I believe that given where that leaves us for the full year, it's also a very strong performance driven by the team to drive flexibility in our promotion, expand our operating margin.

因此，考慮到所有這些，我們的指導反映了對假期的強烈看法。我們對本季度 6% 至 9% 的綜合商店銷售額增長感到非常滿意。我相信，考慮到我們全年的表現，這也是由團隊推動的非常強勁的表現，以推動我們推廣的靈活性，擴大我們的運營利潤率。

We'd note that the full year guidance implies a 10.9% operating margin, and that compares to a 5.2% 2 years ago. So the teams have really put into place the operating model changes that I detailed in my remarks. And we really believe that, that's the strength that we can build upon go forward and continues to sustain the momentum in our operating margin performance.

我們注意到，全年指引意味著 10.9% 的營業利潤率，而 2 年前為 5.2%。因此，團隊已經真正落實了我在評論中詳述的運營模式變化。我們真的相信，這是我們可以繼續前進的力量，並繼續保持我們的營業利潤率表現的勢頭。

I'd just add that within the factors we can control, we are staffed and stocked and ready to serve our customers.

我只想補充一點，在我們可以控制的因素內，我們配備了人員和庫存，並準備好為我們的客戶服務。

Our next question today comes from Lorraine Hutchinson with Bank of America.

我們今天的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lorraine Hutchinson。

There's a lot of puts and takes on the SG&A line with the cost cuts, the lower credit costs and now perhaps some higher labor and marketing costs. Signet has historically been in the 28% to 29% of sales range for many years.

隨著成本削減、較低的信貸成本以及現在可能增加的勞動力和營銷成本，SG&A 方面有很多投入和投入。多年來，Signet 一直處於銷售額的 28% 到 29% 之間。

Is that a level that you think you can get back to in the coming years? And can you just walk us through any opportunities or pressures maybe around that number as we model for the next few years?

你認為你可以在未來幾年恢復到這個水平嗎？在我們為未來幾年建模時，您能否引導我們度過可能圍繞這個數字的任何機會或壓力？

So as I just mentioned, Lorraine, and thank you for the question. Our FY '22 EBIT guidance implies an EBIT margin of 10.9% at the high end. And this compares with 5.2% 2 years ago.

正如我剛才提到的，洛林，謝謝你的提問。我們的 22 財年息稅前利潤指引意味著高端的息稅前利潤率為 10.9%。而這與 2 年前的 5.2% 相比。

Looking forward, we've made structural changes to our operating model, which enables us to sustain a healthier operating margin. And these include top line performance, higher-margin services and many of the inventory management disciplines that affect our merchandise margin performance and the strong health and -- of our inventory is enabling that to really flow through to the bottom line as well.

展望未來，我們對運營模式進行了結構性調整，這使我們能夠維持更健康的運營利潤率。這些包括頂線業績、更高利潤的服務和許多影響我們商品利潤率表現和健康狀況的庫存管理紀律，而且我們的庫存也使這些都真正流向了底線。

When we look at our costs, we are funding investments with -- over the last 4 years, we've saved over $400 million and have -- which has helped fund the investments that we've talked about, which connect to commerce capabilities, our flexible fulfillment.

當我們查看我們的成本時，我們正在為投資提供資金——在過去的 4 年中，我們已經節省了超過 4 億美元並且已經——這有助於為我們所討論的與商業能力相關的投資提供資金，我們靈活的履行。

And we've also have enjoyed the result of the diligence of our fleet optimization, which is really providing us significant leverage while we reinvest in advertising and some of the other costs that I mentioned with labor. So the way we think about it is we're going to continue to drive cost discipline for our organization. We'll use that to fund investments and continue to drive out costs that the customer doesn't care about.

而且我們也很享受我們車隊優化的勤奮成果，這確實為我們提供了重要的槓桿作用，同時我們再投資於廣告和我提到的其他一些人工成本。因此，我們的想法是，我們將繼續為我們的組織推動成本紀律。我們將用它來為投資提供資金，並繼續降低客戶不關心的成本。

And our next question today comes from Paul Lejuez with Citi.

我們今天的下一個問題來自花旗的 Paul Lejuez。

Gina, I'm curious if -- when you mentioned the EBIT margin sustainability, is that comment is specifically referring to F '22 as well that you are intending to say that EBIT margins are going to remain at least at that 10.9% level? And I guess, related to that, I'm kind of curious how you're thinking about FY '22, just from a consumer pattern perspective, I know you guys have been assuming that consumer shopping patterns would change. I don't think that's happened to the degree that you have been planning for.

吉娜，我很好奇——當您提到息稅前利潤率可持續性時，該評論是否也專門指 F '22，您是否打算說息稅前利潤率將至少保持在 10.9% 的水平？我想，與此相關，我有點好奇你是如何看待 22 財年的，從消費者模式的角度來看，我知道你們一直在假設消費者的購物模式會改變。我不認為這發生在你計劃的程度。

So curious how that influences how you plan for F '22? And then just longer term, you guys still talk about the $9 billion long-term goal. Curious if you've got a time frame for when you might think you could achieve that.

很好奇這將如何影響您對 F '22 的計劃？然後就長期而言，你們仍然在談論 90 億美元的長期目標。好奇你是否有一個時間框架來說明你什麼時候認為你可以實現這一目標。

Okay. So I'll take that. The operating margin, the way we should think about that and the way we think about it structurally within our business is that beyond this year in a normalized environment, we will continue to drive and leverage the operating structural changes that I noted in my prepared remarks.

好的。所以我會接受的。營業利潤率，我們應該考慮的方式以及我們在業務結構上考慮的方式是，在正常化的環境中，今年以後，我們將繼續推動和利用我在準備好的評論中指出的運營結構變化.

So things like the merchandise margin expansion, the fleet optimization which has taken a lot of occupancy and labor costs, and it's enabled us to reinvest in advertising and capabilities that are going to drive growth and -- in connect to commerce capabilities that will drive growth as well and drive us to the jewelry category -- innovation leader in the jewelery category. So all that said, we're not giving guidance, but in a normalized environment, we believe that there's a sustainability to the operating margin that we're putting forward because of the structural changes within our business.

因此，諸如商品利潤率擴張、車隊優化之類的事情已經佔用了大量的佔用率和勞動力成本，它使我們能夠重新投資於將推動增長的廣告和能力，以及連接將推動增長的商業能力也將我們推向珠寶類別——珠寶類別的創新領導者。綜上所述，我們並沒有提供指導，但在正常化的環境中，我們相信由於我們業務的結構性變化，我們提出的營業利潤率具有可持續性。

When we think about the fourth quarter and the consumer shift, what I've included in the fourth quarter and the view of fiscal '22 is the idea that we know that we've -- we need to prepare for flexibility of promotion that we have higher marketing costs. We indicated that they're significantly higher. In the third quarter, they were 40% higher. And at the end of the day, we -- there is uncertainty about the level of pull forward.

當我們考慮第四季度和消費者轉變時，我在第四季度和 22 財年的觀點是我們知道我們已經 - 我們需要為促銷的靈活性做好準備，我們有較高的營銷成本。我們指出它們明顯更高。在第三季度，它們增長了 40%。歸根結底，我們 - 推進水平存在不確定性。

So we've considered that in our top line performance. And then we'll -- we have included the idea of -- or the reality of increased transportation costs as well as the higher labor costs, we raised our wage rate along with higher incents of the holiday, which is very important for us to provide to our team member as well.

所以我們在我們的頂線表現中考慮了這一點。然後我們將——我們已經包含了這個想法——或者運輸成本增加以及勞動力成本增加的現實，我們提高了工資率以及更高的假期獎勵，這對我們來說非常重要也提供給我們的團隊成員。

So it's -- we've included all of the costs that we see ahead of us and the idea of promotional flexibility in fiscal '22. And we're prepared to Gina's earlier point, with staffing levels and inventory to serve our customer throughout the holiday selling period.

所以它 - 我們已經包括了我們看到的所有成本以及 22 財年的促銷靈活性的想法。我們已經為 Gina 之前的觀點做好了準備，在整個假期銷售期間，我們的人員配備水平和庫存都可以為我們的客戶提供服務。

And Paul, just on your other question about our time line to our $9 billion goal, we have not given a time line on that. But I will say, our high guide today reflects revenue of almost $7.5 billion, which I'm really proud of our team for all the great effort that they have put in to deliver not only banner differentiation, which is driving strong performance across our different banners, but also the innovation that we see coming in flexible fulfillment and how we're able to serve our customers.

保羅，就你關於我們實現 90 億美元目標的時間線的另一個問題，我們沒有給出時間線。但我要說的是，我們今天的高指引反映了近 75 億美元的收入，我為我們的團隊為他們付出的所有巨大努力而感到自豪，他們不僅提供了橫幅差異化，這推動了我們不同領域的強勁表現橫幅，還有我們看到的靈活履行的創新以及我們如何能夠為客戶服務。

Some of the noncomp things that we have in place this year, like our curbside service or our same-day delivery things which we just piloted last year are now fully across our fleet and that agility and ability to test and learn perfect things and then roll them out broadly at scale, I think, is a competitive advantage for us. So I'm proud of how we're learning to do that.

我們今年實施的一些非競爭性服務，比如我們去年剛剛試行的路邊服務或當日送達服務，現在已經完全覆蓋了我們的機隊，以及測試和學習完美事物然後滾動的敏捷性和能力我認為，大規模推廣它們對我們來說是一個競爭優勢。所以我為我們如何學習做到這一點而感到自豪。

Our next question today comes from Tim Vierengel with Northcoast Research.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Tim Vierengel。

I was wondering if you guys could go into a little bit more detail on these impressive average transaction kind of value improvements. Is it -- specifically, is it -- you guys are raising your price points or adding more inventory at the luxury high price per level at Jared and Kay, which is driving that 30-plus improvement? Or is it really a fundamental change in the demographic of the consumer and their spending habits? Or if it's a bit of both, maybe you could break it down which one is as big a driver.

我想知道你們是否可以更詳細地了解這些令人印象深刻的平均交易類型的價值改進。是不是——具體來說，是不是——你們是在提高價格點，或者在 Jared 和 Kay 以每層的奢侈品高價增加更多庫存，這推動了 30 多的改進？或者這真的是消費者人口結構及其消費習慣的根本變化嗎？或者，如果兩者兼而有之，也許您可以分解出哪個是大驅動程序。

Sure. I'll start on that, and you can jump in, Joan. I think the first thing I would say is that it is not about price increases. So what we really pride ourselves on is providing a great value to our customers, and we're able to do that across a broad variety of price points because of our scale and the data and analytics we use to optimize our assortments.

當然。我會從那開始，你可以加入，瓊。我想我要說的第一件事是這與價格上漲無關。因此，我們真正引以為豪的是為我們的客戶提供了巨大的價值，並且由於我們的規模以及我們用來優化產品種類的數據和分析，我們能夠在各種價格點上做到這一點。

What I do think it's related to is higher closure rates. So as we are better directing customers to the banner that is best able to serve them and as we're optimizing our assortment and our services and even our selling capabilities within those banners, we're seeing higher closure rates which is great. And then I'm pleased with all the work.

我認為這與較高的關閉率有關。因此，隨著我們更好地將客戶引導到最能為他們服務的橫幅，並且隨著我們優化我們的分類和服務，甚至我們在這些橫幅中的銷售能力，我們看到更高的關閉率，這很好。然後我對所有的工作都很滿意。

Honestly, if you think about the entire funnel that our team has been doing to drive traffic both in-store and to our websites. So while retail traffic is still down versus 2 years ago, we saw a strong increase in brick-and-mortar traffic in the quarter.

老實說，如果您考慮一下我們團隊為增加店內和我們網站的流量所做的整個渠道。因此，雖然零售流量與 2 年前相比仍有所下降，但我們看到本季度實體店流量強勁增長。

And I would consider that to be the effect of our omni approach to marketing, where we are really trying to serve customers whenever, wherever and however they want to shop. We've also improved a lot of aspects of our e-commerce and digital experience. Our virtual consultants, we have 700 of them now are able to have A synchronous chat with our customers. They have 2-way texting capability.

我認為這是我們全方位營銷方法的效果，我們真的試圖隨時隨地為客戶提供服務，無論他們想購物。我們還改進了電子商務和數字體驗的許多方面。我們的虛擬顧問，我們現在有 700 人能夠與我們的客戶進行同步聊天。他們具有雙向發短信功能。

So our ability to start a conversation, pause a conversation if our customer wants to do more research or think about it and then come back to that same conversation to serve people in a seamless way is dramatically improved versus where it was a year ago. So all of these things are driving higher closure, which I think is the real story here.

因此，如果我們的客戶想要進行更多研究或思考，我們開始對話、暫停對話然後回到同一對話以無縫方式為人們服務的能力與一年前相比有了顯著提高。所以所有這些事情都在推動更高的封閉性，我認為這是真實的故事。

The only add to that I'd have is the idea that our inventory is very healthy. Our clearance selling is -- the penetration of clearance sales is down to last year, and I mentioned that clearance and sell-down inventory is down 14 points and that actual selling is down as a result. And so it's really improving the average transaction value as well.

我唯一的補充是我們的庫存非常健康。我們的清倉銷售是——清倉銷售的滲透率下降到去年，我提到清倉和拋售庫存下降了14個百分點，導致實際銷售下降。因此，它也確實提高了平均交易價值。

We've been able to put our inventory in a very healthy position.

我們已經能夠將我們的庫存置於非常健康的位置。

And then in Jared, as I talked about in my script, I mean, we have had a very intentional strategy about tiering up our assortment to be more accessible luxury-oriented, and the results there, I think, are very impressive over the last couple of years with more than a 30% increase in ATV as a result of all of the things I previously mentioned as well as a more valuable higher price point assortment.

然後在 Jared 中，正如我在劇本中談到的那樣，我的意思是，我們有一個非常有意的策略，將我們的分類分層，以更容易獲得奢侈品為導向，我認為那裡的結果非常令人印象深刻。由於我之前提到的所有事情以及更有價值的更高價格點的分類，幾年來，ATV 增長了 30% 以上。

Our next question today comes from Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo.

我們今天的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Ike Boruchow。

On Diamonds Direct, I guess, could you maybe, Joan, fill us in what's in the 4Q guide around revenue and EBIT contribution, that would be helpful. And then bigger picture for next year, is there an ability to take that's add -- does it generate some synergies or some incremental margin on that business as we think about what you guys can do with it? Or conversely, is there a thought that maybe you want to reinvest more aggressively and maybe take the margins down and brands on e-commerce or something like that. Just trying to understand how to think about the margins as they flow into next year.

我想，在 Diamonds Direct 上，瓊，您能否向我們填寫第四季度指南中有關收入和息稅前利潤貢獻的內容，這會有所幫助。然後是明年的更大圖景，是否有能力採取這一措施 - 當我們考慮你們可以用它做什麼時，它是否會在該業務上產生一些協同效應或一些增量利潤？或者相反，是否有一種想法，也許您想更積極地進行再投資，並可能降低電子商務的利潤率和品牌或類似的東西。只是想了解如何考慮進入明年的利潤。

Well, what we said, Ike, is that we expect Diamonds Direct to be immediately accretive. We have included it in our guidance. And you'll note that there was -- with the implied Q4 guide, there was some margin expansion as you kind of compare that to where we've been .

好吧，艾克，我們說的是我們希望 Diamonds Direct 會立即增值。我們已將其包含在我們的指導中。而且你會注意到 - 在隱含的第四季度指南中，有一些利潤擴張，因為你將其與我們的情況進行比較。

So that's really the -- what I can share with you around Diamonds Direct. We're not separating out Diamonds Direct. It's part of our North America business now and part of that family. And I would just encourage you to kind of look at the guidance or the information we've provided in our release around the purchase price and the trailing 12-month view of sales and so forth.

這就是我可以與您分享的關於 Diamonds Direct 的內容。我們不會分離 Diamonds Direct。它現在是我們北美業務的一部分，也是那個家族的一部分。我只是鼓勵你看看我們在發布中提供的關於購買價格和過去 12 個月的銷售視圖等方面的指導或信息。

And then into next year, we've not given that kind of guidance. But we really are excited about what the Diamonds Direct brings to the overall financial and economic view of our business and what it does for us in terms of bringing a new business into this expansion of the achievable luxury sort of mezzanine segment that Gina talked about in her prepared remarks. So really excited about what it can bring.

然後到明年，我們還沒有給出那種指導。但我們真的很興奮 Diamonds Direct 給我們業務的整體財務和經濟觀點帶來了什麼，以及它在將新業務帶入 Gina 談到的可實現的豪華夾層細分市場的擴張方面為我們做了什麼她準備好的發言。對它能帶來什麼感到非常興奮。

Got it. And then just a quick follow-up on the capital structure. You guys have a lot of cash. I know you just made the acquisition. Is there a thought to -- could you juggle a second tuck-in acquisition at this point? Or would you rather kind of let the -- see how Diamonds Direct can flow in. Would you use that cash towards the buyback? Your stock is extremely cheap. And then just the last one on that is with the preferred converts that you guys have, is there any interest in paying those

知道了。然後只是對資本結構的快速跟進。你們有很多現金。我知道你剛剛完成了收購。有沒有一個想法——你能在這一點上兼顧第二次收購嗎？還是您寧願讓--看看 Diamonds Direct 如何流入。您會將這筆現金用於回購嗎？你的股票非常便宜。然後最後一個是你們擁有的首選皈依者，是否有興趣支付這些費用

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

and you're kind of not interested in that.

你對此有點不感興趣。

I think we got kind of cut off and missed the very last part of your question, but I'll talk to the idea of our capital priorities. Number one for us is definitely investing to grow our existing business, now including Diamonds Direct, now including Rocksbox, we're excited about the acquisitions that we've made starting with James Allen a couple of years ago because it's really rounded out our portfolio in a nice way. We have an ongoing strategic process to evaluate other opportunities, and so we always stay open-minded to what might be another way to bring new capabilities, especially new opportunities to learn into our business. So we'll stay opportunistic and open-minded on that as a way to grow the business. And then our other capital priorities, of course, are making sure that we give back to shareholders. We reinstated our dividend. We did execute some share repurchase in the quarter and still have room in that authorization and then making sure that we're managing appropriately our liquidity. I think you were asking in the last part of your question, maybe about Leonard Green?

我想我們有點被打斷了，錯過了你問題的最後一部分，但我會談談我們資本優先事項的想法。對我們來說，第一肯定是投資以發展我們現有的業務，現在包括 Diamonds Direct，現在包括 Rocksbox，我們對幾年前從 James Allen 開始的收購感到興奮，因為它真的完善了我們的投資組合以一種很好的方式。我們有一個持續的戰略流程來評估其他機會，因此我們始終對可能帶來新能力的另一種方式持開放態度，尤其是新的學習機會。因此，我們將保持機會主義和開放的心態，以此作為發展業務的一種方式。當然，我們的其他資本優先事項是確保我們回饋股東。我們恢復了股息。我們確實在本季度執行了一些股票回購，並且在該授權中仍有空間，然後確保我們適當地管理我們的流動性。我想你在問題的最後一部分問了，也許是關於倫納德·格林？

Yes. So with respect to the LGP-preferred position, I'd just take you back to the ABL refinancing that enabled -- gave us flexibility that, that maturity, which is in October 2024, our ABL extends beyond that and gives us the flexibility to managed through that through -- and it goes out to 2026. So LGP continues to be a very valued partner to us. And -- but we have the right ABL refinancing structure that enables us to manage through that.

是的。因此，關於 LGP 首選的職位，我只想帶你回到啟用的 ABL 再融資——給了我們靈活性，即 2024 年 10 月的成熟度，我們的 ABL 超越了這一點，讓我們能夠靈活地一直到 2026 年，LGP 仍然是我們非常重視的合作夥伴。而且 - 但我們擁有正確的 ABL 再融資結構，使我們能夠通過它進行管理。

We have time for one quick final question, and that comes from Dana Telsey at Telsey Advisory Group.

我們有時間來回答一個簡短的最後一個問題，這個問題來自 Telsey 諮詢集團的 Dana Telsey。

Congratulations on the results. As you mentioned and the new inventory model, basically, whether it's focusing more on just-in-time inventory, reducing clearance inventory. Where are you on that path? And what does that imply for margins?

祝賀結果。正如你提到的新庫存模式，基本上，無論是更多地關注即時庫存，減少清倉庫存。你在那條路上在哪裡？這對利潤率意味著什麼？

And then just lastly, I believe that 2022, there's the numbers out there that there's going to be 2.6 million weddings, which should be a real benefit, obviously, for your bridal and engagement business. How do you see marketing and marketing investment going forward into 2022?

最後，我相信 2022 年將有 260 萬場婚禮，這顯然對你的婚禮和訂婚業務來說應該是一個真正的好處。您如何看待 2022 年的營銷和營銷投資？

So I can start with the inventory. And Dana, we are feeling very good about the health and quality of our inventory. As you mentioned, we have a lot of new capabilities that have driven that, the flexible fulfillment, our SKU rationalization and our clearance inventory was down 14 points to a year ago. So enabling us all of that together to expand our merchandise margins.

所以我可以從庫存開始。 Dana，我們對庫存的健康和質量感覺非常好。正如您所提到的，我們有很多新的能力推動了這一點，靈活的履行、我們的 SKU 合理化和我們的清倉庫存比一年前下降了 14 個百分點。因此，使我們能夠共同擴大我們的商品利潤。

So with the expansion to both last year and 2 years ago, we said that 2/3 of that leverage our expansion came from our fleet optimization essentially, and then the other 1/3 is coming from our ability to lean out promotions and be all of the activities around inventory capabilities that get our product to the right place at the right time in our -- so we think that we're in a very good spot, more room to go, but we're in a very healthy position currently with our inventory position.

因此，隨著去年和 2 年前的擴張，我們說我們擴張的 2/3 主要來自我們的車隊優化，然後另外 1/3 來自我們精簡促銷活動的能力圍繞庫存能力的活動讓我們的產品在正確的時間到達正確的位置 - 所以我們認為我們處於一個非常好的位置，還有更多的空間，但我們目前處於非常健康的位置與我們的庫存狀況。

And then in terms of weddings, that is always good news for our business because the most likely people to get engaged or people who were just in someone else's wedding. So we definitely try to make sure that we are using our targeted marketing efforts to reach those potential brides and grooms before they come into the engagement ring market. And we're ready. We're ready to serve them with our always-on bridal strategy. And we're ready with product this holiday season. So we'll definitely be looking forward to that.

然後就婚禮而言，這對我們的業務來說總是好消息，因為最有可能訂婚的人或者只是參加別人婚禮的人。因此，我們肯定會努力確保我們正在使用有針對性的營銷努力，在這些潛在的新娘和新郎進入訂婚戒指市場之前吸引他們。我們準備好了。我們已準備好通過我們始終在線的新娘策略為他們服務。我們已經準備好這個假期的產品了。所以我們肯定會很期待。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to management for any final remarks.

女士們，先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議交還給管理層，以便發表最後的評論。

Sure. Well, thank you again, everyone, for your engagement today. I'll just conclude by reinforcing that the results we're seeing demonstrate a healthier and more agile company at Signet and reaffirm that we have the right strategy, the right team and the financial strength to grow profitably and sustainably for the long term. We wish all of you the happiest of holidays this season, and we hope that you're able to celebrate safely and joyfully with your families and friends. Thank you.

當然。好吧，再次感謝大家今天的參與。最後，我將強調我們所看到的結果表明 Signet 公司更健康、更敏捷，並重申我們擁有正確的戰略、正確的團隊和財務實力，可以實現長期盈利和可持續增長。我們希望你們所有人在這個季節過得最開心，我們希望你們能夠與家人和朋友一起安全快樂地慶祝。謝謝你。

Good. Thank you, ma'am. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all so much for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

好的。謝謝你，女士。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們非常感謝大家參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。