NYSE:AKA a.k.a. Brands Q1 2023 Earnings Report $8.50 -0.08 (-0.89%) As of 04/17/2025 04:00 PM Eastern This is a fair market value price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast a.k.a. Brands EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.84Consensus EPS -$0.72Beat/MissMissed by -$0.12One Year Ago EPSN/Aa.k.a. Brands Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$120.49 millionExpected Revenue$120.00 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$490.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/Aa.k.a. Brands Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2023Date5/10/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, May 10, 2023Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming Earningsa.k.a. Brands' Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by a.k.a. Brands Q1 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 10, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Welcome to AKA Brands Holdings Corp. 1st Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note this conference is being recorded. Operator00:00:21At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Emily Schwartz. Emily, you may now begin. Speaker 100:00:27Good afternoon. Thank you for joining AKA Brands' Q1 2023 conference call to discuss the results released this afternoon, which can be found on our Web atir.aka brands.com. With me on the call today is Kiran Long, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you of the company's Safe Harbor language. Management may make forward looking statements, which refer to expectations, And uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. Speaker 100:01:02For further discussion of risks related to our business, please see our filings with the SEC. Please note, we assume no obligation to update any such forward looking statements. This call will contain non GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin. Reconciliations of these non GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in the earnings release furnished to the SEC and available on our website. The call will also contain certain numbers presented on a pro form a basis, which includes the impact of Culture Kings as if we had owned it for all periods and comparable periods described. Speaker 100:01:33With that, I'll turn the call over to Kieran. Speaker 200:01:36Thanks, Emily. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining the call today. Our first quarter results exceeded our expectations on both the top and bottom lines, driven by solid execution across the brands and our continued focus on managing the business prudently. We delivered net sales of $120,000,000 compared to our original expectations of between $113,000,000 $116,000,000 Importantly, we continue to balance growth and profit And I'm proud that we delivered $2,200,000 of adjusted EBITDA, which also exceeded our original expectations. We made great progress against our strategic initiatives in the quarter, and I'm also really proud of the efficiency improvements we made to our operations. Speaker 200:02:24A key highlight for the quarter was our diligent approach to managing our inventory. Notably, we ended the quarter with $112,000,000 in inventory, which is down 11% since the end of December 2022 and down 7% from the same period last year. Another highlight was that we continue to reduce our debt levels. We paid off over $11,000,000 of debt in the 1st quarter and paid off another $10,000,000 subsequent to quarter end. This brings our current debt levels down to $122,000,000 down from $144,000,000 from the end of fiscal 2022. Speaker 200:03:03We remain focused on strengthening our balance sheet and plan to continue to pay down our debt through the remainder of the year. I want to thank our teams for their hard work And execution to deliver a strong start to the year with 1st quarter performance that exceeded our expectations on both the top and bottom lines. We are laser focused on growing awareness with Gen Z and Melendium customers. On a trailing 12 month basis, we serve 3,600,000 customers, And we're confident that there is great potential for our brands to gain market share in the U. S. Speaker 200:03:38And globally. We believe the key to building durable next Generation Brands is to be everywhere our customers are. Our brands have mastered building authentic relationships directly with customers and providing great experiences. While direct to consumer remains our priority and the main source of our growth, So let me share some updates on our strategic initiatives and omni channel tests, and then I'll go into greater detail on our financials. Starting with Princess Polly, our largest brand. Speaker 200:04:18Princess Polly continues to be a top teen fashion website in the U. S. According to Piper Sandler's Taking Stock with Teen survey. And we're confident in the global potential for this brand. As mentioned, the newness is back at our brands and we're particularly excited by the newness of Princess Polly. Speaker 200:04:36As a reminder, Princess Polly used the test and reorder merchandise approach and they're able to get hundreds of new styles on their site and socials within a matter of weeks. In the Q1, they launched nearly 3,000 new styles and are seeing strong demand for newness, particularly in dresses, Swim and more casual festival attire as spring is in full swing in the U. S. The brand also continues to expand their sustainable low impact Swim and Inclusive Sizing Collections. As part of the Inclusive Sizing Collections, they're seeing high demand for petite styles, which is already outperforming expectations and more importantly, attracting new customers to the brand. Speaker 200:05:20As we mentioned last quarter, Princess Polly also launched a Princess Polly logo branded collection, which nearly sold out in the 1st few weeks, underscoring that brand affinity and loyalty is strong. On the marketing front, Princess Polly's priority is strategy and saw a lift in follower count, engagement and ROI in the Q1. Additionally, as part of their efforts to build brand awareness, they had a large spring break event in Miami, which was their first in person event since 2019. During the day, the Princess Polly team drove around in a branded Jeep giving out Princess Polly merchandise and gathering social media content. And at night, they held a private rooftop event for their top tier customers, influencers and college ambassadors. Speaker 200:06:17Feedback from customers and influencers was overwhelmingly positive with nearly 400 influencer posts omni channel initiatives across all of our brands to create more touch points and broaden our reach. Through surveys and focus group, we received feedback Princess Polly customers that they wanted to physically experience the brand in person, to be able to touch and feel the fabric, Try on items in a store and interact with Princess Polly Associates. I'm excited to announce that they have Officially signed a lease for the Princess Polly store, which we expect will open in the Century City Mall in Los Angeles in the Q3. This location is a perfect strategic fit for Princess Polly's 1st store given the high volume of Gen Z Millennials shopping the Open Air Mall daily. We look forward to the store opening and we'll develop and share plans for future Princess Polly stores based on the learnings from this initial store. Speaker 200:07:23As announced last quarter, Princess Polly also piloted their 1st wholesale partnership with Paxton. The initial test, which included select Princess Polly styles online and in 15 stores exceeded expectations with more styles selling out in just a few days. I'm excited to announce that given the success of the partnership, we will roll out select Princess Polly Styles to 35 more stores This initial customer excitement gives us great confidence about Princess Polly's potential in the U. S, both through direct to consumer and omni channels. Petal and Pop is also exploring ways to increase brand awareness through their own marketing efforts as well as through omni channel opportunities. Speaker 200:08:14Petal and Pub launched on target marketplace in March and continues to gain traction. As a reminder, we will carefully choose our wholesale and marketplace partners focusing on those that can truly amplify our brand awareness and drive new customer acquisition. Additionally, as I mentioned, Nuna's is back at our brands and Pedal and Puff launched more than 800 new styles on their own website in the Q1 and launched a new swim collection, which is seeing strong sell through. Paddle and Pub continues to leverage learnings from Princess Polly and is also leaning into TikTok and in person influencer events. They've grown their TikTok followers over 140% year over year. Speaker 200:08:58And in April, they hosted a 3 day influencer trip to Palm Springs, which generated over 18,000,000 social media impressions. Now turning to our streetwear brands. We continue to be very pleased with the acceleration of Culture Kings in the U. S. Since the flagship opened in Las Vegas in November. Speaker 200:09:19As many of you saw, the Culture Kings store in Las Vegas elevates the standard for retail with revolutionary in store events, including a DJ booth, half basketball court, recording studio, secret room and more. In the Q1, the Vegas store hosted several large events, which not only drove traffic to the store, but also generate viral hype and content for social media. They held an exclusive event with professional UFC fighter Jon Jones, which was so well attended that the line to enter the store was wrapped around the mall. They also activate the store space in innovative ways, Including a media workout with professional boxer Caleb Plant in a custom 18x18 boxing ring, a full recording studio takeover and songwriting workshop with Grammy winning artist, Eric Bellinger an in store live performance on the LED staircase by up and coming singer and rapper Roy Woods and recently they partnered with Playboy on an exhibit featuring vintage artifacts from Playboy timed with an exclusive merchandise collaboration. Culture Kings also partnered with Rolling Loud, The largest hip hop festival in the world with a culture king stage, unlimited capsule collection and in festival activations. Speaker 200:10:43The festival in LA saw over 185,000 attendees and was highly successful. We're just getting started expanding Culture Kings in the U. S. And we're excited by several innovative partnerships underway that will continue to amplify the brand in the U. S. Speaker 200:10:59And globally. Equally noteworthy is the continued success of Culture Kings in house design brands, which come at a higher gross margin and make up 7 of the top 10 brands by sales in both the Vegas store and online in the U. S. Culture Kings is also continuing to drive growth Through their emphasis on graphic tees and printed license collaboration, capitalizing on pop culture themes, higher gross margins and swift turnaround times. Some recent examples of successful collaborations with licensed properties include Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Batman, With upcoming releases of TRANSFORMERS to coincide with the new movie as well as WWE classics and UFC athlete printed T shirts. Speaker 200:11:48The Vegas store marked the official launch of Culture Kings in the U. S. And I'm pleased with the response from customers, vendors and potential partners. Since the launch of Pulte of Kings, we've received numerous inbound vendor requests and they recently signed on a number of third party footwear brands, including New Balance and Crocs, And they recently secured Puma, UGG, Clarks and Solomon. We're also particularly encouraged is leveraging Culture Kings' distribution platform to further expand their brand. Speaker 200:12:27In conjunction with Caito Plants Vegas event, Minimal collaborated with plans on an exclusive capsule collection, which exceeded sales expectations. We're also really excited that Minimal is resonating not only with sports fans, but also with athletes themselves. Minimal was spotted on NBA players Over 100 times this year pre and post games, and their outfits have featured on team, league and players socials. Now, I'll give you more detail on our financials before taking your questions. As mentioned for the Q1, net sales were 120,000,000 A decline of 19% compared to the Q1 last year, which exceeded our expectations. Speaker 200:13:10On a constant currency basis, Net sales were down 16% compared to last year. Total orders for the Q1 were $1,500,000 Up 7% on a 2 year stack and down 17% to last year. Order volume was impacted by lower marketing spend compared to last year, as well as a challenging macro backdrop, which impacted conversion. As we increased our marketing efforts throughout the quarter and improved product newness, We saw an improvement in traffic trends. We are pleased with the improvement, but remain cautiously optimistic as the macro background remains uncertain. Speaker 200:13:50Average order value of $80 was down 4% compared to the Q1 last year on a reported basis and flat in constant currency. As we accelerate the inflow of newness throughout the quarter, we are encouraged to see improvements in AOVs. We're also pleased with our industry leading return rate, which was approximately 17% for the Q1, which was relatively flat compared to last year. Now, I'll provide a few highlights from our 3 regions. The U. Speaker 200:14:22S, our largest market, continues to be our strongest region. Importantly, in the Q1, the U. S. Accounted for 60% of net sales compared to 52% last year, Demonstrating the shift to the U. S. Speaker 200:14:35Across our portfolio. 1st quarter net sales were $73,000,000 Up 44% on a 2 year stack on a pro form a basis and down 6% compared to last year, primarily due to macro factors, including softness in demand trends and the highly promotional macro environment. In Australia, net sales were 36,000,000 Down 31% compared to last year and down 27% on a constant currency basis. In the Q1, Australia accounted 30% of net sales, down from 35% last year. Australia remained challenging due to the macroeconomic environment We also continue to see an exaggerated shift of customers returning to stores post strict COVID lockdowns. Speaker 200:15:25Notably, Culture Kings stores significantly outperformed the online business. We currently operate 7 stores in Australia and look forward to opening a new We're in Melbourne in the 2nd quarter. Turning to the rest of the world. Net sales of $12,000,000 decreased 35% from the Q1 in the prior year. Our strategic decision to shift marketing dollars from the UK and Europe to our main regions, which have higher returns, Continues to negatively impact trends in these regions. Speaker 200:15:56Moving on to profitability. Gross margins in the Q1 were 56.9 percent compared to 56.8% in the same period last year, are up 10 basis points, driven by improved full price selling given the increased product newness. Selling expenses were $34,000,000 compared to $40,000,000 in Quarter of 2022. Selling expenses were 28.6 percent of net sales compared to 27.2 percent of net sales in the Q1 of 2020 Although the rates likely increased year over year, we have made productivity improvements in our fulfillment centers and outbound shipping, but the lower sales volume offset these improvements due to the higher fixed cost deleverage. Marketing expenses were $14,800,000 compared to $15,700,000 in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 200:16:52On a rate basis, marketing expenses were 12.3% of net sales, compared to 10.6% of net sales in the Q1 of 2022. Through the first We ramped up our marketing investments in line with the increased newness in the assortment, which drove more sessions, traffic and conversion. We are fully leveraging our flexible marketing model to achieve the highest returns in marketing spend. We continue to refine and further develop our marketing muscle across portfolio to attract new customers and enhance our relationships with existing customers. General and administrative expenses were $25,900,000 compared to $24,800,000 in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 200:17:38On a rate basis, G and A expenses were 21.5 percent of net sales compared to 16.7% of net sales in the Q1 of 2022. The change on a rate basis was driven by net sales deleverage. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $2,200,000 which exceeded our expectations when we gave our guidance at the beginning of the year. This compares to $10,700,000 in the Q1 last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the Q1 of 2023 was 1.8% compared to 7.2% in the same period last year. Speaker 200:18:15Net loss was $9,600,000 or $0.07 per share in the Q1 of 2023 compared to net income of 1,500,000 or $0.01 per share in the same period last year. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $30,000,000 in cash cash equivalents and $132,000,000 in debt. At the end of the Q1, we had total liquidity of approximately $50,000,000 As I mentioned earlier, I'm pleased that we paid down $11,400,000 of debt in the Q1 and subsequent to the quarter end, we made additional payments of 10,000,000 bringing our total debt pay down to more than $21,000,000 year to date. The teams have been hard at work managing the inventory, We're very pleased with the improvement. Speaker 200:19:01Inventory at the end of the quarter was $112,000,000 compared to $121,000,000 at the end of the Q1 of 2022. Total inventory dollars were down 7% and units were down 14% compared to last year. We feel confident in the composition, newness and quality of our inventory and we expect to see continued sequential decline in inventory dollars and units in fiscal 2023 on a constant currency basis. Touching on cash flow. In the quarter, we used $3,000,000 of net cash, which compares to $15,000,000 in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 200:19:39The reduction in cash use was primarily driven by more prudent inventory management. Turning to our outlook, as we look at the remainder of 2023 and beyond, we're excited by our brand's growth initiatives and the channel expansion opportunities to drive heightened awareness. That said, we continue to manage the business prudently and will balance growth and profitability. We are controlling the controllables and we continue to find efficiencies in our operations, improve our inventory position, reduce our debt and effectively strengthen our balance sheet. Overall, we are adjusting our guidance to reflect our stronger than anticipated Q1. Speaker 200:20:20We now expect to deliver between $575,000,000 $605,000,000 in net sales and between 36 and $38,000,000 in EBITDA. We still anticipate that the first half of the year will be more challenging from a sales comparison perspective Due to our strong performance in the first half of last year, and we anticipate comps easing in the back half. For the Q2, we expect to deliver net sales between $137,000,000 $140,000,000 And adjusted EBITDA in the range of $5,500,000 $6,000,000 To give more color on the middle of the P and L, We expect gross margin and marketing rates in the Q2 to be similar to the rates in the Q2 last year. And we anticipate selling expenses to improve on a rate basis due to the operational efficiencies we've been working on in the business. Before I take your questions, I want to let you know that Jill continues to work through her medical issues, but she's doing well and appreciates everyone's well wishes. Speaker 200:21:26To conclude, our go forward priorities are clear. We're heads down executing on our growth strategies and exploring new ways to broaden our reach. We will continue to operate with flexibility and discipline, taking the necessary steps to strengthen our financial foundation and reinvest in our business. We're optimistic about the future of our brands and business model and remain committed to delivering both growth and profit over the long term. Now, we'll open it up for questions. Operator00:21:56Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. Thank you. And our first question today is from the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowen. Please proceed with your questions. Speaker 300:22:35Thank you. This is Joan Lau for Oliver. Thanks for taking our question. Just curious what gives you confidence about the second half rebound in terms of sales growth And considering all regions in the U. S. Speaker 300:22:48And Australia, how that would sort of trend? And then also if you can comment on the current promotional environment across regions and if you are sort of happy with your current inventory position as well. Speaker 200:23:04Thanks, Joanne. I think first, as we kind of think about the back half, I think really, we're happy that we kind of did a little bit better than we expected in Q1 and I'm particularly happy to see the U. S. Up 44% on a 2 year stack and really see it's good to see customers again really engage With the brands. I think as we think about the back half, we're very focused on just execution, balancing growth and profit and making progress on those growth initiatives that we've talked about. Speaker 200:23:41Our Q2 guidance and back half guidance, Q2 certainly contemplates what we're seeing going on at the moment with customers. I think, I suppose looking forward to getting into the back half where comps Ease for us, slightly relative to last year. And then just on a regional basis, I think we continue to see that bookable region is quite different. We're glad now the U. S. Speaker 200:24:09Is 60% of the overall business. And I think as we went through the quarter, we did see promotional activity there lessened somewhat, and that came as We got into more newness of inventory. And with that, we were able to spend more into marketing and saw more efficiency there. And so just kind of Good to see the progress there. I think we still did see conversion pressure in the U. Speaker 200:24:34S. I think the consumer is mindful of what they're spending. But look, we are seeing strength in kind of summer relevant products and so kind of looking for that progress to continue. I think in Australia, it's obviously more challenging and we see that in the results. I think the consumer there is pressured with inflation and interest rates And the kind of dramatic shift back to stores, we do see that we have fairly similar performance to the comps that we look at in the region, But we're not looking for the comps to change there anytime soon. Speaker 300:25:14Got it. And just on the promotional environment, what are you seeing there and how you position with your inventory? Speaker 200:25:23Yes, thanks. It's for us, I think it's really great to see that inventory is down 7% year over year and 11% in units and kind of really good progress there and being able to do that and hold margins flat year over year. I think really is a testament to the power of the test and repeat model that we have. I think we still see Promotions elevated, certainly elevated from where they were last year. I think they sequentially have eased since Q4, but We are expecting them to remain elevated as we head into as we go through Q2. Speaker 200:25:59And that's why I think we expect our margins to be pretty Our gross margin to be pretty flat year over year. Speaker 300:26:07Got it. Thank you so much. Operator00:26:11Our next question is from the line of Edward Yruma with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your questions. Speaker 400:26:19And Jill, if you're listening, best wishes and we're pulling for you. I guess first, we've had some companies report kind of a better trend Kind of quarter to date or current 5 weeks with March having maybe seen a trough. I guess I know you've talked about some better response than newness, but I was wondering if you could kind of Give a little bit of color on the intra quarter cadence and exit trajectory. And then second, as you kind of explore some of these alternative channels for Princess Polly, if it's wholesale, The store opening, I guess, kind of in the medium term, what percent of sales do you think they will account for? Or are you still at this point really much in test? Speaker 400:26:53Thank you. Speaker 200:26:55Thanks, Ed. Yes, so as we think about trends going through the quarter, I think, Certainly, start of the quarter, as we talked about on our last call, really that heightened promotional activity from that was there in Q4 Continued in through the first half of the quarter. I think as we saw that easing, we were also making really good progress And just the newness of inventory, particularly across the women's brands. And with that, we were able to spend into more marketing. We did see our comps get better as we spent into that additional marketing. Speaker 200:27:34And I think really coming For more traffic, we're certainly seeing that conversion is still challenged as we go through the 1st kind of 4 months of the year. I would say what we're seeing in the first part of Q2 is pretty similar trends to what we saw towards the end of We haven't seen a big change in trend over that kind of March, April into early May period. So that's Pretty consistent at the moment. And then as we think about these kind of omni initiatives, Really, I think for us, we're look, we're really happy that we are predominantly a direct to consumer business, and a direct to consumer business That consistently and has always generated EBITDA, back now generating cash, which is great. And we are looking for That part of our business to be continues to be our main focus and our main growth driver. Speaker 200:28:34Having said that, we do understand that It's key to being a next generation brand. It's just being everywhere our customers are. And so, we are looking to Introduce our brands to just more and more customers, build brand awareness and ultimately increase the total addressable market For each of these brands, and that's why we're doing these omni tests. I think near term, we don't have any set percentage, Ed, on kind of what we're looking to get out of any of these channels. I would say all of the brands are doing tests on different omni channel opportunities In the last couple of months, we're learning a lot. Speaker 200:29:13We're continuing to learn. And I think we'll take those and Obviously, leaning into that 1st Princess Polly store, which we're looking forward to that opening in Q3, but we'll continue to push on those initiatives as we go through the year. Thank you. Operator00:29:32The next question is from the line of Alice Zhao with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 500:29:38Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Can you please elaborate on just the gross margin puts and takes throughout the year? And just wanted to clarify, was that flat gross margin guidance for 2Q specifically? And then just wanted to confirm this for the Full year, you're still expecting about 100 basis points of improvement as we lap some of the freight cost and product mix impacts. Speaker 500:30:02Thank you. Speaker 200:30:04Hi. Yes. Thanks, Alice. Maybe I'll take those backwards. Yes, I think over the year, we're expecting it about 100 basis points of improvement and we see that coming in the back half of the year. Speaker 200:30:19What we saw in Q1 is that we were flat Year over year on gross margin. And look, really pleased that we were able to do that while bringing down our inventory, as I talked about, and doing it in I think we're expecting the same in Q2 that we will be flat In gross margins year over year. And for us, that's the promotional environment that we're seeing today will continue, but we really lean in Continue to lean into that test and repeat model. And with that, continue to bring on product newness, and we feel that will offset some of that promotional We are obviously starting to get the benefit of lower inbound freight costs as well. And that's also helping as we kind of as we take advantage of the newness. Speaker 600:31:13That's super helpful. Speaker 500:31:14Thank you. And then secondly, I was curious to hear more about the Target launch. You talked a bit about the Paxon. I'm just curious what Percent of assortment are available on both wholesale partners and throughout the year, are you planning to Make more larger percentages of the assortment available. Speaker 200:31:35Sure. Thanks, Alice. Yes. So Petal and Platts puts our Genie Test on target on their curated marketplace. We're seeing some really nice results there. Speaker 200:31:49They have probably 60% of their assortment, which is obviously quite a bit smaller And then, Polly. On target, it went up in probably mid February. We are seeing nice progress As we've kind of gone through the last 3 or 4 months with it, and we're as we learn kind of improving the experience that customers have there, Adding reviews, adding size charts, just kind of basic block and tackling stuff. I think we are seeing that it is introducing these brands to different And we are able to clearly see that. And we also see that different parts of the assortment is doing has It's a different share and a different impact on target. Speaker 200:32:34So I think at this stage, learning some A lot of nice things. We see a lot of opportunity there. We're still very much in test mode, and we'll update you again next Operator00:33:00The next question is coming from the line of Dana Telsey of Telsey Group. Speaker 600:33:05Hi, good afternoon. And also please extend our thoughts of getting well quickly to Jill. As you think about the active customer count, it looks like the active customer count from the Q4 to the Q1 Change to the negative, what did you see there? What did you see by brand? How did it differ? Speaker 600:33:24And then also in terms of Petal and Pup and Princess Polly and Culture Kings, any difference in level of promotions By brand and what you're seeing or what you're doing in the environment? Thank you. Speaker 200:33:42Thanks, Dana. Yes. On active customers, we saw a decline of about 5% year over year and sequentially from Q4. And just as a reminder, that's a trailing 12 month number. And as we expected, I think Pulling back by 25% on volume of marketing dollars in Q4 certainly impacted our active customer count. Speaker 200:34:09And we saw that as we kind of went through the Q1 as well. It was certainly more impacted early in the quarter. I think as we saw newness return into the brands, marketing effectiveness improved and we're able to increase our marketing dollars. We did see the count improve. I would say we've seen it more on repeat customers and the older cohorts coming back first. Speaker 200:34:35And I think some nice improvement there as we've gone through the year and starting to see them kind of return to the historic repeat rates that We have seen we're still down on new customer counts. And I think that's Based on kind of what we're seeing on cash and in the market, that's very much understandable. I think we expect to be down on active customers probably as we go Through Q2 and Q3 of this year and would expect to be back kind of positive in Q4. But look, I think that's Partly why we are looking at these other omni channel initiatives as well. We want to get these brands, introduce them to continue to introduce new customers to the brand, build awareness And then, Dana, on promotions sorry, just on access by brand, I would say we pretty much saw the same percentage impact across the brands. Speaker 200:35:29So no huge difference on a and that was on a regional basis as well In the U. S, although I would say kind of Culture Kings in the U. S. Is did see positive active customer growth And that really coming from us opening the store in Vegas in November and just that really is having a positive impact for us in the U. S. Speaker 200:35:53And then just promotions by region, really similar across the regions. I would say Just that heightened promotional activity was certainly there in the quarter, easing as we went through the quarter. And I would say, we probably saw we see customers reacting more to promotions in More to promotions in Australia than we see in the U. S. They're a little bit more sensitive to those. Speaker 600:36:19Thank you. And just one follow-up, debt paydowns, how are you thinking of debt paydowns for the balance of the year? Speaker 200:36:26Yes. Thanks, Dana. I'm glad to be talking about that we're paying down the debt and that we've paid down $21,000,000 so far year to date. Look, we're going to continue to manage the business prudently, strengthen the balance sheet and bringing down Our inventory dollars sequentially and bringing down our debt dollars sequentially quarter over quarter as we go through the year is a focus for us and important for us. We don't have any set number there, but we're just going to keep making progress as we go through the year. Speaker 600:37:01Thank you. Operator00:37:04The next question is from the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 200:37:10Good afternoon, everyone. This is Jesse Solverson on for Ike. Can you just refresh us on the composition of the $120,000,000 or so in current Ending debt and what covenants, if any, are associated with the tranches? Thank you. Sure. Speaker 200:37:25Thanks, Jesse. Yes. So Within that debt, and it was $130,000,000 at the end of the quarter. Within there, there's $30,000,000 of revolver, and we paid down an additional $10,000,000 on that revolver post end of quarter. Then there's $104,000,000 of term debt. Speaker 200:37:47Covenants are we've got a 3.5x from a leverage perspective and about 1.25 from a fixed charge coverage With obviously some add backs for one off stuff, we're well within all of our debt compliance covenants and We are feeling good shape overall about the debt, and we look to continue to bring that down as we go through the year. Great. Thank you very much. Operator00:38:18Thank you. At this time, we've reached the end of the question and answer session. I'll turn the call back over to Kieran Long for closing remarks. Speaker 200:38:26Thank you all for joining. We really appreciate your participation. Thank you for the well wishes for Jill. I know she's on the call listening today, and We talk to her quite often. Yes, thank you. Speaker 200:38:38Good to hear from you all, and thanks. Operator00:38:41This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference Calla.k.a. Brands Q1 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) a.k.a. Brands Earnings Headlinesa.k.a. Brands rises 13.8%April 3, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.coma.k.a. Brands rises 7.1%April 2, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comTrump’s treachery Trump’s Final Reset Inside the shocking plot to re-engineer America’s financial system…and why you need to move your money now.April 18, 2025 | Porter & Company (Ad)a.k.a. Brands falls -9.0%April 1, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.coma.k.a. Brands rises 10.7%March 26, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comExpert Outlook: a.k.a. Brands Holding Through The Eyes Of 8 AnalystsMarch 26, 2025 | nasdaq.comSee More a.k.a. Brands Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like a.k.a. Brands? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on a.k.a. Brands and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About a.k.a. Brandsa.k.a. Brands (NYSE:AKA) operates a portfolio of online fashion brands in the United States, Australia, and internationally. The company offers streetwear apparel, dresses, tops, bottoms, shoes, headwear, and accessories through its online stores under the Princess Polly, Petal & Pup, Culture Kings, and mnml brands. It also operates physical stores under the Culture Kings brand. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.View a.k.a. 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There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Welcome to AKA Brands Holdings Corp. 1st Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note this conference is being recorded. Operator00:00:21At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Emily Schwartz. Emily, you may now begin. Speaker 100:00:27Good afternoon. Thank you for joining AKA Brands' Q1 2023 conference call to discuss the results released this afternoon, which can be found on our Web atir.aka brands.com. With me on the call today is Kiran Long, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you of the company's Safe Harbor language. Management may make forward looking statements, which refer to expectations, And uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. Speaker 100:01:02For further discussion of risks related to our business, please see our filings with the SEC. Please note, we assume no obligation to update any such forward looking statements. This call will contain non GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin. Reconciliations of these non GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in the earnings release furnished to the SEC and available on our website. The call will also contain certain numbers presented on a pro form a basis, which includes the impact of Culture Kings as if we had owned it for all periods and comparable periods described. Speaker 100:01:33With that, I'll turn the call over to Kieran. Speaker 200:01:36Thanks, Emily. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining the call today. Our first quarter results exceeded our expectations on both the top and bottom lines, driven by solid execution across the brands and our continued focus on managing the business prudently. We delivered net sales of $120,000,000 compared to our original expectations of between $113,000,000 $116,000,000 Importantly, we continue to balance growth and profit And I'm proud that we delivered $2,200,000 of adjusted EBITDA, which also exceeded our original expectations. We made great progress against our strategic initiatives in the quarter, and I'm also really proud of the efficiency improvements we made to our operations. Speaker 200:02:24A key highlight for the quarter was our diligent approach to managing our inventory. Notably, we ended the quarter with $112,000,000 in inventory, which is down 11% since the end of December 2022 and down 7% from the same period last year. Another highlight was that we continue to reduce our debt levels. We paid off over $11,000,000 of debt in the 1st quarter and paid off another $10,000,000 subsequent to quarter end. This brings our current debt levels down to $122,000,000 down from $144,000,000 from the end of fiscal 2022. Speaker 200:03:03We remain focused on strengthening our balance sheet and plan to continue to pay down our debt through the remainder of the year. I want to thank our teams for their hard work And execution to deliver a strong start to the year with 1st quarter performance that exceeded our expectations on both the top and bottom lines. We are laser focused on growing awareness with Gen Z and Melendium customers. On a trailing 12 month basis, we serve 3,600,000 customers, And we're confident that there is great potential for our brands to gain market share in the U. S. Speaker 200:03:38And globally. We believe the key to building durable next Generation Brands is to be everywhere our customers are. Our brands have mastered building authentic relationships directly with customers and providing great experiences. While direct to consumer remains our priority and the main source of our growth, So let me share some updates on our strategic initiatives and omni channel tests, and then I'll go into greater detail on our financials. Starting with Princess Polly, our largest brand. Speaker 200:04:18Princess Polly continues to be a top teen fashion website in the U. S. According to Piper Sandler's Taking Stock with Teen survey. And we're confident in the global potential for this brand. As mentioned, the newness is back at our brands and we're particularly excited by the newness of Princess Polly. Speaker 200:04:36As a reminder, Princess Polly used the test and reorder merchandise approach and they're able to get hundreds of new styles on their site and socials within a matter of weeks. In the Q1, they launched nearly 3,000 new styles and are seeing strong demand for newness, particularly in dresses, Swim and more casual festival attire as spring is in full swing in the U. S. The brand also continues to expand their sustainable low impact Swim and Inclusive Sizing Collections. As part of the Inclusive Sizing Collections, they're seeing high demand for petite styles, which is already outperforming expectations and more importantly, attracting new customers to the brand. Speaker 200:05:20As we mentioned last quarter, Princess Polly also launched a Princess Polly logo branded collection, which nearly sold out in the 1st few weeks, underscoring that brand affinity and loyalty is strong. On the marketing front, Princess Polly's priority is strategy and saw a lift in follower count, engagement and ROI in the Q1. Additionally, as part of their efforts to build brand awareness, they had a large spring break event in Miami, which was their first in person event since 2019. During the day, the Princess Polly team drove around in a branded Jeep giving out Princess Polly merchandise and gathering social media content. And at night, they held a private rooftop event for their top tier customers, influencers and college ambassadors. Speaker 200:06:17Feedback from customers and influencers was overwhelmingly positive with nearly 400 influencer posts omni channel initiatives across all of our brands to create more touch points and broaden our reach. Through surveys and focus group, we received feedback Princess Polly customers that they wanted to physically experience the brand in person, to be able to touch and feel the fabric, Try on items in a store and interact with Princess Polly Associates. I'm excited to announce that they have Officially signed a lease for the Princess Polly store, which we expect will open in the Century City Mall in Los Angeles in the Q3. This location is a perfect strategic fit for Princess Polly's 1st store given the high volume of Gen Z Millennials shopping the Open Air Mall daily. We look forward to the store opening and we'll develop and share plans for future Princess Polly stores based on the learnings from this initial store. Speaker 200:07:23As announced last quarter, Princess Polly also piloted their 1st wholesale partnership with Paxton. The initial test, which included select Princess Polly styles online and in 15 stores exceeded expectations with more styles selling out in just a few days. I'm excited to announce that given the success of the partnership, we will roll out select Princess Polly Styles to 35 more stores This initial customer excitement gives us great confidence about Princess Polly's potential in the U. S, both through direct to consumer and omni channels. Petal and Pop is also exploring ways to increase brand awareness through their own marketing efforts as well as through omni channel opportunities. Speaker 200:08:14Petal and Pub launched on target marketplace in March and continues to gain traction. As a reminder, we will carefully choose our wholesale and marketplace partners focusing on those that can truly amplify our brand awareness and drive new customer acquisition. Additionally, as I mentioned, Nuna's is back at our brands and Pedal and Puff launched more than 800 new styles on their own website in the Q1 and launched a new swim collection, which is seeing strong sell through. Paddle and Pub continues to leverage learnings from Princess Polly and is also leaning into TikTok and in person influencer events. They've grown their TikTok followers over 140% year over year. Speaker 200:08:58And in April, they hosted a 3 day influencer trip to Palm Springs, which generated over 18,000,000 social media impressions. Now turning to our streetwear brands. We continue to be very pleased with the acceleration of Culture Kings in the U. S. Since the flagship opened in Las Vegas in November. Speaker 200:09:19As many of you saw, the Culture Kings store in Las Vegas elevates the standard for retail with revolutionary in store events, including a DJ booth, half basketball court, recording studio, secret room and more. In the Q1, the Vegas store hosted several large events, which not only drove traffic to the store, but also generate viral hype and content for social media. They held an exclusive event with professional UFC fighter Jon Jones, which was so well attended that the line to enter the store was wrapped around the mall. They also activate the store space in innovative ways, Including a media workout with professional boxer Caleb Plant in a custom 18x18 boxing ring, a full recording studio takeover and songwriting workshop with Grammy winning artist, Eric Bellinger an in store live performance on the LED staircase by up and coming singer and rapper Roy Woods and recently they partnered with Playboy on an exhibit featuring vintage artifacts from Playboy timed with an exclusive merchandise collaboration. Culture Kings also partnered with Rolling Loud, The largest hip hop festival in the world with a culture king stage, unlimited capsule collection and in festival activations. Speaker 200:10:43The festival in LA saw over 185,000 attendees and was highly successful. We're just getting started expanding Culture Kings in the U. S. And we're excited by several innovative partnerships underway that will continue to amplify the brand in the U. S. Speaker 200:10:59And globally. Equally noteworthy is the continued success of Culture Kings in house design brands, which come at a higher gross margin and make up 7 of the top 10 brands by sales in both the Vegas store and online in the U. S. Culture Kings is also continuing to drive growth Through their emphasis on graphic tees and printed license collaboration, capitalizing on pop culture themes, higher gross margins and swift turnaround times. Some recent examples of successful collaborations with licensed properties include Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Batman, With upcoming releases of TRANSFORMERS to coincide with the new movie as well as WWE classics and UFC athlete printed T shirts. Speaker 200:11:48The Vegas store marked the official launch of Culture Kings in the U. S. And I'm pleased with the response from customers, vendors and potential partners. Since the launch of Pulte of Kings, we've received numerous inbound vendor requests and they recently signed on a number of third party footwear brands, including New Balance and Crocs, And they recently secured Puma, UGG, Clarks and Solomon. We're also particularly encouraged is leveraging Culture Kings' distribution platform to further expand their brand. Speaker 200:12:27In conjunction with Caito Plants Vegas event, Minimal collaborated with plans on an exclusive capsule collection, which exceeded sales expectations. We're also really excited that Minimal is resonating not only with sports fans, but also with athletes themselves. Minimal was spotted on NBA players Over 100 times this year pre and post games, and their outfits have featured on team, league and players socials. Now, I'll give you more detail on our financials before taking your questions. As mentioned for the Q1, net sales were 120,000,000 A decline of 19% compared to the Q1 last year, which exceeded our expectations. Speaker 200:13:10On a constant currency basis, Net sales were down 16% compared to last year. Total orders for the Q1 were $1,500,000 Up 7% on a 2 year stack and down 17% to last year. Order volume was impacted by lower marketing spend compared to last year, as well as a challenging macro backdrop, which impacted conversion. As we increased our marketing efforts throughout the quarter and improved product newness, We saw an improvement in traffic trends. We are pleased with the improvement, but remain cautiously optimistic as the macro background remains uncertain. Speaker 200:13:50Average order value of $80 was down 4% compared to the Q1 last year on a reported basis and flat in constant currency. As we accelerate the inflow of newness throughout the quarter, we are encouraged to see improvements in AOVs. We're also pleased with our industry leading return rate, which was approximately 17% for the Q1, which was relatively flat compared to last year. Now, I'll provide a few highlights from our 3 regions. The U. Speaker 200:14:22S, our largest market, continues to be our strongest region. Importantly, in the Q1, the U. S. Accounted for 60% of net sales compared to 52% last year, Demonstrating the shift to the U. S. Speaker 200:14:35Across our portfolio. 1st quarter net sales were $73,000,000 Up 44% on a 2 year stack on a pro form a basis and down 6% compared to last year, primarily due to macro factors, including softness in demand trends and the highly promotional macro environment. In Australia, net sales were 36,000,000 Down 31% compared to last year and down 27% on a constant currency basis. In the Q1, Australia accounted 30% of net sales, down from 35% last year. Australia remained challenging due to the macroeconomic environment We also continue to see an exaggerated shift of customers returning to stores post strict COVID lockdowns. Speaker 200:15:25Notably, Culture Kings stores significantly outperformed the online business. We currently operate 7 stores in Australia and look forward to opening a new We're in Melbourne in the 2nd quarter. Turning to the rest of the world. Net sales of $12,000,000 decreased 35% from the Q1 in the prior year. Our strategic decision to shift marketing dollars from the UK and Europe to our main regions, which have higher returns, Continues to negatively impact trends in these regions. Speaker 200:15:56Moving on to profitability. Gross margins in the Q1 were 56.9 percent compared to 56.8% in the same period last year, are up 10 basis points, driven by improved full price selling given the increased product newness. Selling expenses were $34,000,000 compared to $40,000,000 in Quarter of 2022. Selling expenses were 28.6 percent of net sales compared to 27.2 percent of net sales in the Q1 of 2020 Although the rates likely increased year over year, we have made productivity improvements in our fulfillment centers and outbound shipping, but the lower sales volume offset these improvements due to the higher fixed cost deleverage. Marketing expenses were $14,800,000 compared to $15,700,000 in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 200:16:52On a rate basis, marketing expenses were 12.3% of net sales, compared to 10.6% of net sales in the Q1 of 2022. Through the first We ramped up our marketing investments in line with the increased newness in the assortment, which drove more sessions, traffic and conversion. We are fully leveraging our flexible marketing model to achieve the highest returns in marketing spend. We continue to refine and further develop our marketing muscle across portfolio to attract new customers and enhance our relationships with existing customers. General and administrative expenses were $25,900,000 compared to $24,800,000 in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 200:17:38On a rate basis, G and A expenses were 21.5 percent of net sales compared to 16.7% of net sales in the Q1 of 2022. The change on a rate basis was driven by net sales deleverage. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $2,200,000 which exceeded our expectations when we gave our guidance at the beginning of the year. This compares to $10,700,000 in the Q1 last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the Q1 of 2023 was 1.8% compared to 7.2% in the same period last year. Speaker 200:18:15Net loss was $9,600,000 or $0.07 per share in the Q1 of 2023 compared to net income of 1,500,000 or $0.01 per share in the same period last year. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $30,000,000 in cash cash equivalents and $132,000,000 in debt. At the end of the Q1, we had total liquidity of approximately $50,000,000 As I mentioned earlier, I'm pleased that we paid down $11,400,000 of debt in the Q1 and subsequent to the quarter end, we made additional payments of 10,000,000 bringing our total debt pay down to more than $21,000,000 year to date. The teams have been hard at work managing the inventory, We're very pleased with the improvement. Speaker 200:19:01Inventory at the end of the quarter was $112,000,000 compared to $121,000,000 at the end of the Q1 of 2022. Total inventory dollars were down 7% and units were down 14% compared to last year. We feel confident in the composition, newness and quality of our inventory and we expect to see continued sequential decline in inventory dollars and units in fiscal 2023 on a constant currency basis. Touching on cash flow. In the quarter, we used $3,000,000 of net cash, which compares to $15,000,000 in the Q1 of 2022. Speaker 200:19:39The reduction in cash use was primarily driven by more prudent inventory management. Turning to our outlook, as we look at the remainder of 2023 and beyond, we're excited by our brand's growth initiatives and the channel expansion opportunities to drive heightened awareness. That said, we continue to manage the business prudently and will balance growth and profitability. We are controlling the controllables and we continue to find efficiencies in our operations, improve our inventory position, reduce our debt and effectively strengthen our balance sheet. Overall, we are adjusting our guidance to reflect our stronger than anticipated Q1. Speaker 200:20:20We now expect to deliver between $575,000,000 $605,000,000 in net sales and between 36 and $38,000,000 in EBITDA. We still anticipate that the first half of the year will be more challenging from a sales comparison perspective Due to our strong performance in the first half of last year, and we anticipate comps easing in the back half. For the Q2, we expect to deliver net sales between $137,000,000 $140,000,000 And adjusted EBITDA in the range of $5,500,000 $6,000,000 To give more color on the middle of the P and L, We expect gross margin and marketing rates in the Q2 to be similar to the rates in the Q2 last year. And we anticipate selling expenses to improve on a rate basis due to the operational efficiencies we've been working on in the business. Before I take your questions, I want to let you know that Jill continues to work through her medical issues, but she's doing well and appreciates everyone's well wishes. Speaker 200:21:26To conclude, our go forward priorities are clear. We're heads down executing on our growth strategies and exploring new ways to broaden our reach. We will continue to operate with flexibility and discipline, taking the necessary steps to strengthen our financial foundation and reinvest in our business. We're optimistic about the future of our brands and business model and remain committed to delivering both growth and profit over the long term. Now, we'll open it up for questions. Operator00:21:56Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. Thank you. And our first question today is from the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowen. Please proceed with your questions. Speaker 300:22:35Thank you. This is Joan Lau for Oliver. Thanks for taking our question. Just curious what gives you confidence about the second half rebound in terms of sales growth And considering all regions in the U. S. Speaker 300:22:48And Australia, how that would sort of trend? And then also if you can comment on the current promotional environment across regions and if you are sort of happy with your current inventory position as well. Speaker 200:23:04Thanks, Joanne. I think first, as we kind of think about the back half, I think really, we're happy that we kind of did a little bit better than we expected in Q1 and I'm particularly happy to see the U. S. Up 44% on a 2 year stack and really see it's good to see customers again really engage With the brands. I think as we think about the back half, we're very focused on just execution, balancing growth and profit and making progress on those growth initiatives that we've talked about. Speaker 200:23:41Our Q2 guidance and back half guidance, Q2 certainly contemplates what we're seeing going on at the moment with customers. I think, I suppose looking forward to getting into the back half where comps Ease for us, slightly relative to last year. And then just on a regional basis, I think we continue to see that bookable region is quite different. We're glad now the U. S. Speaker 200:24:09Is 60% of the overall business. And I think as we went through the quarter, we did see promotional activity there lessened somewhat, and that came as We got into more newness of inventory. And with that, we were able to spend more into marketing and saw more efficiency there. And so just kind of Good to see the progress there. I think we still did see conversion pressure in the U. Speaker 200:24:34S. I think the consumer is mindful of what they're spending. But look, we are seeing strength in kind of summer relevant products and so kind of looking for that progress to continue. I think in Australia, it's obviously more challenging and we see that in the results. I think the consumer there is pressured with inflation and interest rates And the kind of dramatic shift back to stores, we do see that we have fairly similar performance to the comps that we look at in the region, But we're not looking for the comps to change there anytime soon. Speaker 300:25:14Got it. And just on the promotional environment, what are you seeing there and how you position with your inventory? Speaker 200:25:23Yes, thanks. It's for us, I think it's really great to see that inventory is down 7% year over year and 11% in units and kind of really good progress there and being able to do that and hold margins flat year over year. I think really is a testament to the power of the test and repeat model that we have. I think we still see Promotions elevated, certainly elevated from where they were last year. I think they sequentially have eased since Q4, but We are expecting them to remain elevated as we head into as we go through Q2. Speaker 200:25:59And that's why I think we expect our margins to be pretty Our gross margin to be pretty flat year over year. Speaker 300:26:07Got it. Thank you so much. Operator00:26:11Our next question is from the line of Edward Yruma with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your questions. Speaker 400:26:19And Jill, if you're listening, best wishes and we're pulling for you. I guess first, we've had some companies report kind of a better trend Kind of quarter to date or current 5 weeks with March having maybe seen a trough. I guess I know you've talked about some better response than newness, but I was wondering if you could kind of Give a little bit of color on the intra quarter cadence and exit trajectory. And then second, as you kind of explore some of these alternative channels for Princess Polly, if it's wholesale, The store opening, I guess, kind of in the medium term, what percent of sales do you think they will account for? Or are you still at this point really much in test? Speaker 400:26:53Thank you. Speaker 200:26:55Thanks, Ed. Yes, so as we think about trends going through the quarter, I think, Certainly, start of the quarter, as we talked about on our last call, really that heightened promotional activity from that was there in Q4 Continued in through the first half of the quarter. I think as we saw that easing, we were also making really good progress And just the newness of inventory, particularly across the women's brands. And with that, we were able to spend into more marketing. We did see our comps get better as we spent into that additional marketing. Speaker 200:27:34And I think really coming For more traffic, we're certainly seeing that conversion is still challenged as we go through the 1st kind of 4 months of the year. I would say what we're seeing in the first part of Q2 is pretty similar trends to what we saw towards the end of We haven't seen a big change in trend over that kind of March, April into early May period. So that's Pretty consistent at the moment. And then as we think about these kind of omni initiatives, Really, I think for us, we're look, we're really happy that we are predominantly a direct to consumer business, and a direct to consumer business That consistently and has always generated EBITDA, back now generating cash, which is great. And we are looking for That part of our business to be continues to be our main focus and our main growth driver. Speaker 200:28:34Having said that, we do understand that It's key to being a next generation brand. It's just being everywhere our customers are. And so, we are looking to Introduce our brands to just more and more customers, build brand awareness and ultimately increase the total addressable market For each of these brands, and that's why we're doing these omni tests. I think near term, we don't have any set percentage, Ed, on kind of what we're looking to get out of any of these channels. I would say all of the brands are doing tests on different omni channel opportunities In the last couple of months, we're learning a lot. Speaker 200:29:13We're continuing to learn. And I think we'll take those and Obviously, leaning into that 1st Princess Polly store, which we're looking forward to that opening in Q3, but we'll continue to push on those initiatives as we go through the year. Thank you. Operator00:29:32The next question is from the line of Alice Zhao with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 500:29:38Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Can you please elaborate on just the gross margin puts and takes throughout the year? And just wanted to clarify, was that flat gross margin guidance for 2Q specifically? And then just wanted to confirm this for the Full year, you're still expecting about 100 basis points of improvement as we lap some of the freight cost and product mix impacts. Speaker 500:30:02Thank you. Speaker 200:30:04Hi. Yes. Thanks, Alice. Maybe I'll take those backwards. Yes, I think over the year, we're expecting it about 100 basis points of improvement and we see that coming in the back half of the year. Speaker 200:30:19What we saw in Q1 is that we were flat Year over year on gross margin. And look, really pleased that we were able to do that while bringing down our inventory, as I talked about, and doing it in I think we're expecting the same in Q2 that we will be flat In gross margins year over year. And for us, that's the promotional environment that we're seeing today will continue, but we really lean in Continue to lean into that test and repeat model. And with that, continue to bring on product newness, and we feel that will offset some of that promotional We are obviously starting to get the benefit of lower inbound freight costs as well. And that's also helping as we kind of as we take advantage of the newness. Speaker 600:31:13That's super helpful. Speaker 500:31:14Thank you. And then secondly, I was curious to hear more about the Target launch. You talked a bit about the Paxon. I'm just curious what Percent of assortment are available on both wholesale partners and throughout the year, are you planning to Make more larger percentages of the assortment available. Speaker 200:31:35Sure. Thanks, Alice. Yes. So Petal and Platts puts our Genie Test on target on their curated marketplace. We're seeing some really nice results there. Speaker 200:31:49They have probably 60% of their assortment, which is obviously quite a bit smaller And then, Polly. On target, it went up in probably mid February. We are seeing nice progress As we've kind of gone through the last 3 or 4 months with it, and we're as we learn kind of improving the experience that customers have there, Adding reviews, adding size charts, just kind of basic block and tackling stuff. I think we are seeing that it is introducing these brands to different And we are able to clearly see that. And we also see that different parts of the assortment is doing has It's a different share and a different impact on target. Speaker 200:32:34So I think at this stage, learning some A lot of nice things. We see a lot of opportunity there. We're still very much in test mode, and we'll update you again next Operator00:33:00The next question is coming from the line of Dana Telsey of Telsey Group. Speaker 600:33:05Hi, good afternoon. And also please extend our thoughts of getting well quickly to Jill. As you think about the active customer count, it looks like the active customer count from the Q4 to the Q1 Change to the negative, what did you see there? What did you see by brand? How did it differ? Speaker 600:33:24And then also in terms of Petal and Pup and Princess Polly and Culture Kings, any difference in level of promotions By brand and what you're seeing or what you're doing in the environment? Thank you. Speaker 200:33:42Thanks, Dana. Yes. On active customers, we saw a decline of about 5% year over year and sequentially from Q4. And just as a reminder, that's a trailing 12 month number. And as we expected, I think Pulling back by 25% on volume of marketing dollars in Q4 certainly impacted our active customer count. Speaker 200:34:09And we saw that as we kind of went through the Q1 as well. It was certainly more impacted early in the quarter. I think as we saw newness return into the brands, marketing effectiveness improved and we're able to increase our marketing dollars. We did see the count improve. I would say we've seen it more on repeat customers and the older cohorts coming back first. Speaker 200:34:35And I think some nice improvement there as we've gone through the year and starting to see them kind of return to the historic repeat rates that We have seen we're still down on new customer counts. And I think that's Based on kind of what we're seeing on cash and in the market, that's very much understandable. I think we expect to be down on active customers probably as we go Through Q2 and Q3 of this year and would expect to be back kind of positive in Q4. But look, I think that's Partly why we are looking at these other omni channel initiatives as well. We want to get these brands, introduce them to continue to introduce new customers to the brand, build awareness And then, Dana, on promotions sorry, just on access by brand, I would say we pretty much saw the same percentage impact across the brands. Speaker 200:35:29So no huge difference on a and that was on a regional basis as well In the U. S, although I would say kind of Culture Kings in the U. S. Is did see positive active customer growth And that really coming from us opening the store in Vegas in November and just that really is having a positive impact for us in the U. S. Speaker 200:35:53And then just promotions by region, really similar across the regions. I would say Just that heightened promotional activity was certainly there in the quarter, easing as we went through the quarter. And I would say, we probably saw we see customers reacting more to promotions in More to promotions in Australia than we see in the U. S. They're a little bit more sensitive to those. Speaker 600:36:19Thank you. And just one follow-up, debt paydowns, how are you thinking of debt paydowns for the balance of the year? Speaker 200:36:26Yes. Thanks, Dana. I'm glad to be talking about that we're paying down the debt and that we've paid down $21,000,000 so far year to date. Look, we're going to continue to manage the business prudently, strengthen the balance sheet and bringing down Our inventory dollars sequentially and bringing down our debt dollars sequentially quarter over quarter as we go through the year is a focus for us and important for us. We don't have any set number there, but we're just going to keep making progress as we go through the year. Speaker 600:37:01Thank you. Operator00:37:04The next question is from the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 200:37:10Good afternoon, everyone. This is Jesse Solverson on for Ike. Can you just refresh us on the composition of the $120,000,000 or so in current Ending debt and what covenants, if any, are associated with the tranches? Thank you. Sure. Speaker 200:37:25Thanks, Jesse. Yes. So Within that debt, and it was $130,000,000 at the end of the quarter. Within there, there's $30,000,000 of revolver, and we paid down an additional $10,000,000 on that revolver post end of quarter. Then there's $104,000,000 of term debt. Speaker 200:37:47Covenants are we've got a 3.5x from a leverage perspective and about 1.25 from a fixed charge coverage With obviously some add backs for one off stuff, we're well within all of our debt compliance covenants and We are feeling good shape overall about the debt, and we look to continue to bring that down as we go through the year. Great. Thank you very much. Operator00:38:18Thank you. At this time, we've reached the end of the question and answer session. I'll turn the call back over to Kieran Long for closing remarks. Speaker 200:38:26Thank you all for joining. We really appreciate your participation. Thank you for the well wishes for Jill. I know she's on the call listening today, and We talk to her quite often. Yes, thank you. Speaker 200:38:38Good to hear from you all, and thanks. Operator00:38:41This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by