Canada Goose Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 1, 2024

There are 14 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Desiree, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Canada Goose First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

I would now like to turn the conference over to Anna Ramon, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. With me are Danny Reese, our Chairman and CEO Neil Bowden, Chief Financial Officer Carrie Baker, President of Brand and Commercial and Beth Clymer, President of Finance Strategy and Administration. To start off, brand new this quarter, we are introducing presentation slides to accompany our prepared remarks. So please follow along on this webcast. We will make forward looking statements on our call today that are based on assumptions and therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.

Speaker 1

We undertake no obligation to update these statements except as required by law. You can read about these assumptions, risks and uncertainties in our press release this morning as well as in our filings with U. S. And Canadian regulators. These documents are also available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

Speaker 1

We report in Canadian dollars, so all amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise indicated. Please note that financial results described on today's call will compare 1st quarter results ended June 30, 2024 with the same period ended July 2, 2, 2023, unless otherwise noted. Lastly, our commentary today will also include certain non IFRS financial measures, which are reconciled at the end of our earnings press release. For today's call, Danny, Neil, Carey and Beth will deliver prepared remarks, following which we will open the call to take questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Danny.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Anna, and good morning, everyone. Canada Goose's Q1 results marked a solid start to the year. We achieved sales growth and operational efficiencies that reflect progress across our key operating imperatives for fiscal 2025. Q1 revenue was $88,100,000 up 4% year over year, also reflecting the relatively smaller size of this quarter. Our performance in Mainland China was a highlight this quarter as we continue to capitalize on key shopping moments in this market on the back of our strong brand and advancement of our DTC initiatives.

Speaker 2

We believe these results combined with ongoing execution of our planned initiatives have us on track towards achieving our annual expectations as we navigate the continued dynamic global operating environment. On our Q4 call, we shared our operating imperatives with you. 1st, setting the foundation for the next phase of our brand and product evolution. To accomplish this, in May, we announced our 1st ever Creative Director, Heiner Ackermann, and launched his inaugural design, which represented our best ever marketing campaign performance. And obviously, there is so much more to come.

Speaker 2

2nd, implementing best in class retail execution to maximize the positive traffic we generate, drive a more consistent excellent customer experience and greater sales productivity and profitability over the year. And 3rd, simplify the way we operate to become more efficient and more effective. You'll hear further details of the progress that we've made all three imperatives later on in this call from Carrie and from Beth. The imperatives I described represent our North Star and the activities behind each are expected to position our company to better meet the needs of a business that has evolved significantly, selling into new channels in different geographies and new products over the last 5 to 10 years. As a reminder, the execution of our imperatives is underpinned by several strengths, which include a resilient business model that features strong gross margins and an ability to expand EBIT as we scale, our deep heritage of function and craftsmanship and a globally recognized brand, Advantages of owned manufacturing capabilities both in Canada and in Europe and a highly dedicated and talented team that's passionate about the delivery of our vision and results and our purpose to keep the planet cold and the people on it warm.

Speaker 2

Given these competitive advantages, our relatively smaller revenue base and a large market opportunity, we saw plenty of runway ahead of us. Before I pass the call over to Neil to review our Q1 financial performance, I'd like to share that we released our fiscal 2024 Sustainability Report earlier this week. As we execute on our key operating imperatives in fiscal 2025 and build our business for the long term, we are mindful of our impact on the planet and the people in our communities and across our organization. I'm very proud of our achievements over the past year, which included some notable highlights. First, we actively reduced our carbon footprint, progressing towards our net zero target.

Speaker 2

In fiscal 2024, we began improving the efficiency of our manufacturing facilities and global headquarters and investing in renewable energy credits and carbon offsets. As a result, we reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 6% over the previous fiscal year with Scope 1 and 2 emissions down 38% compared to our base year of fiscal 2019, even as our owned operations have grown. 2nd, we continue to prioritize the sourcing of responsible materials steadily progressing our preferred fiber and materials goal and reaching 80% of our materials coming from resources. We also furthered our commitment to eliminating forever chemicals from our products with 100% of products made in Canada in fiscal 2024 being PFAS free. Our commitment and progress in this area was recognized by Fast Company earlier this year, naming us as one of the most innovative companies in fashion.

Speaker 2

And we strengthened our relationships in the communities we live in and serve, providing a record amount of fabric and material donations across Canada's North through our resource center programs in fiscal 2024. We're pleased with our achievements across our sustainability strategy and the progress with our initiatives underway relating to this year's key operating imperatives. We believe we are well positioned to make steady progress towards our goals for fiscal 2025. And with that, I'll now pass the call over to Neil.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Danny. Our financial performance for the Q1 of fiscal 2025 reflected the early progress we are making across our key operating imperatives as we focus on the things within our control. While we are closely monitoring the macroeconomic dynamics in our markets and the impact they are having on consumer behavior, our energy and actions are squarely aimed within the organization at our operating imperatives. On to the results. Revenue in our Q1 increased 4% year over year or 3% on a constant currency basis, primarily due to growth in our direct to consumer channel, advancement of our exit inventory strategy and incremental revenue contribution from the European manufacturing facility we acquired in Q3 of fiscal 2024, partially offset by an expected decline in wholesale revenue.

Speaker 3

I'll walk through the key revenue drivers by channel starting with D2C. D2C sales grew 13% or 12% on a constant currency basis over the same period last year. Overall store revenue increased across all regions, partially offset by lower e commerce revenue in North America and EMEA. B2C comparable sales were down 4.4% year over year, largely reflecting a shift in our product sales mix, which more heavily leaned toward our springsummer collection, in addition to softer conversion trends, primarily in North America, which I'll address shortly. While we know our year over year comp growth results can be improved, we are very pleased with some positive developments that took place during the quarter in this channel.

Speaker 3

First, we sold significantly more seasonal product across all regions compared to the prior year with our apparel, windwear and footwear strongly resonating with new and existing customers, resulting in non heavyweight down units up over 20% versus a year ago. While the change in unit mix lowered average unit revenue compared to Q1 of last year, the favorable response to our full product range demonstrates progress toward our strategy to evolve our product offering and become an all season brand. We are focused on initiatives aimed at furthering our growth in these categories and expect our higher heavyweight down sales to ramp up as we approach our peak season, supported by our new initiatives in product and marketing. 2nd, we exited Q1 in an upward trend in certain markets, most notably the UK, Germany and Canada. More critically, we saw strength in Mainland China and Japan throughout the quarter, a continuation from our strong Q4 performance in those markets.

Speaker 3

Overall, D2C comp revenue and comp units sold experienced sequential improvement in each month of the quarter in tandem with progressing execution of our key operating imperatives. So far, we've seen mixed results in July and we continue to monitor the consumer behavior around the world while driving forward with our peak plans. You will hear much more from Carrie about what we're doing on the operational end to address the gaps. In Q1, wholesale revenue decreased $11,100,000 year over year as expected, down 41% year over year or 42% on a constant currency basis impacted by the relatively small sales volume for wholesale in Q1. This decline reflected our planned lower order book as we tightened supply to wholesale partners in a soft business environment and the continued optimization of wholesale relationships as we elevate the quality of our partners in this sales channel.

Speaker 3

Overall, we're confident in delivery of our order book to wholesale partners for the full year and continue to expect wholesale revenue to decrease 20% year over year on a full year basis. We delivered some incremental product in Q1, albeit small, above and beyond the planned order book with select partners. Revenue in our other segment increased to $9,000,000 in Q1 of fiscal 2025 from $1,900,000 in Q1 of fiscal 2024, which included third party sales from the European manufacturing facility we acquired in Q3 of last year, friends and family sales to exit slow moving and discontinued inventory, which did not occur in Q1 of fiscal 2024 and employee sales for which we implemented a new program in Q3 of fiscal 'twenty four. Moving to a brief regional overview of performance. Regional revenue will be discussed in terms of constant currency.

Speaker 3

Asia Pacific was our fastest growing region in the quarter with revenue up 25% over the same period last year, even as we lapped strong comps of 43% year over year growth in Q1 fiscal 2024. Domestic shopping in Mainland China and Mainland Chinese tourists shopping at our stores in Japan were once again the primary drivers of D2C growth in the quarter, where consumers demonstrated strong demand for our in season product. Solid store and online D2C performance in Mainland China and Japan resulted in double digit comp growth in these two markets in our first quarter this year. That said, in total, D2C comp sales were slightly down in the region as lower sales in Greater China, excluding Mainland China, more than offset the strength in Mainland China and Japan. Within Greater China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan faced significant pressure as shoppers chose to spend their dollars either domestically within Mainland China or in Japan.

Speaker 3

North America revenue was down 3% over the same period last year with U. S. Sales growing by 2% and Canada down 7% year over year. In the Q1, both regions experienced lower e commerce revenue in addition to lower wholesale revenue as was planned, partially offset by higher sales from new stores and other revenue contributions. In Canada, our Banff and Vancouver stores benefited from stronger tourism traffic in those cities contributing to positive year over year D2C comparable growth in the market.

Speaker 3

D2C growth in the U. S. Was driven by the impact of stores opened later in fiscal 'twenty four and therefore not in the comp base. We faced slower traffic trends in the quarter, we believe as a result of continued pressure on consumer spending in the market and heat waves experienced across the country in June. And a strategic decision to intensify our performance marketing spend closer to peak period.

Speaker 3

We also faced softer conversion, likely due to not having enough seasonal inventory on hand to meet consumer demand in our stores and online, which we rectified late in the quarter. This led to a decrease in comp sales in the region over the full quarter. Both brand awareness and having the right amount of inventory at the right place at the right time are key areas of focus for us so that we are ready to meet the demand as we drive it. EMEA revenue decreased 11% due to a decline in wholesale revenue, partially offset by higher D2C revenue. While the Q1 got off to a slower start, execution in our D2C initiatives combined with increased tourist traffic generated by some popular live events in the region contribute to improvement in comparable year over year revenue growth in the region from May to June.

Speaker 3

We are especially encouraged by revenue improvements we've seen in our London Regent Street store as a result of our execution, which Carey will describe in a moment. Moving down our income statement, let's turn to gross profit. Our first quarter gross profit decreased by 5% year over year. In turn, gross margin declined 540 basis points to 59.7 percent. As always in our smallest quarter, small dollar impacts can have an outsized effect on the quarterly results.

Speaker 3

In Q1, channel mix and product mix had an outsized impact on our gross margin given our smaller first quarter, but we expect that it will have a minimal impact on the full year and we continue to expect that gross margin over the full year will be similar to fiscal 2024. The year over year decrease in gross margin in Q1 was mainly due to the following factors. First, our new European manufacturing facility in particular contributed to 330 of the 540 basis point decline given its relatively fixed cost base seeing deleverage in a relatively small quarter. The factory remains an integral part of our category expansion strategy allowing us to leverage best in class manufacturing capabilities as we expand our luxury offerings. The remainder of the decline was related to product and channel mix, which was slightly offset by the positive benefits from pricing.

Speaker 3

In our D2C channel, we had a higher proportion of lower margin non heavyweight down product revenue within the mix compared with the prior year, which carries a lower gross margin than our heavyweight down product. Our D2C product mix had a larger than anticipated impact on our gross margin this quarter. We believe the increase in demand for our in season collection was a very positive development, which can drive the gross profit dollar growth over the long term. Channel wise, we sold significantly more units year over year through our lower margin other channels. Moving further down the P and L, our adjusted EBIT was a loss of $96,000,000 for the quarter, which increased from a loss of $91,100,000 in Q1 of last year due to lower gross profit and higher costs associated with operating 14 more stores year over year, partially offset by lower corporate SG and A spend.

Speaker 3

The decrease in corporate SG and A spend was primarily due to savings that resulted from the 2 workforce reductions implemented in fiscal 2024 and led to a significant improvement in our SG and A as a percentage of revenue on a year over year basis. In Q1 FY 2024, we also had significant spend associated with our transformation program, which was included in our reported results and excluded from adjusted EBIT. Lastly, on the income statement, Q1 adjusted net loss attributable to shareholders was 76,100,000 dollars or a loss of $0.79 per basic share compared to a loss of $73,000,000 or $0.70 per basic share in Q1 fiscal 'twenty four. Turning to our balance sheet. At June 30, inventory was $484,000,000 down 7% year over year driven by a notable decrease in finished goods and raw materials and marking our 3rd consecutive quarter of decreasing our year over year inventory balance.

Speaker 3

Beth will provide more color on the topic in a few minutes. SG and A efficiency and improved inventory levels are key metrics associated with our 3rd operating imperative of operating with Simplicity, and we are pleased to see progress on both of those metrics in Q1. We ended the year with $766,000,000 of net debt on our balance sheet compared to $712,000,000 at the end of the Q1 fiscal 'twenty four, primarily due to approximately $140,000,000 of cash investments in our share buyback program throughout fiscal 2024. We ended the period with approximately $335,000,000 in unused borrowing capacity on our revolving credit facility, having drawn $54,000,000 in preparation for peak season. Our net debt leverage at the end of Q1 was 2.8 times adjusted EBITDA, which is in line with our net debt leverage at this time last year.

Speaker 3

We expect to end the year with leverage in line with historical levels. Turning to our fiscal 2025 financial outlook. Our Q1 results came in line with our expectations and we're pleased with the progress made across our key operating imperatives. Consumers are responding favorably to our apparel, windwear and footwear product lines and we expect to capitalize on heavyweight down offerings as we enter peak season. As for our annual outlook, we are maintaining our fiscal year 2025 guidance provided with 4th quarter and fiscal year results on May 16, which reflects our positive first quarter performance and incorporates an appropriate level of caution as we continue to operate in a dynamic global consumer environment and much of the year lies ahead.

Speaker 3

That wraps up the financial summary for our Q1. I will now hand it to Keri and Beth to discuss our 3 operating imperatives for the year and the progress we've made thus far.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Neil. I'm happy to provide an update on our Q1 progress for 2 of our 3 key operating imperatives for fiscal 2025. First, brand and product evolution and second, best in class luxury retail execution. Beth will follow with an update on our 3rd imperative, operating with simplicity. In fiscal 2025, we are strengthening the foundations of our brand, product and channel experiences to set ourselves up for long term sustainable growth at scale, while also unlocking near term value.

Speaker 4

Our goal is to elevate the total experience for consumers, sparking new interest and excitement in the brand and enticing prospective customers at every step of the shopping journey. Starting with our brand and product update. In May, we announced Haider Ackerman as our first Creative Director and launched his inaugural design with Canada Goose, the PBI Hoodie. This was named in support of our long time partner Polar Bears International to raise awareness of the impact of global climate change. The response we've seen to Hyder's announcement, the launch of the PBI hoodie and the accompanying campaign featuring Jane Fonda has been incredible.

Speaker 4

Our main objective for the PBI campaign was to drive brand heat and interest through our owned and earned channels. As Danny previewed, our marketing efforts drove more than double the media impressions than our previous best ever campaign, and we were equally as pleased with the commercial results, which delivered strong sell through rates. In June, we launched our springsummer collection, introducing lightweight styles suited for the warmer and wetter seasons, including T shirts, polos and new windwear styles. The collection featured 27 new styles, including the launch of our very first rain boot, the Vancouver rain boot, further expanding our category of functional and stylish footwear. The response to this Canada Goose product, which appeals to a buy now, wear now consumer mentality has been very strong.

Speaker 4

From a consumer lens, we're also happy with the effectiveness of our digital marketing efforts in attracting interest from new audiences and expanding our followership, as well as exciting our existing fan base. In Q1, our springsummer 'twenty four and PBI Hoodie campaigns together resulted in significant year over year growth in new email subscribers, an improvement in our global search results and success in attracting higher quality followers on our social media channels. We're making progress advancing other digital initiatives as well. We're on track to deliver a faster e commerce shopping experience ahead of peak season and we introduced new photography for our online channels this quarter, which has produced positive results. We're also in the process of updating our online catalog to better reflect our elevated brand.

Speaker 4

With Alfredo Tan, our new Chief Digital and Information Officer coming on board, we look forward to accelerating our digital efforts with increasing impact. The progress we made in Q1 marked the beginning of our evolving brand efforts. Both our fallwinter collection launching in August and Haider's 1st capsule collection, which will launch before holiday, will be key brand moments that will reflect a bolder approach to marketing to build further brand momentum. As we said on our Q4 call, a big part of our brand evolution extends to our wholesale channel. As a result of the work we've already set in motion, we're seeing our wholesale partners who have known us for years as a leader in warmth, shifting their perception of our brand's relevance all year round, as they discover the expanding breadth of our offering.

Speaker 4

And they're extremely positive about Heidar joining the brand and leading our design and creative vision. In Q1, this work has already resulted in select partners choosing to relocate Canada Goose on their floors for upcoming fall winter season from the outerwear department to the luxury department, which is the right path forward. Turning to our 2nd operating imperative, implementing best in class retail execution. To become a best in class retailer, last year we undertook a thorough top to bottom review of every component of our retail business as part of our transformation program. From the way we move product through our supply chain to the way we sell in stores so that the consumer experience is consistent across our retail network.

Speaker 4

This year, we're in execution mode, focused on getting the fundamentals in place so that we're set up to seize the exciting growth opportunities we see ahead as we scale our stores, our product categories and our customer base. To accomplish this, we're focused on 3 primary streams of work: 1, boosting our sales training 2, strengthening our store operations and 3, improving product availability. 1st is leveling up sales training for our store employees, whom we call brand ambassadors. This is about reinforcing critical elements of our Canadian warmth experience, which means delivering warmth in every interaction and expertise behind every recommendation. We're not a brand that just makes or sells pretty things.

Speaker 4

Our products are crafted with precision and purpose, with performance at their core. So it's imperative that our brand ambassadors understand and can showcase the details of every product and category to ensure our customers confidently leave with the ideal cannabis product in hand. In Q1, we delivered in-depth product training to our brand ambassadors that equips them with technical knowledge and brand stories to make deeper connections with our customers and consistently deliver a stellar in store experience. We are in the process of rolling out the remaining training modules to set our store teams up for success ahead of our peak selling season. In June, we also introduced a new bonus compensation program in North America and EMEA that rewards our store teams as individuals and as a team.

Speaker 4

We believe this approach more aptly combines our team based culture with individual level accountability and it serves as a tool to attract the very best retail talent. Combined with our coaching and training initiatives, this new program is already producing results with labor productivity increasing in June over the previous 2 months in the quarter. 2nd, we are strengthening our store operations. In Q1, we reset labor hours across all regions to ensure we offer optimal staffing levels during our busiest periods to best serve our customers. We're also optimizing our in store product presentations to better showcase seasonal product stories in combination with evergreen icons and showcase the breadth of our full lifestyle offering through layering and combining categories on the floor, highlighting the progress we've made in our brand and our product evolution.

Speaker 4

And third, we're improving product availability by focusing on bringing more precision to our merchandising planning and inventory allocation capabilities. In Q1, we narrowed our SKU count to focus efforts and showcase our most sought after silhouettes and styles and newness from our 2024 collection. This also allows us to integrate and bring more focus to new designs that Hyre will launch later this year and beyond. And to enhance inventory allocation, we redeployed product sizes and styles into different regions based on local demand, which led to better sell through this quarter. And we're testing more direct shipping routes from factory to store to increase speed to market and get products to our customers faster.

Speaker 4

These DTC execution efforts are producing real results. In Mainland China, our stores were prepared to capture strong consumer demand for our seasonal products in Q1, complemented by engaged sales teams, which contributed to the solid performance we saw there. Another great example is the progress we made in our London Regent Street store. This flagship store is a top 10 revenue store and a beacon for the brand in Europe as well as for tourists around the world. In Q1, we remerchandised this store with an assortment that represents our heritage, while also being seasonally relevant.

Speaker 4

We changed up how we presented our men's and women's assortments and we better matched brand ambassadors staffing according to traffic levels. Additionally, the team at this store was one of the first to complete our new intensive training program. These efforts plus capitalizing on increased traffic trends contributed to a lift in store comp sales, which accelerated to double digit growth as measured 45 days prior to implementation to 45 days post implementation. Our job now is to implement the learnings from these initiatives and then scale them across the network. Circling back to our Q1 results, which has typically been about 5% of our total annual revenue.

Speaker 4

While we are not satisfied with the negative DTC comp growth in our first quarter, I am encouraged by the progress we have made in these early days of execution. The actions we're undertaking and the results they've driven already gives us confidence in our ability to drive improved comp performance as we head into the larger quarters ahead. Now I'll pass it on to Beth, who will discuss our 3rd operating imperative for fiscal 2020

Speaker 5

Thanks, Carrie, and good morning all. In May, we talked about 2 primary ways we're simplifying and focusing the way we operate. First, by achieving internal operating excellence and second through focused capital deployment. I'm happy to share updates today on good progress in both of these areas. 1st, achieving operating excellence.

Speaker 5

As I've said before, quite simply, operating excellence is fewer people working more effectively on fewer priorities and driving the results. On our Q4 earnings call, we spoke about the headcount reductions and organizational changes we made at the end of March. I'm pleased to report that now 4 months out, the organization has embraced these changes. I want to highlight a few examples and data points. We continue to evolve teams where we have the opportunity to be more efficient and effective.

Speaker 5

For example, in June, we further streamlined our product development and sourcing teams globally. This enables us to work more effectively with our European manufacturing partners as we prepare to deliver new products across our global portfolio. It also allows us to redeploy more resources to support our creative director. We continue to evolve our culture and practices to be more efficient data driven behaviors. For example, we've completely revamped our operating and commercial review cycles to produce more actionable outcomes that focus on driving near term top and bottom line results.

Speaker 5

We've also introduced an updated travel tool and policy that helps our employees act like owners and take greater accountability for costs incurred. And lastly, we continue to exercise very tight controls over headcount, only hiring for the most critical roles. This has resulted in our corporate headcount remaining relatively flat as of June 30, compared to where we were at the end of the fiscal year. These actions we've taken so far have had a positive impact on our cost base with SG and A as a percent of revenue improving in Q1 over the same period last year. This not only reflects the workforce reductions implemented in fiscal 2024, but also importantly incremental cost savings efforts as well, which contributed to the operating leverage observed for the quarter.

Speaker 5

Maybe more importantly, we've just completed our first employee NPS pulse survey since the organizational changes and are seeing our overall employee NPS maintaining despite the large amount of change that has occurred over the last several months. Most encouragingly, we're seeing NPS increases in our retail team, reflecting the positive impact of our D2C execution and brand and product evolution operating imperatives. 2nd, I'll talk about our plan to improve capital deployment and working capital. On the capital deployment side, we've prioritized technology investments supporting our key operating imperatives that we expect to generate a strong ROI. We've also slowed our store openings to focus productivity in our existing store base.

Speaker 5

The combination of these two efforts is resulting in a significant reduction in CapEx year over year. Our plan to right size our inventory levels is working as we increase inventory efficiency through our planned temporary lower production levels with both third party contract manufacturing partners as well as in our owned manufacturing facilities, while continuing to use our friends and family sales to exit slow moving and non carryover SKUs. In Q1, we made solid progress, lowering inventory levels by 7% year on year and increasing inventory turns by 6% for the 12 month period ending June 30, 2024 versus last year. Given the seasonality of our business and the buildup of inventory in the first half of the year to meet demand during our peak season, we expect to see even more notable movement of inventory turnover in second half of the year coinciding with the ramp up of sales. We're early in our work here and have plenty more opportunity to continue to simplify and transform the way we work.

Speaker 5

We are operating in a more coordinated focus and cross functional manner than we were this time last year, which is helping to drive the progress we've highlighted on the call today. We continue to focus on the most impactful areas to support improvement across our key performance metrics and margin expansion in the remainder of this fiscal year and beyond. In closing, we feel good about the tremendous progress we made in the quarter. Overall, financial results were in line with our expectations and we continue to show our ability to engage more consumers with our year round product and our incredible craftsmanship, design and authority as a luxury brand. We intend to continue to introduce compelling innovation and enhance our marketing.

Speaker 5

We are ruthlessly focused on improving our execution across the enterprise. We are both elevating our cannabis brand and experience and building a more efficient and effective foundation for the company to deliver consistent long term sales growth at higher levels of profitability in the future. We remain confident that we have identified and are actioning the right plan and look forward to continuing to update you on our progress as we move through the year. Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

Speaker 1

Operator, can we please open the call up for questions?

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. And requeue for any additional questions. Your first question comes from the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Cowen. Execution as well. How is he integrating the company? How are things progressing? And how will this intersect with continued progress in non heavyweight down on non heavyweight and a related question, what are some key goalposts that you're looking forward to ahead and how will the margin complexion interact with the model in terms of gross margins there?

Speaker 6

And second point, the SKU reduction sounds quite prudent in terms of getting goods to the right place at the right time and also working more efficiently. What do you have ahead for SKU reduction and how should we think about that? How that will impact the model? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Hey, Oliver, it's Danny. How's it going? Thanks so much for your question about Hyder. And we're very excited about the work that we're doing with Hyder and he's been integrating and the way he's been integrating into our company has been going extremely well. We know we launched the we announced them on May 15th and we launched with a single product which did extremely well.

Speaker 2

And we're super excited. I mean Haider is a designer of the highest order. You used the word fashion. This is not about fashion. He gets our brand.

Speaker 2

He gets our DNA. He gets where we are and where we come from and he will be designing beautiful products that will go along with our collection. This is a bold move for us and we're super excited about it. Milestones to look forward to. The next one is he's going to be dropping capsule collections in the fall of this fall before the end of Q3 and for holiday and we're super excited about that.

Speaker 2

I think that this is really going to add a lot of energy to our brand, both the products he makes specifically and also all of our products has a low effect. So look forward to more to come.

Speaker 7

As it relates to gross margin, we're planning this year to be similar to fiscal 2024. Key things that we're looking at there are price increase and so we've enacted our sort of price increase across the portfolio that sort of blends out in the mid single digit. We're clearly managing production levels and we know that there's going to as we said in, I think, the year end earnings call that we'd expected that we put a little bit of pressure on cost, which is okay. And then as we always have done, we'll mix the evolution of the products and then this year, certainly away from heavyweight down and into some of those non heavyweight down products as well as the channels. And we think that all rolls up to a in line with fiscal 2024 gross margin.

Speaker 7

Carrie, you want to just talk a little bit about the SKU rationalization?

Operator

Yes, sure. So first, I just want

Speaker 4

to add on the Haidar front. I think the biggest impact will of course, be on product, but he's also having an impact already with our team in marketing and on the brand. So the response from our wholesale partners, lots of positivity, excitement about what's to come. And then have it bringing his creative vision to life from a brand perspective and you started to see that with the PBI hoodie launch that we did with Jane Fonda. So it really marks a step change in the way that we're bringing this brand to life.

Speaker 4

But back to product. So SKU rationalization, yes, I think there's we're making good progress. I think you can expect to see that continue as we focus on our top sellers and making for us to focus on the newness as well as the newness that Heidar will be bringing in. So nothing in terms of category rationalization, it's just looking at category by category. What do we have the best chance at winning?

Speaker 4

Where is the strongest demand from customers so that we can really design and market into that?

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Perry with Bank of America. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted, can you comment on sort of the efforts to expand outside the heavyweight down category? I guess you talked about a lot of different product categories outside of heavyweight down. Which ones are you expecting the most contribution from this year?

Speaker 8

And then would you still be expecting growth from the heavyweight down category this year? Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Alex. So yes, obviously, this is a journey. So we've been on this journey for some time now and making rapid progress on the different categories that we have introduced. So whether that's lightweight down, you've seen in our results in Q1, so apparel and everyday, which is what we call our Windwear collection and footwear that led those led the non heavyweight down. So we're really happy with that, seeing very strong demand from and response from our consumers, particularly in APAC this quarter.

Speaker 4

So that basket is truly evolving. And people are not only seeing the brand for what how we've expanded, but also buying it in different seasons, which again you're seeing the results of that in Q1. So we do expect heavyweight down to grow. There's lots of focus and attention on how do we keep our icons our icons and that's what people know us best for, as well as moving into other categories, we think there's lots of opportunity in footwear for 1, Accessories to a smaller degree, but we think there's lots of room there. Knitwear, obviously, our acquisition of the factory last quarter.

Speaker 4

So we think that there's lots of opportunity. We know that people come to us for warmth and protection and we think those two qualities apply to many more categories than we are in today.

Speaker 8

Really helpful. And then my follow-up is, how should we sort of think about the cadence of the DTC comp sales from here? Are you sort of expecting the strongest growth to come in your highest volume season? Or how should we sort of think about the phase even of the comp sales to get to the low single digit guide? Thanks.

Speaker 7

Yes. I mean, you'll recall, we didn't necessarily give quarterly guidance. And so I'm not going to specifically about expected metrics in any given quarter, but I think you're directionally correct that for two real reasons. 1, we're putting a ton of effort as you heard in the prepared remarks and as we talked about in the call a few months ago, we're putting a ton of effort around how do we become a best in class retailer and that takes some time. And so while we've got mixed results on comps in the Q1, we would expect it by the time that we get to our peak season that we would be driving towards positive comps in order to get us to that low single digit estimate for the year.

Speaker 7

Incredibly helpful. Best of luck going forward.

Operator

Next question comes from the line of Michael Binetti with Evercore ISI. Your line is open. Hi. This is Jacqueline Wong on behalf of Michael Binetti. Thanks for taking our questions here.

Operator

Can I maybe double click on the Europe manufacturing facility? Can you speak to how much that fixed cost base will impact gross margins in the rest of the year period? Given the guidance of flat grosses for the year seems to imply that the back half the rest of the year will expand by probably about 30 basis points. So if we think about the 330 basis points of compression in the Q1, maybe could you give us an idea of how much that impacts the rest of your guide? Sir, you may begin.

Speaker 5

Hello. So operator, I think we're ready for the next question.

Operator

Next question comes from the line of Jonathan Komp with Baird. Your line is open.

Speaker 9

Hi, good morning. This is Alex Conway on for John. Neil, I think you've previously talked about expecting a mid single digit luxury market growth this year. With kind of some of the headwinds that competitors have called out and I know you said a more dynamic environment, Could you maybe share a little bit more about maybe what you're expecting for the full year now?

Speaker 7

Yes. I mean, I think you're probably right that the external data points suggest that mid single digits is maybe on the optimistic side and sort of a lower single digit growth environment is maybe more appropriate. I think as we've looked at how that impacts our business and the relative size that we are in the markets that we are in as diverse as those markets, I don't think we view that. What might be a slight contraction in the overall estimate as having a meaningful impact on the business. And so while we are clearly monitoring health of the U.

Speaker 7

S. Consumer, health of the Chinese consumer, level of tourism, etcetera, etcetera, we feel pretty good about our ability to execute the plans even with that pressure.

Speaker 9

Yes. Thank you. That's very helpful. And then I guess just one more. On China, could you dig into a little bit what you're seeing in the difference between some of the territories and then Mainland China and Japan?

Speaker 9

And really why you think that dynamic is ongoing right now?

Speaker 7

Yes. I'll start and Carey can certainly add some color. So I think in terms of operating performance in the quarter, mainly in China was a standout as was Japan. And I just want to caution that standout in a small quarter can mean $1,000,000 or $2 more. And so it's really not a meaningful dollar contribution, but the trend is it has been now for 6 months pretty strong in Mainland China and we're really happy.

Speaker 7

When you get outside of Mainland and into places like Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, it seems like the consumer pressure there and the traffic and the willingness to spend is much more under pressure and that's probably a trend that's been kind of going on for 3 to 6 months. We're happy with our locations in each of those places. We're really happy with what the Macau business will ultimately bring, but there certainly seems to be a little bit of tourist pressure there. If you get to Japan, currency situation there seems to be that the relative weakness of the Japanese yen is resulting in a lot of inbound tourism, some of that mainland Chinese, some from other places. And when they're there, they're spending to take advantage of the arbitrage.

Speaker 7

We see that in our business, although still relatively light quarter as we said a number of times this morning. And we clearly see that that's the market trend with some of the other some of our other peers in the that have reported over the last few weeks. Thanks for all the color.

Speaker 10

Thanks, Alex.

Speaker 11

Our next question will come from the line of Michael Zhu with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Good morning. Thank you for taking our questions. I just wanted to touch on your customer base. As your product mix continues to shift more towards the lightweightnonheavyweight products, Are you seeing more of an impact from repeat purchases from existing customers or a more outsized impact from new customers because of the new products?

Speaker 4

Great question. So our repeat customer purchase rate is quite strong and encouraged to see that when we announced Hider in particular for so the big moment for Q1, and that's we had a significant repeat purchase rate. Of course, it was also meant to attract new customers, which it did. But I think the idea that as we're changing that mix, as we're elevating the brand, as we're bringing things to market in a different way, we're holding on to our customers and also growing it with new quality followers, with the right kind of audience. So, it's a bit of both.

Speaker 4

I hate to give I don't have specific numbers to share with you, but we're happy with the progress in terms of both exciting fans that have been with us for many, many years and seen us evolve and then attracting new customers and bringing them into

Speaker 5

the fold.

Speaker 10

Great. Yes, that sounds great. And then just as a follow-up regarding that. Have you seen any kind of change in your target demographic by any chance because of the introduction of the newer products? And is there any kind of shift or difference in the geographies for who's purchasing what?

Operator

I think I mean, that's an interesting

Speaker 4

it's hard to point to specific data points on that. I mean, our approach has always been to reach a wide audience. So starting the newest, youngest generation have always been fans of Canada Goose since we've always been really relevant with with that group. And they tend to stick with us until later years. So which we like, right?

Speaker 4

They grow with us, they get excited, they buy certain products and then that product taste evolves. So I wouldn't say there's necessarily a change in how we're approaching that. We want to the biggest thing for us is making sure that we're relevant. And so staying relevant, being a part of relevant culture has always been a strong point for Canada Goose. And so we continue to do that.

Speaker 4

I think in terms of shifting in geographies, each market has its own generation and marketing strategies in order to attract the audiences that we know that modern luxury consumer who is interested in Canada Goose and brands like Canada Goose. So nothing dramatic has changed in terms of our approach in reaching them, but the shift has been in how we bring to market. So where we're finding those customers, making sure that our channel approach to marketing is really laser focused on from a regional perspective, so that we can deliver the best results with the money that we're investing there.

Speaker 10

All right. Understood. Thank you so much.

Speaker 11

Our next question comes from the line of Brooke Roach with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Speaker 12

Good morning and thank you for taking our question. In the prepared remarks, you outlined several actions you're taking in the store to improve retail execution, including labor hours, changes in associate compensation and product availability. Can you speak to the opportunity you see here from these initiatives for 4 wall margins and your profitability of DTC during peak season as a result? And what are the opportunities beyond fiscal 2025 for continued retail execution improvement? Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thanks. So yes, we're doing a lot of work as you heard in my remarks. And we're seeing strong green shoots this quarter, which is great as we head into peak. I mean the biggest thing that you heard us talk about, we want to drive revenue. We want to drive comp sales, and that's the best opportunity for us to improve our margins.

Speaker 4

So the team is really focused on the traffic that is coming into the stores, how do we maximize that, whether it's converting them immediately on one item or 4 items, how do we make sure that we're delivering that Canadian warmth experience and they leave us a product that they're thrilled with and that keeps them coming back time and time again and in different seasons? So that really is our focus of driving top line revenue. Neil, I don't know if you want to add anything else.

Speaker 7

Yes. I think we're also being realistic about the amount of time that making some of these behavioral changes within the stores and spreading that across 70 plus stores will take the amount of time that will take and the effect that we should expect this year. We've been reasonably cautious on the effect of that with respect to the overall margin and obviously our 4 walls embedded in that overall margin forecast for the year. And so I think we see beyond this year further opportunity, but when we put enough sort of track record behind this, we can speak more confidently about what that will deliver. But for now, our focus is getting ready over the next several weeks for peak and then executing within peak when we know people will be in our stores expecting our products and a great Canadian worth experience.

Speaker 12

Great. And then just as a quick follow-up, there's been a lot of discussion about pricing in the industry overall and you're continuing to take select price increases in your assortment. Have you seen any change in consumer response to your typical pricing actions that you've taken this year in comparison to prior years? And what gives you confidence in the opportunity for continued price gains for the Canada Goose brand?

Speaker 7

Yes. I mean, we've been cautious this year, I think, on pricing. And certainly we evaluate what the competitive set does, what the market can bear, how that impacts consumer demand. We speak to our consumers both in a formal and informal way. And so we want to be aware of what that means.

Speaker 7

At the same time, the quality of the product and function of the product is critical in sort of creating the value proposition that we know we have. And so we will continue to be aware, but we also need to be sort of commercially responsible and no plans yet for what the future looks like. But our job is to just be to continue to monitor and make sure that we're creating the best possible products with the best possible value proposition so the consumers want to and feel that what they get from the product is matches with the prices.

Speaker 4

I can just add one thing. I do we do know from talking to consumers that we do still think that our product assortment has room to grow. And so we do think that there is a category or a level and an opportunity at the higher end, where particularly as we bring in new designs that are from Fighter, we think that there's a strong opportunity and then strong demand to build into there.

Speaker 12

Great. Thanks so much. I'll pass it on.

Speaker 11

Our next question will come from the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Hey, thanks for taking my question. This is Robert on behalf of Ike. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about your full year plan for the wholesale channel, I mean, without years as well. I see you have it going down this year. How does it look next year?

Speaker 10

Are we at a point where we're ready to start growing or do you see some more room to cut?

Speaker 4

Sure. I'll take that. So, our wholesale, I think reminder that we're executing a lot of change and significant change in the wholesale channel. And our objective this year is really to elevate that channel. So, making sure that the experience that they receive in that channel is exactly the same as what they would receive online or at Canada Goose or in one of our stores.

Speaker 4

So we continue to optimize the network. So focusing very stringently on accounts that are brand accretive. We're also tightening up the supply of inventory to include that exclusivity. We know that wholesale channel overall has a lot of inventory in many, many categories. And so we want to work with them to make sure that we're not confounding that issue.

Speaker 4

But we're also trying to make sure that we visually express the brand in the right way and

Speaker 5

grow our breadth of our offering.

Speaker 4

And we've been seeing really strong response to that this quarter in particular. So moving Canada Goose from the outerwear department to a luxury floor, which is where we belong. And so they're recognizing both the elevation work that we're doing on the brand perspective, but also the breadth of the offering. And so that response is very encouraging. Over the full year, you see an outsized impact as we've said in Q1, but on a full year basis, we expected to see that decrease at about 20%.

Speaker 4

It's really just a timing issue of seeing that much more in Q1 because that's a big wholesale quarter for us.

Speaker 10

Great. Thanks.

Speaker 11

Our next question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS. Please go ahead.

Speaker 13

Great. Thank you so much. Danny, I'm interested in your decision to hire your first ever creative director. What made the right choice? What do you expect change?

Speaker 13

How do you expect the brand to evolve given the hire? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks for the question. I think it was the right thing at the right time. We have been swimming upstream to get to where we have arrived and this is a right inflection point for us to take another significant step towards the global luxury brand that we're becoming and building capabilities in Paris with some of the best design talent in the world exists and with high drilling in the charge, someone who took me a long time to find and to connect with and to realize it was the right person for the role and someone who's very excited about it. I think this is something that has the potential and we all believe is going to take this brand up to the next level and that's where we want to go.

Speaker 13

All right. Thank you so much.

Speaker 11

I will now turn the call back to Anna Raman, Vice President of Investor Relations for any closing

Speaker 1

remarks. Thank you. And thank you everyone for joining our call today. If you do have further questions, please feel free to reach out to the Investor Relations team at Canada Goose. Thank you.

Speaker 11

Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude our call for today. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Canada Goose Q1 2025
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