Johnson Outdoors Inc.

Everyone and welcome to the Johnson Outdoors fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Today's call will be led by Helen Johnson Leopold, Johnson Outdoors chairman and chief executive officer. Also on the call is David Johnson, vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to the question and answer session, all participants will be placed in a listen only mode. After the prepared remarks, the question and answer session will begin. If you would like to ask a question during that time, please press star 11 on your telephone keypad. This call is being recorded. Your participation implies consent to our recording this call. If you do not agree to these terms, simply drop off the line. I would now like to turn the call over to Pat Penman from Johnson Outdoors. Please go ahead, Ms. Penman.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our discussion of Johnson Outdoors results for the 2023 fiscal fourth quarter. If you need a copy of today's news release, it is available on our website at johnsonoutdoors.com under investor relations. I also need to remind you that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are made on the basis of our current views and assumptions and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events may differ materially from those statements due to a number of factors, many beyond Johnson Outdoors control. These risks and uncertainties include those listed in our press release and filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If you have additional questions following the call, please contact Dave Johnson or me. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Helen Johnson.

Thanks, Pat. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll begin with an overview of the fiscal year and fourth quarter results, and then I'll share perspective on the performance and outlook for our businesses. Dave will review financial highlights, and then we'll take your questions. During fiscal year 2023, we saw the end of the elevated pandemic-driven demand of the past few years. That, combined with higher inventory levels at retail, led to challenging results for the year. Total company sales declined 11%. $663.8 million compared to $743.4 million in the prior fiscal year. Net income for the year was $19.5 million or $1.90 per diluted share, a 56% decline from the prior fiscal year. Operating profit decreased 82% to $11.7 million versus $66.3 million in the prior fiscal year, with the decrease in sales volumes and the 13% increase in operating expenses significantly impacting profitability. Our fourth quarter was particularly impacted by a significant slowdown in demand. Sales in the fourth quarter ending September 2023 were $96.3 million compared to $196.4 million in the prior year fourth quarter. The fourth quarter results also reflect a challenging comparison between quarters. The last quarter of fiscal 2022 was when supply chain restrictions eased and when we filled a significant number of backlogged customer orders. So it was a tough quarter and a tough year as demand in the outdoor recreation marketplace moderated, and we also began to see a return to the pre-pandemic traditional seasonality of order patterns. In a challenging marketplace, competitive dynamics continue to be aggressive, affecting pricing. Looking forward, we anticipate these dynamics will continue and we are committed to innovation to help our brands grow and succeed. In phishing, innovation is key to sustaining our leadership position. We are excited by the broad line of new products we announced during the third quarter of the fiscal year. Minn Kota announced the Quest series, the all-new brushless trolling motor technology, giving anglers ultimate control in a tough fishing environment. Minn Kota also launched a restage of all its bow-mount trolling motors with a brand new look, an updated technology suite full of angler-friendly enhancements, and a more seamless integration with hummingbird technology. We are fishing industry leaders, we have great brands, and we're committed to returning retaining that position in this marketplace. We are excited about the momentum for the breadth of new innovation we announced, and we will continue to work hard to give anglers the best fishing experience possible. In our diving business, we saw positive growth as global dive markets, especially European markets, continued to recover. We will leverage our innovation and brand-building efforts to ensure Scuba Pro remains the world's most trusted dive brand. Our camping and watercraft recreation businesses faced a significant decline from strong pandemic-fueled demand of the past few years. Retailers still have high inventory on their shelves, and consumer spending has slowed in camping. We recently announced that we made the tough decision to exit our Eureka product line to increase our focus on the Jeff Boyle franchise. Jetboil has experienced tremendous growth over the past five years, and we're working on leveraging the brand equity into expansive growth opportunities. In watercraft recreation, we're excited about Old Town's award-winning revolutionary e-pedal plus drive. This cutting-edge technology is a power-assisted pedal drive that combines pedal and power to propel the fishing experience to the next level. This technology is new to the world, and we're looking forward to shipping Old Town ePedal Plus soon. While we're disappointed in our fiscal year results, we're laser-focused on working hard to outperform the challenging marketplace and to improve our profitability. Despite current economic headwinds and marketplace softness, we will continue to invest in our key strategic drivers, understanding our consumers, sustaining innovation leadership, identifying new sources and paths of growth in our markets, and continually optimizing our digital consumer experience. Our ongoing hard work on these priorities ensures that our portfolio of market-leading brands is well-positioned for success and that we will continue to deliver long-term growth for Johnson Outdoors. Now I'll turn the call over to Dave for more details on the financials.