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spk04: are accustomed to getting from us in shoes and bags. And we're getting a great response to our interpretation of key trends, including animal print, vegan leather, suede, satin, and denim. We're also supporting this great product with increased full funnel marketing investment. In our flagship Steve Madden brand, we kicked off the fall season with an integrated global marketing campaign called Never Miss a Beat. Featuring the iconic D-Lite song, Groove is in the Heart, the campaign served as a love letter to our hometown of New York City. It featured cameos from NYC creators and cultural figures and came to life across our digital and social channels, direct mail, outdoor media, and experiential activations in our retail stores around the world. And it worked. The campaign drove positive impact throughout the consumer journey, including increased organic search for the Steve Madden brand, positive social sentiment, and revenue gains. Together, this combination of outstanding product and effective marketing serves to deepen our connection with our consumers, which is the foundation of our strategy and the enabler for our four key business drivers. Our first key driver is expanding our business in international markets. International revenue grew 11% in the third quarter compared to the same period in the prior year, and we remain on track to achieve mid-teens percentage revenue growth for the full year. The EMEA region continues to be the biggest driver of growth. We expect EMEA revenue to be up more than 20% in 2024. In Europe, we continue to outperform the competition and take share in a challenging retail market. We're also gaining traction with our new joint venture in the Middle East and expect to end the year with 33 stores in that region, up from 27 at the start of the year. And our JV in South Africa continues to drive exceptional brand heat and outstanding growth on the top and bottom lines. In our Americas region, we are on track for double digit top line growth in 2024 with healthy gains in our directly owned subsidiaries in Canada and Mexico, as well as a contribution from our new joint venture in Latin America, which is off to a strong start. Our second key business driver is growing our business outside of footwear. In the third quarter, overall accessories and apparel revenue rose 48% or 19% excluding the most famous. Our Steve Madden handbag business was again the highlight with revenue increasing 27% in the quarter on top of 52% growth in the same period in the prior year. Steve Madden Apparel also continues to gain traction. Revenue there is on pace to grow more than 20% in 2024. And we are well positioned for another year of strong growth in 2025, based on the robust sell through performance at key wholesale customers here today, which is resulting in plans for additional doors and expanded assortments going forward. Turning to Almost Famous, our new acquisition contributed $41 million in revenue in the quarter. The launch of Madden Girl apparel at Kohl's for the back to school season was very successful with sell through performance that outpaced the overall department. And we are ahead of schedule in realizing operating margin improvement at the Almost Famous division overall. Our third key business driver is expanding our direct to consumer business led by digital. DTC revenue grew 8% in the third quarter, including a 5% increase on a comp basis. Our e-commerce business accelerated meaningfully beginning in July and grew revenue by 10% in the quarter. Brick and mortar revenue increased 6% for the quarter. We remain on track to achieve our plan of high single digit growth in DTC for the year. Our fourth key business driver is strengthening our core US wholesale footwear business. Revenue in this business declined 4% in the quarter. Our private label business remains strong, but growth slowed compared to the first half on tougher comparisons. Our branded business remained down as many of our wholesale customers pushed back deliveries of boots this year and continue to take a cautious approach to orders overall. Finally, a critical component of our strategy is advancing our corporate social responsibility objectives. We recently published our 2023 sustainability report, which outlines the progress we have made on our Let's Get Real sustainability strategy and our goals going forward. You can find the report on the sustainability section of steveman.com and I encourage you all to check it out. Overall, our team continues to consistently execute our strategy for long-term growth and our performance in the third quarter was another proof point. Based on our third quarter results, we are raising our guidance for 2024 revenue and earnings. And looking out further, we remain confident in our ability to drive growth and create value for stakeholders over the long term. With that, I will turn it over to Zin to review our third quarter financial results in more detail and provide our updated outlook for
spk03: 2024. Thanks Ed, and good morning everyone. In the third quarter, our consolidated revenue was 624.7 million, a 13% increase compared to the third quarter of 2023. Excluding Almost Famous, consolidated revenue grew .5% compared to the same period in the prior year. Our wholesale revenue was 495.7 million, up .4% compared to the third quarter of 2023. Excluding Almost Famous, wholesale revenue increased .8% compared to the same period in the prior year. Wholesale footwear revenue was 299.3 million, a .2% decrease from the comparable period in 2023, with growth in the private label business more than offset by a decline in the branded business. Wholesale accessories and apparel revenue was 196.4 million, up .2% to the third quarter in the prior year, or .6% excluding Almost Famous, driven by strong growth in our Steve Madden handbag business despite difficult comparisons with the same period last year. In our direct to consumer segment, revenue was 125.5 million, a .8% increase compared to the third quarter of 2023. As Ed mentioned, performance was stronger in e-commerce than the brick and mortar channel. We ended the quarter with 282 company-operated brick and mortar retail stores, including 68 outlets, five e-commerce websites, and 67 company-operated concessions in international markets. Turning to our licensing segment, our licensed royalty income was 3.5 million in the quarter compared to 2.9 million in the third quarter of 2023. Consolidated gross margin was .6% in the quarter versus .1% in the comparable period of 2023 due to the impact of Almost Famous. Excluding Almost Famous, consolidated gross margin increased 50 basis points year over year. The freight impact from the supply chain disruption was offset by lower promotional activity. Wholesale gross margin was .5% compared to .9% in the third quarter of 2023, also due to the impact of Almost Famous. Excluding Almost Famous, wholesale gross margin increased 30 basis points year over year. Direct to consumer gross margin was 64% of 30 basis points from the comparable period in 2023 to the buyer reduction in promotional activity. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenue were 27.9%, compared to 27% in the third quarter of 2023, driven by increased marketing investment, higher incentive compensation, and a mixed shift within DTC to e-commerce, which has a higher variable expense. Operating income for the quarter was 85.4 million, or .7% of revenue, up from 83.4 million, or .1% of revenue in the comparable period in the prior year. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 23.8%, compared to .8% in the third quarter of 2023. Finally, net income, attributable to Steve Madden Limited, for the quarter was 64.8 million, or 91 cents per diluted share, compared to 65.1 million, or 88 cents per diluted share in the third quarter of 2023. Moving to the balance sheet, our financial foundation remains strong. As of September 30th, 2024, we had 150.5 million of cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, and no debt. Inventory at the end of the quarter was 268.7 million, compared to 205.7 million in the prior year. The majority of the increase in inventory was the result of increased transit times. We built an average of approximately 10 days, compared to last year, to transport goods from their countries of origin to our warehouses. Our capex in the third quarter was 2.4 million. During the third quarter, the company spent 20.2 million on repurchases of its common stock, including shares acquired through the Net Settlement of Employees Stock Awards, bringing our -to-date total to $95.8 million. The company's board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of 21 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on December 27th, 2024, to stockholders of record, as of the close of business on December 13th, 2024. Turning to our outlook, we are raising our annual guidance. We now expect revenue for 2024 to increase 13 to 14%, compared to 2023, and we now expect diluted EPS to be in the range of 2,062 cents to 2,067 cents. Now I would like to turn the call over to the operator for questions. Ritka?
spk08: Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Paul Leshway of Citi. Your line is now open.
spk06: Hey guys, this is Pelion for Paul. Thanks for taking our questions. Just first one, if you could just update us on your China sourcing exposure, and what your thought is around how you address that going forward in light of potential tariffs. And then secondly, can you talk a bit more about what played out in the wholesale footwear channel? I believe you were expecting an improvement in the core Steve Madden wholesale footwear business in three Q versus two Q. So I guess how did that trend versus, I believe it was down to single digits in two Qs. So just any color there would be great, thanks.
spk04: Yes, great, thanks Kelly. So first of all, with respect to your first question around China and potential tariff exposure. Look, we have been planning for a potential scenario in which we would have to move goods out of China more quickly. We've worked hard over a multi-year period to develop our factory base and our sourcing capability in alternative countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, et cetera. And so as of yesterday morning, we are putting that plan into motion. And you should expect to see the percentage of goods that we sourced from China to begin to come down more rapidly going forward. Just to give you some, you asked about the China exposure, just to give you some context to hopefully help you frame the issue here. About two thirds of our overall business is done with US imports. So US imports account for about two thirds of our overall business. And of that, we currently source a little bit more than 70% of those goods from China. So in other words, just under half of our current business would be potentially subject to tariffs on Chinese imports. Our goal over the next year is to reduce that percentage of goods that we source from China by approximately 40 to 45%, which means that if we're able to achieve that, and we think we have the plan to do it, that a year from today, we would be looking at just over a quarter of our business that would be subject to potential tariffs on Chinese goods. I think the second part of your question was about our wholesale footwear business. And I think you're referring specifically probably to the branded business. So again, that was down in Q3. We improved sequentially, so the decline was a little bit smaller than it was in Q2, but we did not get all the way to flat, which was our goal. And look, the dynamics in that channel, the challenging dynamics, have been a little stickier than we had hoped. In Q3, I think we were particularly impacted by the fact that some of our key wholesale customers took in their boot deliveries about a month or so later than they did a year ago. Now, when we got those boots delivered, we've had quite a lot of success with our boots. I think we've outperformed the competition there. We've seen some strong sell through, and we are getting reorders, but those reorders are hitting Q3, excuse me, Q4, and not Q3. And look, overall, we just continue to see a cautious approach from some of our key wholesale customers, but we're gonna keep banging away at it. And the good news is that the products that we are getting delivered are seeing sell throughs that are outpacing the competition.
spk06: Got it, so on that point, do you expect that wholesale footwear will improve in 4Q versus 3Q?
spk04: I do.
spk06: Got it. All right, thanks, Ed.
spk08: That's the book.
spk04: Thanks, Kelly.
spk08: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Aubrey Tionello of BNP Paribus. Your line is now open.
spk02: Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Wanted to start out with the updated revenue guidance for 2024. I think previously you were expecting low to mid single digit organic growth in wholesale, and then high singles in B to C. Curious how you're thinking about growth between the channels in this new guide for higher revenue.
spk04: Yeah, thanks, Aubrey. So we have updated our guidance, or raised our revenue guidance in the wholesale channel. So we're now looking for that business to be up mid-teens overall, or about six to seven percent, excluding almost famous. And that increase is really coming from the continued strength that we're seeing in our wholesale accessories and apparel business, but primarily driven by the continued strength of the BNP Paribus and Steve Madden handbags. For DTC, we continue to be at up high singles for the year. So right in line with where we were when we last spoke.
spk02: Okay, got it, great. And then, yeah, just to follow up on that, on the handbag business, and the really impressive growth we saw this quarter. I think this is the fifth straight quarter now, since the handbag business is really inflected, and you're laughing a lot harder, compares starting this quarter. I guess just any more color you can share on what's been driving that growth, and just how we should think about growth in that business going forward.
spk04: Yeah, we're just really pleased with how the team has executed. Again, this has been a multi-year growth journey. We've seen the acceleration recently, but I think this is the, we're seeing the fruit of a lot of labor over a number of years to develop a really strong product engine there, to build a position with our customer, with our consumer in this category, and that's paying off. The team is, to your point, we're now anniversarying some very tough comparisons, and still seeing strong growth. The team has done a great job of updating some of our biggest items to extend their life, and also introducing new silhouettes that are really catching on, and also making sure to consistently, each season, really beyond any kind of new trends in materials and colorways, et cetera. So just good product execution, and we'll keep focusing on it. Great,
spk02: thank you, best of luck. Thanks,
spk08: Amy. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group. Your line is now open.
spk05: Hi, good morning, everyone. As you think about the wholesale business ad and what you're seeing, how does it differ by type, whether it's department stores, off-pricers, or mass merchants, what you're seeing in the private label business? And then when you think of the retail business, what are you seeing in outlets and full-price stores? And then just one follow-up, thank you.
spk04: Sure, look, I think in the wholesale channel, we continue to see that the value-price retailers are performing more strongly. So our private label business is outpacing our branded business, and again, our private label business is primarily done with mass merchants, and even within the branded business, we're clearly seeing strength in the off-price channel as a relative to, say, the department store channel. Although, again, I want to point out, our self-through performance in the department store channel, we feel good about and we think is outpacing our closest competition. In terms of our own DTC, we've been talking for some time about outlets, outperforming full-price stores. That has reversed itself over the last couple months, and in fact, in recent months, we've seen full-price stores actually outpacing outlets.
spk05: And then just on the wholesale footwear category, what are you seeing by styles, any trends, whether it's sneakers, whether it's boots, any new styles or trends that you see driving demand into holiday season and beyond? Thank you.
spk04: Yeah, I'm really excited about what we're seeing with our tall shaft boots right now. I think that's a category where, again, I think we really have the right items, whether it's engineer boots, stretch boots, et cetera, anything in suede, particularly brown suede, we're doing great with. And I think it's a category where we believe that we are outperforming the competition. So that's one thing I'm really excited about. We also introduced some new sneakers this fall, a lot in that sort of soccer-inspired space, and those are performing very well. And we're now updating those by taking them up on platforms, and those are also seeing good demand from the consumer, so we feel good about that. And then on the casual, some of the other categories, casuals, et cetera, we called out Mary Jane's as being very good. We've also got some loafers that are performing. So the team has done a really good job with the product on the footwear side and feel good about how our position there.
spk08: Thank you.
spk03: Thank
spk04: you.
spk08: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Laura Champagne of Loup. Your
spk01: line is
spk08: now open.
spk01: Thanks for taking my question, and thanks for being so specific about the plans you've got to move production out of China. Obviously, you were there for a reason. What's the likely gross margin impact of that move, or do you think you can just pass on any change in cost to your customers?
spk04: I think it's really difficult to quantify the potential impact here. And especially if we are contemplating a new policy where there are significant tariffs on China, that's gonna have all sorts of wide-ranging implications, not only of the supply chain, but the overall economy, supply and demand impacts in all these countries where we would be sourcing from. So I think it's a little too early to speculate about what the impact will be.
spk01: Understood, thank you.
spk08: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Janine Stitcher of BTIG. Your line is now open.
spk07: Hey, good morning. Just was hoping you could elaborate a bit on what you saw with the marketing campaign in September. Any learnings there? And then I think you've been making some investments in your stores. Where are we on that? And just any initial reads from those tests? Thank you.
spk04: Sure, yeah, we were really excited with the marketing campaign and the results that we saw there. I think it was our best campaign in some time and really resonated with the consumer. And again, drove results. We talked about the lift that we saw in folks searching for us, searching for our brand. We saw a big lift across the United States and we focused a lot of our offline activations in the New York area and we saw a much more significant lift in New York. So we saw that those marketing activities really worked. But also, of course, drove revenue. That's critically important. And we got some really great data from some of our wholesale, excuse me, some of our media partners, YouTube, for example, on the lift that we saw in awareness consideration, et cetera, from folks that saw the ad. So it really worked. We felt very good about it. And the nice thing about doing this top of funnel marketing is we saw that it also made our performance marketing dollars work harder and we saw better returns there. So overall, a successful campaign and we'll look to do more of that going forward. In terms of the investments in stores, was that the second part of the question? Right, yeah. Yeah, those are ongoing. I know we've talked about Times Square on this call before. That one's gonna open right before Black Friday. So we're under construction there right now and we're super excited to get that flagship store open. And we'll continue to refresh the fleet going forward.
spk07: Awesome,
spk08: thank
spk07: you.
spk08: At this time, I am showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Ed Rosenfeld for closing remarks.
spk04: Great, well thanks everybody for joining us today. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have a great holiday season and we will speak to you soon.
spk08: Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect.
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