Urban Outfitters, Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Urban Outsiders Inc. first quarter fiscal 23 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star, then zero on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce Una McCullough, Executive Director of Investor Relations. Ms. McCullough, you may begin.

Good afternoon and welcome to the URBN first quarter fiscal 2023 conference call. Earlier this afternoon, the company issued a press release outlining the financial and operating results for the three-month period ending April 30, 2022. The following discussions may include forward-looking statements. It's important to note at this time the global COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to have a significant impact on URBN's business. Given the uncertainty about the duration and extent of the virus's impact to the global retail environment, content discussed on today's call could change materially at any time. Accordingly, future results could differ materially from historical practices and results or current descriptions, estimates, and suggestions. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results is contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On today's call, you will hear from Richard Hain, Chief Executive Officer, Frank Conforti, Co-President and COO, and Melanie Moraine-Effron, Chief Financial Officer. Following that, we will be pleased to address your questions. For more detailed commentary on our quarterly performance and the text of today's conference call, please refer to our investor relations website at www.urbn.com. I will now turn the call over to Dick.

Thank you, Eleanor. Good afternoon, everyone. Today I'll begin the call with some brief remarks regarding our first quarter sales and make a few macro consumer observations. I will then turn the call over to Frank and Melanie who will provide more details by brand along with our thoughts about future performance. URBN produced strong sales gains in the first quarter with total retail segment comp sales increasing by 11% versus Q1 last year. Each brand posted positive retail segment comps led by Anthropologie with a powerful 18% gain and Free People with a 15% increase. The urban brand retail segment comp was 1% driven by strong sales in Europe, partially offset by weakness in North America. The urban brand in North America saw a deceleration in comp sales throughout the quarter as it faced progressively more difficult comparisons against sales in the first quarter last year. When we last spoke with you in March, we were optimistic that strong consumer demand would continue through the spring seasons. We believe this remains true for the Anthropologie and Free People brands. These customers are excited for a return to normal. They're shopping in stores again and are out and about with family and friends, traveling, dining out, and going to many, many events. Customers are shopping to accommodate their social calendars and the products they're choosing are those tailored specifically for going out moments. The anthropology brand prioritized dresses for the spring-summer season, and that is paying off nicely. The customer has reacted favorably to their offerings and the fabulous marketing materials the brand created. We believe both anthropology and free people will continue to see nicely positive sales in Q2. Most urban North America brand customers receive stimulus windfalls in March and April last year. which quickly swelled their disposable income. Many spent it just as quickly and helped drive a surge in demand in the first half of last year. As a result, Urban Outfitters North America has very difficult comparisons this year during the first half. Furthermore, this customer is the most sensitive to inflation, as they are typically younger and earn less than their anthro or free people counterparts. Adding to these powerful headwinds, the brand in North America did not execute to the level we would have liked. Taken together, we believe Urban Outfitters North America will likely underperform in the second quarter. Q2 comparable retail segment sales to date for the Anthropologie and Free People brands are running nicely positive. We believe total URBN comp sales for the second quarter could be in the low single-digit positive range, even though Q2 comparisons versus last year are a full 1,200 basis points more difficult than Q1. With that, I will now turn the call over to Frank to provide more detail on our performance.