Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Good morning. My name is Zitania, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the L Brand's first quarter 2019 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Amy Preston, Chief Investor Relations Officer of L Brands. You may begin.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to L Brands' first quarter earnings conference call for the period ending Saturday, May 4, 2019. As a matter of formality, I need to remind you that any forward-looking statements we may make today are subject to our safe harbor statements found in our SEC filings. Our first quarter earnings release, additional commentary, and earnings presentation are available on our website, lb.com. Stuart Bergdorfer, EVP and CFO, and I will handle the call today. Thanks, and now I'll turn it over to Stuart.

Thanks, Amy, and good morning, everyone. Our first quarter earnings per share of 14 cents were above our initial guidance of about break-evens. principally driven by a strong performance at Bath and Body Works and some favorability in income taxes. Performance at Victoria's Secret Lingerie, Pink, Victoria's Secret Beauty, and International were largely in line with our forecast. Our performance continues to be mixed. Substantial growth in operating income at Bath and Body Works and an improvement in the other segment as a result of the sale of La Senza and the closure of Henry Bendel was offset by a decline at Victoria's Secret. Turning to our outlook for the remainder of 2019, at Bath & Body Works, an aligned, experienced leadership team and strong customer response to our merchandise assortments are contributing to another solid year. We also remain highly focused on improving performance in the Victoria's Secret and Pink businesses. Don Mijas and Amy Hawk, CEOs at Victoria's Secret Lingerie and Pink respectively, are focused on getting closer to our customers and improving our merchandise assortments. We look forward to our assortments benefiting from their input beginning in the fall season, and our earnings guidance assumes gradual improvement in the Victoria's Secret segment performance as we move through the remainder of 2019. You will hear more from John and Amy, as well as other business leaders at our Investor Day, which is scheduled for September 10th. Thanks, and over to you, Amy.