J. Jill, Inc.

Good morning. My name is Jael and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the J-JAEL first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. On today's call are Claire Spofford, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Webb, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. 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 the star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again press star one. Before we begin, I need to remind you that certain comments made during these remarks may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Those risks and uncertainties are described in the press release and JGL's SEC filings. The forward-looking statements made on this recording are as of June 7th, 2023, and JGL does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Finally, JGL may refer to certain or non-GAAP financial measures during these remarks. A reconciliation schedule showing the GAAP versus non-GAAP financial measures is available in the press release issued on June 7, 2023. If you do not have a copy of today's press release, you may obtain one by visiting the investor relations page of the website at jjill.com. I will now turn the call over to Clayton. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. I will begin our discussion by reviewing highlights from our first quarter performance. We'll then provide an update on a few of our strategic initiatives before turning the call over to Mark to review our financial performance and outlook in more detail. In the first quarter, we delivered sales in line with our expectations as we anniversary the strong comparison to last year, and we exceeded our outlook for profitability. reflecting our ongoing execution of our disciplined operating model, which generates healthy cash flow from operations. In addition, we successfully completed the refinancing of our term loan and ABL facility this spring. We believe through the disciplines we now have in place, along with our enhanced financial flexibility with the completion of our debt refinancing, we are well positioned to navigate the current environment and remain focused on positioning J. Jill for long-term success. During the quarter, we continued to stay close to our customer and remained agile to react and respond to her evolving spending behavior amidst the current environment, including adjusting our marketing and promotional plans to deliver the sales and inventory results. Our latest customer insight study revealed that concerns around inflationary pressures remained high. We saw that play out in Q1 in her spending behavior in terms of both units per transaction and frequency. We continued to see strength in the newness we delivered, and in categories like dresses and within our Pure Jill and wherever sub-brands. But we did see some softening within certain categories, particularly in our basics business. With respect to our channel performance, we continued to see relative strength in stores. While both channels saw our customer become more discerning with her purchases, the impact was felt more broadly within direct, where we also experienced a higher level of return. While a return rate is higher than our historical average, it is relatively in line with the industry and to be expected given the strengths we have seen in categories such as dresses where return rates are typically higher. As part of our commitment to responding in season to manage our inventory balances, we took select actions where appropriate and maintained a controlled approach to the breadth and depth of promotions. We were pleased to end the period with a well-positioned inventory balance in line with our strategy as the freight tailwinds we expected offset the surgical markdown actions taken. Turning now to the progress we're making against our strategic initiative. First, with respect to our focus on customer growth and the modernization of our brand and value proposition. While our top line performance was impacted by the factors I just reviewed, we were encouraged to see continued results in Q1 from our size inclusivity initiative with productive growth in this segment across both channels. In addition, while our size inclusivity initiative continues to be a pathway to growth with that customer, we were also pleased to see that our Wherever sub-brand is resonating with younger, new-to-brand customers who are looking for clothing to wear to work. As we look ahead, we will continue to leverage our portfolio of sub-brands to lean into areas that are resonating with both new and existing customers. Moving next to our focus on expanding our store base. During Q1, following the success of our Grainger, Indiana opening in Q4, we opened two new stores in South Windsor, Connecticut and Mashpee, Massachusetts. We've been thrilled with the initial response to these openings, especially as we welcome back many prior customers to J. Jill. Approximately half of the customers we've seen in the initial weeks at our South Windsor and Mashpee stores are reactivated customers. As we look forward, we're excited to continue to explore opportunities to expand our footprint over time as the economics make sense. Finally, with respect to strengthening our omnichannel capabilities, with our store openings underway, it is even more important that we continue to enhance our systems and leverage our capabilities across our channels. We have just begun the rollout of our new POF system, which we plan to complete by the end of fiscal 2023. We will be implementing the system into our stores through a phased approach throughout the year, helping to ensure a smooth transition for both our associates and customers. As a reminder, one of the benefits we expect to see from our new POF system is the improvement in more seamless transactions across channels and positions us to further enhance our omnichannel capabilities over time. In summary, we're pleased with how we've continued to execute against our model and our strategic initiatives, particularly in light of the evolving consumer backdrop. we remain focused on operating the business with the same disciplines around inventory and expense management that have supported our progress to date. Our updated guidance for fiscal 2023, which Mark will discuss in more detail in a moment, reflects a more cautious view on the consumer, as well as a wider range of scenarios with respect to our promotional activity should the environment warrant it. We're committed to taking actions in season to maintain clean inventory balances, but we remain focused on optimizing our profitability, and will be as narrow and shallow with promotions as appropriate. Now I will turn the call over to Mark to discuss our financial performance in more detail.

Thank you, Claire, and good morning, everyone. Overall, we delivered a better than expected first quarter despite what proved to be a more challenging price-sensitive customer as the strength of our operating model delivered solid adjusted EBITDA and generated strong cash from operations. In addition, as disclosed in April, we successfully refinanced our funded debt during the quarter, reducing principal outstanding by approximately $50 million and extending maturity out to May of 2028. Both Moody's and S&P Ratings agencies recognized this accomplishment and issued upgrades on both the corporate rating of J. Jill and the term loan itself. And lastly, as announced last month, we successfully extended our asset-backed lending facility, aligning its maturity with the term loan in 2028. Now for an overview of results for the first quarter. Total company comparable sales for the first quarter decreased 3% compared to last year's very strong recovery-driven plus 24% comp. Total company sales for the quarter were $149 million, down 5% compared to Q1 2022. As Claire mentioned in her remarks, we did see some evidence during the quarter of macroeconomic impacts on the consumer across our channels. Store sales for Q1 were down 2% versus Q1 2022 on 2% fewer stores. In stores, customers responded to full price which drove a higher average unit retail but was offset by lower units sold per transaction primarily driven by markdown units. Direct sales as a percentage of total sales were 45% in the quarter. Compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2022, Direct sales were down 8%, primarily due to an increase in markdown sales penetration and higher online returns, driven in part by strong sales in higher returning categories, such as dresses. Q1 total company gross profit was $108 million, down $1.9 million compared to Q1 2022. Q1 gross margin was 72%, up 230 basis points over Q1 2022. Elevated freight costs have now abated, resulting in a gross margin rate benefit of approximately 250 basis points compared to last year. SG&A expenses were $82 million compared to $86 million last year. Investments in selling costs and marketing were more than offset by lower depreciation and amortization and management incentive accruals. Adjusted EBITDA was $32 million in the quarter, up 2% compared to $31 million in Q1 2022. Please refer to today's press release for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA. As I mentioned, during the quarter, we successfully refinanced our funded debt. As a result of the extinguishment of both the priming term loan and subordinated TIC loan in place in September of 2020, we incurred a $12.7 million loss on refinancing, which impacted our reported net income for the period. Turning to cash flow, we generated $8 million of cash from operations in Q1, and following the successful refinancing of the term loan, ended the quarter with $28 million in cash and zero borrowings against the AVL. We continue to focus on tight inventory management, and as mentioned last quarter, the supply chain disruption that began in the back half of 2021 is now behind us. and shipments this year are largely on time versus being late or delayed last year. Inventories at end of Q1 are down 15% compared to the end of Q1 2022, with higher on-hand units being offset by lower units in transit due to those delayed and longer shipping times last year. Capital expenditures in the quarter were about $3 million compared to about $700,000 last year. We continue to make good progress with our POS initiative, which has just begun rollout and will be completed later in the year. And we opened two stores in the first quarter, resulting in 245 stores to end the quarter. Turning to our outlook, as Claire discussed, we are updating our full-year outlook to reflect a more cautious view of the consumer based on current trends, as well as a wider range of scenarios with respect to our promotional cadence, given the ongoing uncertainty around the macroeconomic environment moving forward and our commitment to managing in-season inventory, balancing our goals to drive profit and end fiscal periods clean with minimal excess carry forward. Given this, we now expect adjusted EBITDA to be down in the mid-single digits as a percent compared to last year, including an approximate $2 million benefit from the 53rd week. Our updated outlook for the year reflects first quarter results as well as an updated expectation for the remainder of the year. For the second quarter, we expect sales to be down versus Q2 2022 in the mid-single digits and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $26 and $31 million. With respect to the second half of the year, we are maintaining a prudent outlook and expect similar top-line year-over-year trends to continue into third quarter. Given this, along with our expectation that the tailwinds from freight favorability will decline considerably, as well as our ongoing commitment to managing in-season inventories, we expect profitability to be most pressured in the third quarter, with expected improvement in fourth quarter given easier comparisons to last year from both the sales and profitability perspective, as well as the benefit of the 53rd week. Regarding store count, we still expect flat store count to end 2023 with any openings offset by closures. And with respect to full-year capital, we expect to spend about $18 million with investments focused on technology, stores capital, and the completion of the POS project late in 2023. Thank you, and I will now hand it back to the operator for questions.