Kohl's Corporation

Good morning. My name is Dennis, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Coles Corporation third quarter 2022 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. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Rube, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Certain statements made on this call, including projected financial results and the company's future initiatives, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Kohl's intends forward-looking terminology such as believes, expects, may, will, should, anticipates, plans, or similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause COAL's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those that are described in item 1A, in COLE's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, and Item 1A of Part 2 of the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, and as may be supplemented from time to time in COLE's other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Forward-looking statements relate to the date initially made, and COLE's undertakes no obligation to update them. In addition, during this call, we will make reference to non-GAAP financial measures. Information necessary to reconcile these non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the investor presentation filed as an exhibit to our Form 8K filed with the SEC and is available on the company's investor relations website. Please note that this call will be recorded. However, replays of this call will not be updated. So if you're listening to a replay of this call, it is possible that the information discussed is no longer current, and Kohl's undertakes no obligation to update such information. Today's call will be abbreviated as compared to past earnings calls. We are planning the call to last approximately 40 minutes. With me this morning are Peter Bonaparte, our independent chair of the board, and Jill Tim, our chief financial officer. I will now turn the call over to Peter.

Thank you, Mark, and thank you for joining us this morning. I'm going to provide some brief introductory remarks, and then I'll turn it over to Jill to review our third quarter results. We will then take some Q&A. As we shared last week, Michelle Goss decided to step down as CEO to become the successor CEO at Levi's, a valued brand partner of ours. On behalf of the board, management, and all of our associates, I want to thank Michelle for her contribution to Kohl's during the past nine years. Her efforts to strategically transform Kohl's through brand introductions and partnerships like Sephora and her focus on building an inclusive and collaborative culture will benefit the company for years to come. Michelle is an outstanding leader, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her in the future. We have plans in place to facilitate a smooth transition. The board appointed Tom Kingsbury as interim CEO. Many of you know Tom from his leadership and success at Burlington. He's highly regarded and an exceptional operator with a keen focus on inventory management. I knew Tom from his early days at Filene's, and I personally have always had a great deal of respect for his professionalism, retail acumen, and integrity. Tom is no stranger to Kohl's. He calls Milwaukee home. He's been on the board since 2021 and has been intimately involved in working with Michelle and the team. He is the perfect fit to lead the company during this interim period, and we greatly appreciate his willingness to serve in this capacity. we expect him to hit the ground running. Given the recent volatility in our business and consumer behavior, the significant macroeconomic headwinds, along with the unexpected CEO transition, we will not be giving guidance for the fourth quarter and are withdrawing our prior outlook for the year. We also want to make sure that the company has the flexibility to take the actions necessary in the fourth quarter to best position the business for 2023. We continue to have strong conviction in our strategies and is our intent to resume providing guidance on our Q4 call in late February for the new fiscal year, 2023. Now, let me spend a few minutes on our next steps. The Board last week formed a committee to oversee the search for a new CEO. Michael Bender, our current chair of the Nominating and ESG Committee, will be leading our efforts with help from Christine Day, Margaret Jenkins, as well as Tom and I. Kohl's is a great company with bright prospects, and this is an attractive role and an opportunity in the retail industry. We are excited to engage with candidates. Let me share with you some of the key characteristics we are looking for in a new CEO. Kohl's has always been known for brands, value, and convenience, so it's important that we land a candidate that has great brand-building experience, understands our go-to-market value proposition, and has deep omnichannel expertise. In addition, we are looking for a leader that can build great teams and drive stellar results while furthering the innovative spirit and conclusive and collaborative culture. We don't have a timeline for you on how long it will take, but we know that the process is underway and that Tom has agreed to remain interim CEO until a permanent successor is named. This company has been through a lot over the last couple of years. I want to thank our shareholders for the time you've invested in engaging with us, as well as thank you for your continued support during this transition period. We are committed to finding the next great CEO to successfully position Kohl's to drive sales, grow earnings, and create shareholder value. This board is also committed to supporting Tom, the management team, and the entire associate base during this interim period. I will now turn over the call to Jill to discuss our third quarter results.