Movado Group Inc.

Good day, everybody, and welcome to the Movado Group third quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded and may not be reproduced in full or in part without permission from the company. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Allison Melkin of ICR. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. With me on the call today are Ephraim Grinberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of and Sally DeMarcelis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I would like to remind you of the company's safe harbor language, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. The statements contained in this conference call, which are not historical facts, may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual future results may differ materially from those suggested in such statements, due to a number of risks and uncertainties, all of which are described in the company's filings with the SEC, which includes today's press release. If any non-GAAP financial measure is used on this call, a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to this non-GAAP financial measure will be provided as supplemental financial information in our press release. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Ephraim Grimberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Movado Group.

Thank you, Alison. Good morning and welcome to Movado Group's third quarter conference call. Joining me today is our Executive Vice President and CFO, Sally DeMarcellis. After I review the highlights of our quarterly results and the progress we're making against our strategic initiatives, Sally will discuss our financial results for the quarter and year to date in greater detail. We'll then be glad to take your questions. We're pleased with our results for the third quarter. And more importantly, with the progress we're making in building our brands and business in a sustainable way. In a globally challenging retail environment, we delivered revenue growth of 3.1% to $186.1 million. Excluding the Middle East, where we have rebuilt our team and are refining our strategy, growth was 5.9%. We plan to return to growth in that region next year. For the quarter, gross margin improved by 80 basis points to 54.3% compared to 53.5% last year, despite a $4.5 million and 230 basis point impact from incremental U.S. tariffs. After quarter end, the U.S. and Switzerland announced a framework agreement that we expect will lower our overall U.S. tariff rate on Swiss watches to 15%, roughly one-third of the rate we've paid since August. This positive development will allow us to plan effectively for next year and reduce the level of price-based mitigation, benefiting both American consumers and the company. Adjusted operating income grew more than 40% to $12.6 million. For the first nine months, we generated positive operating cash flow of $1.3 million versus the use of cash of $40.6 million last year. We ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet, $183.9 million in cash and no debt. And our board has approved a quarterly dividend of 35 cents per share. This quarter reflects continued progress on our strategic priorities, strengthening our brands, driving innovation, and delivering improving financial results. Our results are a direct reflection of our team's effort, dedication, and commitment. Despite ongoing global economic and political uncertainty, we're increasingly optimistic about the improving dynamics in the fashion and accessible luxury watch categories, driven by innovation in new shapes and sizes and growing interest from women and younger consumers. We're also seeing a strong momentum in fashion jewelry, supported by the growing adoption of jewelry for men. Regionally, we're pleased that the United States returned to 6.9% growth, led by our fashion brand business and our direct-to-consumer business. 11.9% growth in Movado Company stores and 12.4% growth on movado.com. Internationally, our business in Europe and Latin America continue to perform strongly, partially offset by softer results in the Middle East. From a branding standpoint, we're very pleased with the progress we're making on the Movado brand. Our product innovation this year has resonated strongly. The museum collection performed well, particularly our new bangle collection, and we're introducing a new style set with lab-grown diamonds for the holiday season. This collection will be featured prominently in holiday marketing with Jessica Alba and Julianne Moore. For men, we launched the Automatic Museum Imperial, a new hero collection inspired by an iconic design from the late 1970s. Holiday marketing will feature the collection in videos with star running back Christian McCaffrey. In bold, our limited edition collaboration with brand ambassador Ludacris, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his debut album, has been a standout. The MVP collection is already sold out. We're also seeing strong growth in Movado heritage, inspired by our rich archives. The new 1917 collection, based on a square vintage design from that year, has launched successfully, supported by a digital campaign featuring basketball superstar Tyrese Halliburton, who is an avid vintage watch collector. Sell-through is strong across both men's and women's styles. Our holiday campaign is designed to deepen engagement between our products, ambassadors, and consumers, while driving performance at the point of sale through enhanced displays, training, and retail partner support to ensure an elevated in-store experience. The Movado brand helped drive double-digit growth in both sales and contribution margin in our company's stores. Overall sales in Movado Company stores grew 9.4% on a comparable store basis, with Movado brand sales up 17.7%. Over the past year, we've refreshed all Movado displays and visuals in our stores, improved assortments, leading to strong results from these initiatives. Among our licensed brands, we saw strong performance in both jewelry and watches, delivering a 6.4% growth overall and a 2.9% on a constant currency basis. Leading the way to Gen Z consumers has been Coach, which continues to drive double-digit growth led by the SAMI collection, inspired by Coach's iconic turn lock. We've expanded this hero family with SAMI stretch bracelets and a mini ring watch, which is trending strongly. Other successes include the Catty, Cass, and Reese families, all featuring shaped cases. Hugo Boss continues to perform well, led by hero families such as Sky Traveler, the Grand Prix, and the Principal Tank Watch. We're also excited about the potential in Hugo Boss jewelry, particularly for men, led by the watch-inspired Kandor bracelet. For Tommy Hilfiger, the new TH Oxford family, with a dial inspired by the classic Oxford shirt, is gaining traction, with new case shapes rolling out this fall. On the women's side, we are increasing our penetration with our best-selling Mia collection, already sold out in many markets. Lacoste continues to set trends in jewelry with the best-selling Metropole collection and strong results in the rugged LC33 Annie Digi line, which is truly aligned with the Lacoste brand. The new black and gold version introduced this fall is expected to sell out over the holidays. In Calvin Klein, we're building leadership in women's watches, complemented by a strong jewelry offering. The Mini Pulse has quickly become a bestseller, and the new micro contemporary is performing very well. For Olivia Burton, we're seeing healthy growth in our two key markets, the US and the United Kingdom, led by the Mini Grove Collection and our Mini to the Max campaign, which will continue through the spring. We're very proud of our team's execution this year, especially following a challenging fiscal 2025. We're making strong progress against our strategic initiatives and capturing opportunities across global markets. We're also encouraged by the renewed interest among younger consumers embracing analog watches for their design, innovation, quality, and value. With our strong portfolio of brands, we're well positioned to capture this momentum. At the same time, we've made meaningful strides in improving gross margin and controlling expenses as we return to sales growth. Looking ahead, our focus remains on driving improved profitability across every aspect of the business. We're looking forward to a strong holiday season and to building on this momentum as we plan for the next year. I'll now turn the call over to Sally.

Thank you, Ephraim, and good morning, everyone. For today's call, I will review our financial results for the third quarter and year-to-date period of fiscal 2026. My comments today will focus on adjusted results. Please refer to the description of the special items included in our results for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2025 in our press release issued earlier today, which also includes a reconciliation table of gap and non-gap measures. Turning to a review of the quarter. Overall, we were pleased with our performance for the third quarter of fiscal 2026. Sales were $186.1 million as compared to $180.5 million last year, an increase of 3.1%. In constant dollars, the increase in net sales was 1.2%. Net sales increased across licensed brands and company stores, partially offset by a decrease in net sales in owned brands. By geography, U.S. net sales increased 6.9% as compared to the third quarter of last year. International net sales increased 0.6%, with strong performances in certain markets such as Europe and Latin America, offset by a weaker performance in the Middle East, which is where we are making progress rebuilding this important market. On a constant currency basis, international net sales decreased 2.5%. Gross profit as a percent of sales was 54.3% compared to 53.5% in the third quarter of last year. The increase in gross margin rate as compared to the same period last year was primarily driven by favorable channel and product mix and the increased leverage driven by certain reduced costs and higher sales. This was partially offset by increased tariffs. Operating expenses were $88.5 million as compared to $87.9 million for the third quarter of last year. The $600,000 increase was driven by an increase in performance-based compensation partially offset by a planned reduction in marketing expenses. The combination of higher revenue and gross profit more than offset a relatively small increase in operating expenses to deliver a 43.5% increase in operating income to $12.6 million, This is a $3.8 million improvement from the $8.8 million spent in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. We recorded approximately $1.2 million of other non-operating income in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 as compared to $1.4 million in the same period of last year. Other non-operating income is comprised of interest earned on our global cash position. We recorded income tax expense of $3.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, as compared to $1.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Net income in the third quarter was $10.2 million, or 45 cents per diluted share, as compared to $8.5 million, or 37 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period. Now turning to our year-to-date results. Sales for the nine-month period ended October 31, 2025, were $479.7 million, as compared to $471.9 million last year. Total net sales increased 1.7% as compared to the nine-month period of fiscal 2025. In constant dollars, the increase in net sales for the year-to-date period was 0.6%. U.S. net sales increased by 1.5%, and international net sales increased 1.8%. Gross profit was $260 million or 54.2% of sales as compared to $254.8 million or 54% of sales last year. The increase in the gross margin rate for the first nine months was primarily due to favorable channel and product mix, partially offset by increased tariff costs and the unfavorable foreign currency exchange. Operating expenses were $239.5 million as compared to $241.3 million for the same period of last year. The decrease was driven by a reduction in marketing expenses partially offset by an increase in performance-based compensation. For the nine months ended October 31, 2025, operating income was $20.5 million compared to $13.5 million in fiscal 2025. We recorded approximately $4 million of other non-operating income in the nine-month period of fiscal 2026, which is primarily comprised of interest earned on our global cash position as compared to $5.2 million in the same period of last year. Net income was $17.4 million, or 77 cents for diluted share, as compared to $13.9 million, or 62 cents for diluted share in the year-ago period. Now turning to our balance sheet. Cash at the end of the third quarter was $183.9 million, as compared to $181.5 million in the same period of last year. Accounts receivable was $118.3 million, up $4.5 million from the same period of last year, primarily due to foreign currency. Inventory at the end of the quarter was up $20.8 million, or 11.8%, above the same period of last year. $5.4 million of the increase was due to foreign currency, and $6.4 million of IEPA reciprocal tariffs is included in the inventory on hand at the end of the third quarter. We are comfortable with the composition and balance of our inventory at quarter end. In the first nine months of fiscal 2026, capital expenditures were $3.5 million, and we repurchased approximately 100,000 shares under our share repurchase program. As of October 31st, 2025, we have $48.4 million remaining under our authorized share repurchase program. Subject to prevailing market conditions and the business environment, we plan to utilize our share repurchase program to offset dilution. As Ephraim mentioned, there has been a recent trade agreement impacting future Swiss tariff rates, and we will adjust our mitigation strategy accordingly. Given the current economic uncertainty and the unpredictable impact of tariff development, the company is not providing fiscal 2026 outlook. I would now like to open the call up for questions.

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad at this time. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, It may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. Once again, that's star 1 to register a question at this time. Our first question today is coming from Hamad Korsand of BWS Financial. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. So first I just want to ask you, the success you're seeing with many of your watches and brands, is that coming from your influencers, your spokespeople that you have, Or is that because of the design and it's just trending well with Gen Z?

Well, I think it's a combination of both, Ahmed. Thank you. It's a good question. And so what you're seeing is an increased coverage of these products on social media and online. Obviously, the bulk of our campaigns are also on digital media, and so that resonates, and they're resonating with younger consumers across the spectrum. I think it's also the combination of innovation of new shapes and sizes and the embrace of younger consumers to the watch category. And that's occurring pretty much on a global basis. So it's nice to see.

Okay. And then as far as the commentary you made about many of your brands being selling well or being sold out, do you want the sold out conditions? I mean, wouldn't that impair your sales?

So I think it's really on some select product families across, I think I mentioned Tommy Hilfiger in some markets and some of our other brands. And I think that what, you know, this is not a, in some cases, we also, in the case of the Ludicrous watch and Movado, it was a limited edition. So it was planned to be sold out. We still have one model available, which we expect to sell out in the next few weeks. So I think it's always good to have a balance of supply and demand, and we'll be able to replenish most of the styles into the early first quarter or the end of the fourth quarter of this year. So I think it's a good balance to have. And part of it is as the category comes back and the innovation has increased and consumers are drawn back into the category, obviously the levels of demand change. And that's also very good to see.

And the success you're seeing in sales, does that change your commentary coming into the calendar year about what your spending levels would be for the fiscal year?

I think, you know, it's really a balance and our focus has been on improving profitability. And you saw that through the first nine months of this year and particularly in this quarter. So it's really we will continue to invest in our brand building efforts. But at the same time, we have made it a goal and we're very serious about it of driving improved profitability at the company. Okay, thank you.

Once again, that's Star 1 if you'd like to register a question at this time. We're showing no additional questions in queue at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Grinberg for closing comments.

Well, thank you very much all for participating today. I'd like to wish everybody a great Thanksgiving holiday. And, of course, it's the really formal beginning of the holiday shopping period. We'll all be in stores looking to see how business is out there, and I'm sure many of you will be as well as beginning your holiday shopping. So, again, enjoy the holiday, and thank you very much for being here today.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines or lock off the webcast at this time and enjoy the rest of your day.