Wolverine World Wide, Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is a conference operator. Welcome to the Wolverine Worldwide Inc. third quarter fiscal 2021 results call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. If you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal and operate it by pressing star and 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Alex Wiseman, Vice President. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to our third quarter 2021 conference call. On the call today are Blake Krieger, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Hoffman, our President, and Mike Stornett, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier this morning, we announced our financial results for the third quarter 2021. The press release is available on many news sites and can be viewed on our corporate website at wolverineworldwide.com. If you would prefer to have a copy of the release sent to you directly, please call Allison Malkin at 203-682-8225. This morning's press release and comments made during today's earnings call include non-GAAP disclosures, which adjust, for example, for the impacts of environmental and other related costs, net of cost recoveries, costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including air freight costs, severance expenses, and other related costs, and foreign exchange rate changes. References to underlying performance reflect the exclusion of the recently acquired Sweaty Betty brand. These disclosures were reconciled in attached tables within the body of the release. I'd also like to remind you that statements describing the company's expectations, plans, predictions, and projections, such as those regarding the company's outlook for fiscal year 2021 and 2022, growth opportunities, and trends expected to affect the company's future performance made during today's conference call are forward-looking statements under U.S. securities laws. As a result, we must caution you that there are a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These important risk factors are identified in the company's SEC filings and in our press releases. With that being said, I'd now like to turn the call over to Blake Krieger.

Thanks, Alex. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. I hope everyone on the call is safe and well. Consumer demand for our market-leading brands and product offerings continues to surge and exceeded our expectations in Q3. Our strategic focus on a deeper connection with consumers, digital and DTC capabilities, and product and design innovation is paying dividends. Well, the supply chain challenges that have been well documented across many industries has limited our ability to fully service this growing demand in the short term. I have never been so enthusiastic about our future and our outlook for 2022. Earlier today, we reported over 29% revenue growth versus 2020 and 11% over 2019. Third quarter revenue was approximately $637 million. Earnings leverage driven by gross margin increases was very good. We estimate that factory closures and logistics delays impacted Q3 by at least $60 million. The Wolverine Michigan group's revenue was up 13% year-over-year, and the Wolverine Boston group's revenue was up over 33%. Both groups delivered growth over 2019. Adjusted earnings per share for the company were $0.62, in line with our expectations, despite the shortfall in revenue driven by macro supply chain issues. We believe the company is well positioned to deliver accelerated future growth, with a number of fundamental elements supporting our enthusiasm. Our brand portfolio strategy and international distribution base continue to reduce risk and provide a meaningful strategic benefit in the current environment. Yes, the company is not dependent on any single product category, geographic region, consumer group, or distribution channel. While consumer lifestyle choices have increased demand for performance products, the underlying trends in this category are long-term in nature and are expected to persist. Consumers are increasingly focused on health and wellness, with running, hiking, the outdoors, and exercise in general, serving as the primary activations of this mindset. Participation in running in the US has increased every year over the last five years, and a significant majority of new runners say they plan to continue running in the future. Participation in all outdoor activities, including hiking, walking, and boating, has also increased with over 20 million new hikers in the U.S. alone since 2015. This past spring and summer, national parks shattered attendance records and new boat purchases and water activities in general reached a 13-year high. Consumers' renewed affinity for the outdoors is expected to continue into the future, especially as consumers begin to travel again. The work category has also showed strong growth supported by healthy macro industry conditions and workwear fashion tailwinds. Warehousing jobs have more than doubled since 2005 and construction companies are expected to hire hundreds of thousands of additional workers over the coming months. Looking ahead, the passage of a major infrastructure plan in the U.S. will further boost momentum in this category. Across all brands and product categories, we have placed our consumers at the heart of our global strategy, and that has changed how we bring product to market and operate the business. This strategic focus led to our recent acquisition of Sweaty Betty, a TrendRight women's activewear brand that adds a very meaningful DTC business to our portfolio, with over 80% of revenue generated through DTC channels. Including Sweaty Betty, DTC e-commerce revenue more than doubled in Q3 relative to 2019. And our DTC stores are up over 35% versus that year. Our owned online business and the online business of our wholesale customers now account for over 30% of global revenue. Together with the DTC businesses operated by our distributor partners around the world, nearly 40% of our global revenue and a larger percentage of our pairs is now generated through consumer direct channels, enabling enhanced brand shopping experiences, a wealth of consumer insights and data, and a more efficient business model. We continue to capitalize on the fundamental consumer trends that are playing out in the market. In addition to our strong DTC business, these trends are reflected by continued strength in retail sell-through and a historically high order backlog that now extends into Q3 of 2022. We remain bullish on our outlook in light of these trends and the composition of our brand portfolio, which over-indexes in trending performance and lifestyle categories. We expect strong long-term consumer demand, especially for Saucony, Merrill, Sweaty Betty, our work brands, and Sperry. which will launch a line of products in the active sport category next spring. For our call today, Brendan Hoffman will provide some additional insight on key brand performance during the quarter. Mike Stornett will review our Q3 financial form and updated outlook in more detail, and I'll conclude with some final remarks. With this, I'll now hand it over to Brendan. Brendan?