G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Morris Goldfarb : Our culture has always been to acquire companies. We’ve done a really good job of that — before Dana. That’s — we continue looking at opportunities, whether it’s licensed or owned. We shop globally. We’re astute buyers. It shows up in pretty much every acquisition we’ve made since the nineties. This turned out to be a good acquisition. There’s nothing that sits in my mind that was poorly calculated and didn’t perform. We made use of every acquisition we made. It’s one of our company’s strengths. So, enhancing it and putting somebody from the financial world on our team can do nothing but improve what we have. And Dana is a known commodity to us. We’ve dealt with Dana for many years at that PVH. PVH was a great partner for years. And Dana is an important part of communication and helping us understand PVH and how we work with PVH. And she’ll do the same for G III and Apple with our partners. So, we look forward to coming to the company.

Operator: The next question comes from Mauricio Serna with UBS. Your line is open.

Mauricio Serna : Thanks for taking my question and congratulations on the result. I just wanted to ask about the sales guidance. Maybe I missed it, but maybe you could comment a little bit what you’re seeing from your wholesale partners. I’m curious just because I think it was lowered and just want to see what are the dynamics there. And maybe if you could remind us, like, I know you’re not guiding next year, but if you could give us a little bit detail on how we should be thinking on when the new licenses and new like business initiatives will be materializing in your company’s P&L that will be very helpful.

Morris Goldfarb : The outlook, as we all look at retail earnings and forecasts is conservative for the future. For all the same reasons, the consumer is not out there buying aggressively. Traffic is down. The economy is not on spending mode. Housing costs are up mortgage rates are up and we have the never-ending college dilution issues. So, there is a lot that’s impacting the consumer that’s not in our control. Everything that we are controlling is doing well. It is difficult to forecast, how deep the consumer is going into their pocket. We also have another element that we consider. We are still a large outerwear company. And when weather doesn’t work our way, we are impacted. But the good news is the recovery is quick. Holding over deliveries on coats doesn’t necessarily initiate a markdown.

So, it is timing and it is amazing how you get a couple of days of cold weather and the pain of warm weather is gone instantaneously. So, it is hard to forecast that, but we saw it, as the weather changed last week, our business in the code area got very good. So, it is a good place for the pieces that we control. The pieces that we don’t, again, it’s hard to give a read for. And it’s a little bit early for us to forecast next year. But we are the same company with more assets, with a consistent talent pool, with our balance sheet being stronger than it has ever been. So those factors all make me comfortable that we are down a good path for the coming year.

Neal Nackman: Mauricio, this is Neal. Just to add to the specific timing, Nautica Jeans, as well as the Donna Karan launch will be in spring, so you can expect those to start hitting in our first quarter. The Halston is launched for fall as well as the Champion outerwear businesses. So, I would expect that both of those are hitting primarily in the third — starting in the third quarter of next year.

Operator: Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from Paul Kearney with Barclays. Your line is open.

Paul Kearney: Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on the results. My first question is on the margins, a bit of a follow-up. So just looking at the model, it looks like, margins are at a multiyear high. I guess can you maybe help us to think about what in here is a structural improvement, what’s more transitory? And anything you can kind of help to parse out on the year-over-year drivers? How much was pricing? How much was lower cost? How much was better distribution? And I have a follow-up. Thanks.

Morris Goldfarb: Sure. So, Paul, look, I think the margins are structurally in place. While the increase to the prior year has some one-time benefits, the actual achieved margin, I think, and our ability to maintain it goes back to what Morris said before about the ability for us to price strong and maintain those prices. We did have lower freight this year. We don’t really anticipate that, that scenario will change dramatically on us. I think that we can continue to maintain pricing. In terms of input costs, we are not seeing anything structurally that to give us pause that this is somehow a unique one-time high for us. So, we will certainly endeavor to maintain these kinds of margins go forward, and that will be based significantly on our ability to maintain price. I think we have always really been able to do a good job in terms of managing the cost side of that equation.

Paul Kearney: Okay. Thanks. And then my follow-up is on price. And I guess trying to swear with the comments on the pressures on the consumer inventory purchases are still conservative. I guess what gives you confidence that as costs come down, prices won’t have to soon follow in the intermediate term? Thanks.