Guess’, Inc. (NYSE:GES) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And the customer is open to appreciating the lifestyle features that we have. In both brands, I’m talking about Guess and Marciano. And we think that we can continue to really penetrate other categories or expand in categories that we already have a big presence. A good example of this will be what we did with athleisure when the customer started staying home and so forth. And the athleisure line has been a huge success. It went from 0% to represent about 7% of our apparel distribution in almost a year, year and a half. So we see opportunities like that one in many other areas. So that’s our third pillar. And our fourth pillar is something that we haven’t talked in the past, but we see a big opportunity for conducting or pursuing strategic acquisitions that can leverage the core competencies that we have created and built over the last 42 years that Guess has been in business.

We have a global infrastructure with great management capabilities, we have a multi-channel capabilities too. We know how to do direct to consumer businesses, both retail and e-commerce. We know how to run a wholesale business, full price and outlet distribution. We have a great network of licensees that would — could be further leveraged to partner with other brands. We have been doing business in 25 different product categories. So the capabilities that we have in product are I think very unique and very strong. We also have a global product development and supply chain network that can really be applied to multiple businesses and brands. And we think that what we do in marketing in terms of a fully integrated in house advertising and marketing capabilities, I think is also very unique.

We do everything in house. And we have a great global management team that could also be further leveraged. So we see that our diversified business can be just further leveraged and I think we have the capabilities in house to be able to capitalize on those opportunities. And we have a robust capital structure that will allow us to really become involved with new businesses. So super exciting and I hope that I answer your question.

Corey Tarlowe: That’s great. It’s really helpful. I think one of the things that’s also clear is that, over the last few years this business has driven fairly robust margins and then even for this year that’s expected to continue. So maybe Dennis, could you talk a little bit about how to kind of bridge the margin for this year? Maybe from the first quarter guide to the full year guide? I recognize that the puts and takes are obviously going to be a little bit different this year, perhaps than they were in prior years, but it would be helpful if you could talk in a little bit more detail about some of the factors that might be impacting the next 12 months as you look out from a margin standpoint?

Dennis Secor: Sure. Let me start with just — even if I — as I look back, I mean, we’re really proud of how we protected the margins structure for this business considering so many headwinds that have faced us. But as we pivot now to fiscal 2024, we kind of articulated these in detail, but let me double click. We’re still expecting to see headwinds coming from inflation. We identified that last year we benefited from some COVID relief, the year over year performance based comp that could present a headwind for us. But the great thing about our plan is that we have levers that we think can mitigate those headwinds. We’re looking at a benefit from lower freight now that the supply chains are certainly in better shape. Our expectation is that, retailers are going to manage their inventories more in a more disciplined way than perhaps they did last year.