Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Unidentified Analyst: This is Kate on for Ike. I guess my first question, Martin, just a follow-up on PINK. Could you remind us how much in revenue PINK was in 2022? And I’m curious, you noted the new organization structure at VS between Lingerie and PINK. Can you just think about — or help explain how you think the new structure maybe will help benefit the brand? I think historically, we thought that maybe having the separate structure might be helpful in terms of the guardrails around the two. So, I’d be curious just your view on this structure here? And then I have a follow-up on SG&A.

Martin Waters: Yes. Thank you for the question. So, sleep is a very important category for us, and we think about it in two chunks. The first part, we call taxi sleep which is very provocative, merchandise leverages up of the very sexy and Dream Angels collections. And then the second part of sleep is more casual sleep, which did particularly well during the COVID period and obviously, is a major part of gifting during the fourth quarter. So, the participation of sleep changes throughout the year depending on the season. But think about 15% to 20% of our total system across Victoria’s and PINK. That would be directionally close enough for you at this stage. What’s the benefit of putting PINK and Victoria’s together? Well, to a large extent, there is a significant crossover of the customer between the two brands.

To a large extent, we’re in the bra business in both franchises, 50% of the PINK business is bras and intimates. I think it makes sense to build our entire assortment with a single eye to how the customer traverses through the bra and panty experience. And so, for the first time, I think, in our history, we have merchant leadership that is considering how the customer sees the entirety of our intimates category. I think that’s very important. There are also benefits in the sort of the back of house in the way that we source and the way that we merchandise that should lead to greater efficiency. In some cases, we’re buying the same merchandise but with different design teams and different factories. And it makes sense to have a single eye across those two.

So those are the main reasons. One, customer facing, secondly, organizational efficiency on the back end for us.

Unidentified Analyst: Sorry, I just had one quick follow-up on SG&A. You guys noted in the commentary with the earnings release, Certainly, it seems like there are some priorities this year for spend between tech investment, incentive comp, supporting Adore Me. I guess to the extent that the top line remains variable, especially I guess I’m just curious on the flex on the expense front, just given that it seems like those investments maybe have a little less flexibility. About the SG&A flex to the extent to secure that high single-digit margin this year. Thank you.

Timothy Johnson: Yes. Thanks for the question, Kate. I think over the several quarters, I think the business has demonstrated a very capable flex model, as evidenced by each of the last three quarters when North America business has been challenging. Expense dollars in total have been down in excess of $40 million a quarter. So, I feel as if the business from a store payroll and distribution and logistics standpoint, particularly that flex quite well as sales have been somewhat volatile. I think supplementing that is just underline the transform the foundation savings goals that the business has set for the next three years, really a continuation of activity from 2022. So that $250 million goal over the next three years, I think we said a little less than 1/3 of that will actually happen here in 2023.

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