J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Webb: Thanks, Claire. And Dana, thanks for the questions. So the freight, as you mentioned, for the year, freight was headwinds in the first-half of the year 2022 and then tailwinds in the back half. And on a year-over-year basis, it was about neutral from 2021 into 2022, but 2021 was carrying incremental freight, so 2022 is as well. And that is in the range of around 100 basis points or so of incremental freight, which has now largely abated and those tailwinds experienced in the back half of the year will continue through the first-half and then a little bit continuing through the back half and that really is, as Claire mentioned, a hedge for us against the overarching objective to maintain the profitable profile we’ve achieved to-date coming out of the COVID world and then the rebased operating model, which we’re very proud of. So view that as opportunity against the cautious outlook that we expressed in our remarks.

Dana Telsey: Got it. And any further update on the refinancing of the loans, timing or thoughts there? Thank you.

Mark Webb: We put in the press release today, Dana, that we continue to explore options. We’ve been working on this for some time and continue to do so. I have said before that the business and its evidence in the results for €˜22 generates substantial cash flow and a priority for that is to address the balance sheet, refinance our funded debt and even so still have the opportunity to invest in the business, which are capital guide for 2023 indicated as we’re going to continue to invest in technology, the POS project, which is making great progress and some of the store’s investments that we talked about.

Dana Telsey: Thank you.

Mark Webb: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Janet Kloppenburg from JJK Research. Your line is open.

Janet Kloppenburg: Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on a great year. I was just wondering about the mix of business, I know you said the dresses were forming well, but we’re also hearing that casual is coming back a little bit and I wonder what was happening there and active in denim and bottoms? And also, if you could talk a little bit about, sort of, initial response to spraying and if your guidance on comps reflects or your guidance on top line for the first quarter reflects the current trend. And I understand and appreciate last year’s tough comparison. Thank you.

Claire Spofford: Thanks, Janet. Yes, from a mix standpoint, dresses were strong all year last year. And we anticipate that they’ll continue to be strong. But we have a great portfolio, our core brand and our sub-brand, so we saw strength in dresses across those — the core brand and the sub-brands. We saw some nice strength last year in wherever, which is our more — slightly more refined dressing, which she buys for work, travel, and slightly dressier occasions. And we also saw strength in as I mentioned Pure Jill, we tested and had a small capsule throughout the back half of the year, rotating in on something called Pure Jill elements, which is a little bit more artisanal, beautiful fabrication, special techniques at higher price points since you responded to that.

But we are — we’re still a casual brand overall. So the core products in our assortment did well as well. And we — as we’ve often talked about, we flex those depending on seasonality and trends that we see in the consumer. But what we did see a little bit of softness in Q4 and in the back half of the year in our fit collection, which is that active piece, it’s a very small part of our business. And so we just, sort of, manage that down a little bit going forward. But we continue to see nice response on some of the trends that we saw coming out of €˜22.