Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Alex Straton of Morgan Stanley. Your question please, Alex.

Alex Straton: Just a couple on my end. First, I totally understand that promos are higher year-over-year given the change in environment. But I’m wondering how promos change sequentially in the latest quarter compared to the prior and maybe how you would characterize the broader environment there? And then secondly, just on inventory quickly. I want to understand if that in line by the end of the year with forward sales growth is a longer time line than I think you may have previously communicated? I think most brands are saying they’ll be clean entering the back half. So I’m just wondering what’s different on Levi here?

Harmit Singh: Yes. Yes. I mean, Alex, our view is we’re going to be clean. We clean out today than we were a quarter ago. We’ll be clean by quarter two. It’s not about is the inventory clean? Is this a question about our view on inventory is, we think, quarter the growth rate relative to a year ago is mid- to high teens, slightly higher than what we anticipated a quarter ago, just given where U.S. wholesale is. But as you know, in U.S., the inventory is largely for and so that’s guiding our thinking on getting inventory back to sales levels from that perspective. In terms of the promotional environment, we’ve just been cautious it’s difficult to predict. And so in our latest expectation of gross margins, we have built in a slightly higher promotion level in H2. Now, if that doesn’t pan out, obviously, that translates into higher gross margins, but that’s really factored in into expectations.

Chip Bergh: The only other thing I would add is keep in mind that the base period promotional environment changed pretty dramatically between first half and second half. Last year, first half, there were all the supply chain issues and a lot of people didn’t even have enough products. So everything was being sold at full price. And then the second half, it started to get a lot more promotional. So the year-over-year change is quite dramatic in the first half for us. The year-over-year change in the second half should be much less dramatic and have less of an overall impact on the gross margin.

Harmit Singh: I think if you’re trying to understand, Alex, the progression of gross margin. So last year, Q1 was 59.4 ended at 57 to the point Chip was making because it got promotional as the year progressed. This year, Q1 is 55.8. 200 of that is really commodities, which gets better as we step into H2. So that’s why we think there is progression in gross margin getting us back to slightly over 57% as we close the year, plus I think the promotional environment gets better. It’s not going to be as promotional view. But we’re building in some promotions in H2, but it’s not going to be as bad as Q1 and Q2.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Chris Nardone of Bank of America. Your question please, Chris.