Capri Holdings (NYSE:CPRI) held its fourth-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.
View the webcast at https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1736354&tp_key=540aacd57d
Summary
Capri Holdings reported a 4% decline in Q4 2026 revenue to $796 million but saw a gross margin expansion of 490 basis points to 64.8%.
The company emphasized strategic initiatives to enhance brand desirability and consumer engagement, particularly through storytelling and product innovation for Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.
For fiscal 2027, Capri Holdings projects low single-digit revenue growth and a 200 basis point gross margin expansion, with operating income expected to rise by 60%.
Michael Kors' revenue was down 5% in Q4, impacted by quality of sales initiatives, but the brand saw improvements in full-price sell-throughs and consumer engagement.
Jimmy Choo returned to growth with a 5% increase in Q4 revenue and is expected to become profitable in fiscal 2027, supported by a profit improvement program.
The company plans to renovate 100 stores in fiscal 2027 and emphasize data analytics to enhance customer experiences and drive personalized interactions.
Capri Holdings aims for $4 billion in revenue for Michael Kors and $800 million for Jimmy Choo in the long term, focusing on sustainable growth and profitability.
Full Transcript
Jennifer Davis (Vice President of Investor Relations)
Greetings. Welcome to Capri Holdings' fourth quarter fiscal 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press Star zero from your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded at this time. I'll now turn the conference over to Jennifer Davis, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you, Jennifer. You may now begin, Jennifer. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us on Capri Holdings Limited's fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 conference call. With me this morning are John Idol, Capri's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tyler Redin, Capri's Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer and Raj Mehta, Michael Kors' Chief Financial Officer and Capri's former Interim Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain statements made on today's call may constitute forward looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those we expect. Those risks and uncertainties are described in today's press release and in the Company's SEC filings which are available on the Company's website. Investors should not assume that the statements made during this call will remain operative at a later time and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on today's call. Unless otherwise noted, all financial information on today's call will be presented on a non GAAP basis. These non GAAP measures exclude certain costs associated with impairment charges, store renovation plan costs, merger and divestiture transaction related costs, Capri transformation costs, reserves related to a wholesale customer bankruptcy, as well as restructuring and other charges. To view the corresponding GAAP measures and related reconciliation, please review our latest earnings release posted to our website earlier [email protected]. additionally, the company has classified the results of operations and cash flows of its Versace business as discontinued operations. Unless otherwise noted, all information on today's call relates only to continuing operations. Now I would like to turn the call over to Mr. John Idol, chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
John Idol
Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning everyone. thank you Jennifer and good morning everyone. I would like to begin by welcoming Tyler Redin to Capri Holdings. As Tyler joined following the end of our fourth quarter, Raj Mehta will review our fourth quarter results and guidance on today's call. Tyler will present and review our results on all future calls. I will now turn it over to Tyler for a few opening remarks. Thank you John and good morning everyone. I am thrilled to be here. Since joining Capri nearly two months ago I've been impressed by the strength of our iconic luxury fashion brands. Both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo have distinct positioning supported by their deep heritage and strong global recognition. I am also impressed by the talent across the organization and their commitment to positioning the company for sustainable long term success through the disciplined execution of our strategic initiatives. I look forward to working closely with our teams around the world as we continue to drive sustainable growth and create long term value for our shareholders. Now I will turn it back over to John. Thank you, Tyler. Looking at fiscal 2026, we were encouraged by the progress we made executing against the strategic initiatives introduced last year to unlock the full potential of our two iconic luxury fashion houses. Throughout the year, we took deliberate actions to strengthen product innovation, brand desirability, storytelling and consumer engagement across Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. These actions were designed to structurally enhance the quality and sustainability of future revenue and earnings growth and we are seeing clear evidence of that progress. Compelling new fashion offerings drove higher full price sell throughs and aurs, while more impactful brand storytelling supported deeper consumer engagement and attracted new customers to our brands. These early indicators reinforce our confidence in the trajectory of both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo and their potential to deliver sustainable long term growth. Our fiscal 2026 results also reflected our decision to reset the foundation of the Michael Kors business. Actions taken to improve quality of sale by reducing promotional activity, third party sales and off price shipments, as well as the impact of our store optimization program reduced fiscal 2026 revenue by over $$150 million million with this headwind expected to moderate as fiscal 2027 progresses. Importantly, these steps have strengthened the business and positioned Michael Kors for improved performance in fiscal 2027 and beyond. At Jimmy Choo, our strategic actions are driving tangible results as evidenced by our return to growth in the back half of fiscal 2026. This momentum positions the business for a return to profitability in fiscal 2027. To further accelerate this trajectory, we will initiate a profit improvement program designed to optimize our cost base, creating the foundation for more substantial leverage and operating margin expansion in fiscal 2028 and beyond. Looking at fiscal 2027, we are focused on building upon the progress we made in fiscal 2026 to accelerate results and return our fashion luxury houses to growth through a set of clearly defined strategic priorities. First, strengthening brand desirability through compelling storytelling that deepens emotional connections and resonates with both new and existing customers. Second, creating exciting luxury fashion that reflects each brand's heritage while clearly leading with design and innovation Third, delivering elevated and differentiated customer experiences both online and in stores. Fourth, leveraging data analytics across the consumer journey to gain deeper insights and drive more personalized interactions. Fifth, utilizing our increasing cash flow to support brand momentum, including investments in store renovations, while continuing to return capital to shareholders through our share repurchase program. Collectively in fiscal 2027, the these initiatives are expected to drive a low single digit increase in revenue and gross margin expansion of approximately 200 basis points. Operating expenses are expected to increase modestly. As a result, operating income is expected to increase 60% year over year. Based on these assumptions alongside $200 million in anticipated share repurchases, we expect to generate diluted earnings per share of approximately $2.15, representing a 40% increase over last year. Now turning to our fourth quarter results, the company revenue of $796 million declined approximately 4% in line with our expectations. Gross margin expanded 490 basis points to 64.8% inclusive of a $40 million refund receivable related to the recent Supreme Court decision regarding IEEPA tariffs. We returned to profitability in the fourth quarter with earnings per share of $0.22 increasing significantly above last year. Additionally, we repurchased $79 million worth of shares which was earlier than initially anticipated due to our confidence in Capri's future growth and value creation. Looking at fourth quarter performance by brand starting with Michael Kors, revenue decreased 5% year over year primarily impacted by our quality of sale initiatives as we reduced promotional activity, third party sales and off price shipments. As our strategic initiatives continue to take hold, we are seeing clear evidence of progress across the business. Strong consumer response to our Jet Set storytelling and new fashion offerings are translating into higher full price sell throughs and aurs. Store traffic trends also improved sequentially and our consumer database continued to grow at a high single digit rate underscoring the strength and desirability of of the Michael Kors brand. Turning to Michael Kors revenue by channel in our own retail channel, we were pleased with the sequential improvement in trends relative to the third quarter with sales down mid single digits. We were particularly encouraged by trends in our full price channel where comparable store sales turned positive in the fourth quarter rather than reflecting the strong consumer reception to our new product introductions and modern jet set storytelling. Importantly, comparable store sales were positive across all regions. AURS increased low double digits driven by higher full price sell throughs and reduced promotional activity. Store traffic also showed a meaningful sequential improvement in the quarter. In our outlet channel, year over year trends remained largely consistent with the third quarter. While actions to reduce promotional activity and third party sales are creating near term pressure on revenue, these deliberate steps are strengthening the long term foundation of the brand. Additionally, while early introductions of more modern on trend styles are beginning to resonate with consumers, we expect a more meaningful and sustained improvement in sales once a broader assortment is fully introduced in the fall season. Notably, Outlet AURs turned positive during the fourth quarter reflecting our quality of sale initiatives, select price increases and early flow of new product. We also saw a meaningful sequential improvement in store traffic trends in our outlet stores. Now, looking at total Michael Kors retail sales by region, results improved sequentially in both Europe and Asia. In Europe, sales increased mid single digits and in Asia sales returned to positive low single digit growth. In the Americas sales declined low double digits similar to the prior quarter as results continued to reflect our quality of sales initiatives. Now turning to wholesale revenue declined mid single digits primarily reflecting a reduction in off price. Sales at point of sale trends continued to improve sequentially with sales now approximately flat to prior year. Strong consumer response to our new styles, particularly in accessories, reinforced the positive momentum that is building across the business. Turning to brand awareness and consumer engagement, we continued to reinforce Michael Kors modern jet set lifestyle positioning through our brand vision of traveling the world in style. Our Hotel Stories franchise brought the excitement of travel and the discovery of new destinations to our consumers this spring. Our focused brand positioning and compelling storytelling are generating increased brand awareness and resonating with younger consumers. For spring we traveled to Saint Tropez with Suki Waterhouse, Danny Ramirez and our global brand ambassador jct. The campaign imagery captured the laid back glamour of the French Riviera and the joy of traveling the world in style. The season's fashion blends classic French elegance with modern ease, featuring fresh takes on the brand's iconic accessories groups Hamilton, Layla and Lolita. Throughout the fourth quarter, we further amplified hotel stories through immersive experiences and local activations globally that reflect the brand's jet set spirit. To broaden the impact of our storytelling, we expanded our social media reach and continued to leverage influencers, connecting with consumers through authentic voices in fashion and strengthening brand desirability. Michael Kors status as a world renowned fashion designer is reinforced by our iconic Runway shows that serve as a powerful brand halo in February. Our Fall Winter 2026 Runway show marked the 45th year anniversary of Michael Kors collection. The show celebrated the spirit of New York at the iconic Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. The event drew a global audience of celebrities and influencers and generated 4.3 billion impressions collectively these activities help drive an 8% year over year increase in the Michael Kors Global Consumer database. Through our analytics capabilities, we are leveraging the strength of our extensive database to increase store traffic as well as create deeper and more personal connections with consumers. Turning to Product Guided by Michael's creative vision, we are delivering exciting on trend fashion with standout style. New product designs and our broader pricing architecture are driving stronger full price sell throughs and higher AURs in accessories. Consumers responded positively to new introductions that celebrate our iconic brand codes and and align with our broader strategic pricing architecture. Our core icons, Hamilton, Layla and Nalita continued to perform well with smaller silhouettes introduced for spring, broadening consumer reach and engaging younger consumers in footwear. While trends remained challenging, we are beginning to see improvement with new casual styles such as the Keeley and and Nolan sneakers and Jennings loafer that embody iconic Michael Kors branding elements and heritage design details. Looking at Ready to Wear, consumers responded to seasonal styles that captured Michael's effortless glamour. The spring assortment balanced trend right designs and timeless wardrobe staples. Now I'd like to discuss the progress we are making with our store renovation program as our retail locations remain an important pillar of the brand's expression and a driver of our sales recovery. In March, we opened our new Beijing, China World flagship store featuring the world's first Michael Kors Jet Set Lounge Cafe concept, an immersive experience designed to deepen consumer engagement and increase store dwell time. We see meaningful opportunity to build on this innovation and expand our jet set lounges across flagship locations globally. Across the broader fleet. Our renovation program continues to advance with approximately 35 Michael Kors stores completed to date and early results showing encouraging improvements in both traffic and sales. Looking ahead, we plan to renovate and open approximately 100 stores in fiscal 2027 while also renovating approximately 150 department store doors. As we look at fiscal 2027, we are increasingly confident and excited about the opportunities ahead. Michael Kors is leveraging its 45 year legacy as a global fashion luxury house and we are reinvigorating that heritage with our modernized jet set storytelling that is resonating with both our core customers and as well as new younger consumers. Additionally, we are creating on trend fashion that is resonating with our consumers. As a result, we are seeing growing momentum across the business. The continued execution of our strategic initiatives positions Michael Kors to return to revenue growth while driving both gross and operating margin expansion in fiscal 2027. Long term, we remain confident in our ability to achieve $4 billion in revenue and low 20% operating margins now turning to Jimmy Choo, fourth quarter revenue exceeded our expectations, increasing 5% year over year, driven by strong brand momentum and continued traction of our strategic initiatives in our own retail channel. We were pleased with the sequential improvement in trends with sales increasing mid single digits. Importantly, performance improved sequentially across all regions and including double digit growth in the Americas, mid single digit growth in Europe and a mid single digit decline in Asia. Turning to wholesale revenue also grew mid single digits. Trends at point of sale once again improved sequentially led by double digit increases in North American department stores. Turning to brand awareness and consumer engagement, our storytelling continued to highlight the effortlessly alluring essence of Jimmy Choo. For spring, we launched La Fleurs, which reinforced the brand's modern femininity positioning. The campaign showcased key spring styles including a new silhouette of the bar bag, the Faiz Pump and the Sunny Sneaker. In late February, Jimmy Choo unveiled its Rules of Engagement bridal campaign starring Gabriette, a fashion model and musician with strong resonance among Gen Z and millennial consumers. Timed with her own upcoming wedding, the campaign featured key iconic styles such as the Bonbon, Handb and the Asia and Faiz pumps. It drove strong engagement across digital and social platforms and helped attract new and younger customers to the brand. The integration of compelling storytelling, global activations and clientele initiatives further strengthened brand desirability, extended our reach and deepened consumer engagement. As a result, Jimmy Choo's global database increased 7% year over year. Turning to product Jimmy Choo's product strategy remains focused on further developing accessories and expanding our casual footwear offerings to support sustainable long term revenue growth and margin expansion within accessories. Momentum was encouraging as we continue to expand the category with a focus on iconic styles, innovation and a broader pricing architecture. The strength of our Bonbon and Sinch groups underscored the enduring appeal of our iconic styles. We have also seen highly encouraging consumer responses to our Bar and curve groups, supported by our strategy to expand our pricing architecture to include bags positioned below $1,500. Turning to footwear, we saw strength across both dress and casual. New dress styles such as the Faiz Lace Pump performed well alongside iconic franchises like Azia and Sakura, underscoring our ability to balance seasonal updates with timeless design. Our expanded casual footwear assortment continued to gain traction with strong performance from new spring styles including our Elisa Ballerina Flat and Sunny Sneaker. We see significant opportunity to further expand our casual footwear offerings, increasing purchase frequency among existing consumers while attracting new clients to the brand. Looking ahead, we are increasingly confident in Jimmy Choo's trajectory, the brand is strengthening its connection with consumers. Our marketing efforts complement a product strategy that upholds Jimmy Choo's heritage in glamour and occasion dressing while expanding into casual footwear and accessories. To broaden our reach, increase versatility and drive stronger frequency, these initiatives are clearly translating into growing momentum across the business. With strong brand momentum, disciplined execution and continued focus on our strategic initiatives, Jimmy Choo is well positioned to return to revenue, growth and profitability in fiscal 2027. Long term, we are optimistic about our growth opportunities and confident that we can increase revenue to $800 million as well as expand operating margins to the low double digit range. In closing, we are encouraged by the early validation of our strategic initiatives and the meaningful progress we have made in strengthening the foundation of our two iconic luxury houses. The momentum we are seeing at Michael Kors and Jimmy choose reinforces our confidence in the trajectory of our brands and the durability of our long term growth potential. A year ago our priority was to stabilize the business and create a stronger foundation for growth. Today, we are building upon the improving trends resulting from the success of our strategic initiatives. In fiscal 2027, we expect to return to low single digit revenue growth with earnings per share increasing approximately 40%. Looking beyond fiscal 2027, we are well positioned to accelerate growth, enhance profitability and deliver sustainable long term value for our shareholders. Lastly, I want to thank our approximately 11,000 employees around the world whose dedication, focus and talent continue to drive our progress. Now, before turning the call over to Raj, I would like to thank him for serving as our interim CFO over the past year and for being a steady partner as we reposition Capri for future growth. Now, Raj will take us through our fourth quarter results and guidance in more detail.
Raj Mehta (Chief Financial Officer)
Thank you John and good morning everyone. Looking at fiscal year 2026, Capri Holdings delivered several important accomplishments that strengthened our foundation for sustainable growth and and profitability. First, we made meaningful progress in executing against our strategic initiatives. Second, we returned Capri to profitability. Third, we generated positive free cash flow while continuing to invest to support the long term growth of our brands. Fourth, we successfully completed the sale of Versace, which strengthened our balance sheet and enhanced our financial flexibility to further advance our strategic priorities. Collectively, these accomplishments demonstrate our disciplined financial focus and position. The Company for Future Growth now Turning to our fourth quarter results, total company revenue of 796 million decreased 3.7% versus prior year on a reported basis and 7% in constant currency. Looking at revenue by channel, total company retail sales declined low single digits representing a Sequential improvement relative to the third quarter in wholesale channel revenue also declined low single digits. Turning to revenue performance by geography, revenue increased 10% in EMEA and 5% in Asia. Revenue in the Americas decreased 12% primarily impacted by our quality of sale initiatives at Michael Kors. Looking at revenue performance by brand at Michael Kors revenue decreased 5.5% compared to prior year on a reported basis and 8.4% in constant currency. Global retail sales declined mid single digits similar to prior quarters. Store closures negatively impacted retail sales in the low single digit range. Wholesale revenue also decreased mid single digits. Looking at total Michael Kors revenue by geography, EMEA increased 11% and Asia increased 10%. Revenue in the Americas declined 14% primarily driven by our quality of sale initiatives as we reduced promotional activity, third party sales and off price shipments. At Jimmy Choo revenue increased 5.3% compared to prior year on a reported basis and was flat and constant currency Global retail sales trends improved sequentially increasing mid single digits. Wholesale revenue increased at a similar rate. Looking at total Jimmy Choo revenue By geography, revenue increased 11% in the Americas and 8% in EMEA while revenue in Asia decreased 6%. Trends improved sequentially compared to the prior quarter. Now looking at total company margin performance, gross margin of 64.8% increased 490 basis points versus last year. We recorded a refund receivable for the 65 million of IEEPA Tariffs we paid in fiscal 2026. Of this 65 million, 40 million was reflected as a reduction to cost of goods sold in the fourth quarter. The remaining 25 million was recorded as a reduction to inventory which will flow through cost of goods sold in the first half of fiscal 2027 by brand Michael Kors gross margin of 64.6% compared to 58.6% last year including 38 million of tariff refunds. Excluding the impact of new tariffs, Michael Kors gross margin expanded approximately 150 basis points. This increase was primarily driven by higher AURS and full price sell throughs as well as a reduction in promotional activity. Jimmy Choo gross margin of 65.7% compared to 66.2% last year including 2 million of tariff refunds. Excluding the impact of new tariffs. Jimmy Choo gross margin contracted approximately 90 basis points primarily due to lower initial markups associated with our expanded pricing architecture. Operating expenses were higher than anticipated, increasing 7 million versus prior year primarily due to foreign currency exchange rates. Total company operating margin expanded 170 basis points by brand. Michael Kors operating margin of 8.7% expanded 410 basis points versus the prior year and Jimmy Choo operating margin of negative 14.3% compared to negative 7.5% last year. Impacted by foreign currency and higher selling and administrative expenses. Net income was 27 million or $0.22 per diluted share versus a loss last year. Now turning to our balance sheet and cash flows, we ended the quarter with cash of 135 million and debt of 357 million, resulting in net debt of 222 million. This compares to net debt of approximately 1.4 billion last year. We repurchased 79 million worth of shares in the fourth quarter earlier than initially anticipated. Due to our confidence in Capri's future growth and value creation, we have an additional 921 million of availability remaining under our share repurchase authorization. Our share repurchase program reflects our increasing free cash flow, the strength of our balance sheet and our commitment to returning capital to shareholders. Capital expenditures for the year were 63 million and were primarily spent on store renovations as well as ongoing IT and digital investments. Inventory at quarter end was 581 million, a 17% decline year over year. As we move throughout fiscal 2027, we expect inventory to be down year over year in the first quarter, then begin to build throughout the year to support our revenue growth. Now turning to our fiscal 2027 guidance, we expect revenue to increase at low single digit rate to approximately 3.525 billion. Retail revenue is expected to grow mid single digits, partially offset by a planned decline in our Michael Kors wholesale channel as we continue to reduce off price shipments by brand, we expect Michael Kors revenue of approximately 2.9 billion and Jimmy Choo revenue of approximately 625 million. For the year we anticipate gross margin expansion of approximately 200 basis points. Our guidance now assumes an additional 10% tariff on product coming into the United States. Operating expense dollars are expected to increase modestly relative to fiscal 2026. We expect full year operating income to be approximately $190 million, a 60% increase year over year. By brand, we anticipate Michael Kors operating margin in the low double digit range and Jimmy Choo returning to profitability with operating margin in the low single digit range. Turning to our expectations around certain non operating items, we expect net interest and other income between 85 and 90 million. We anticipate an effective tax rate in the low teens range, though quarterly rate tax rates will fluctuate due to our valuation allowance position. Assuming share repurchases of $200 million during fiscal 2027, we anticipate weighted average shares outstanding of approximately 112 million. Based on these assumptions, we expect to generate diluted earnings per share of approximately $2.15, a 40% increase over last year. In terms of capital expenditures, we anticipate spending approximately 125 million in fiscal 2027, which includes investments in store renovations and new store openings as well as ongoing investments in IT and digital enhancements. Now, turning to our capital allocation, our first priority is to invest in our business. Our second priority is to return capital to shareholders through a share repurchases while continuing to maintain a strong and flexible balance sheet. Now, I would like to provide some perspective on the cadence of our results between the first and second half of the year. In the first half we expect revenue to decline in the low single digit range. We anticipate retail sales to be roughly flat overall with wholesale declining low double digits. Within retail, we anticipate continued comparable sales growth in our full price channel at both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. However, the Michael Kors outlet channel will remain under pressure as we continue to execute our quality of sale initiatives through reductions in promotional activity and third party sales. In addition, within our Michael Kors wholesale channel, we are taking deliberate actions to reduce off price shipments. In the first half, we anticipate approximately 300 basis points of gross margin expansion which incorporates the negative impact of current tariffs. Operating expenses are expected to increase modestly. Taken Together, we anticipate first half earnings per share of approximately $0.85 representing an increase of nearly 80% versus the prior year. Turning to the second half, we expect revenue to increase at a mid single digit rate as our strategic initiatives gain greater traction. This acceleration will be driven by improving trends across both retail and wholesale, with retail increasing mid single digits and the wholesale declining mid single digits. Within retail, we expect sustained momentum in the Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo full price channels. Importantly, we also anticipate a return to growth in the Michael Kors outlet channel as we begin to lap the impact of our quality of sale actions and and benefit from a broader assortment of new products in the fall season. In addition, fiscal 2027 includes a 53rd week which is expected to add approximately 1 point to revenue growth for the year. Gross margin in the second half is expected to expand by approximately 100 basis points reflecting an improvement of approximately 300 basis points excluding the impact of the tariff refund. In fiscal 2026, operating expenses are again expected to increase modestly. Based on these assumptions, we anticipate second half earnings per share of approximately $1.25 representing a 20% increase versus prior year. Now turning to first quarter guidance, we expect total company revenue to be approximately $750 million. By brand, we anticipate Michael Kors revenue of approximately $585 million reflecting continued positive comparable sales growth in our full price channel and a decline in the outlet channel driven by our ongoing quality of sales initiatives. In addition, within our wholesale channel, we are taking actions to reduce off price shipments. Together, we estimate these actions as well as the impact of store closures will reduce first quarter revenue by approximately 30 million. Finally, we estimate the conflict in the Middle east will negatively impact first quarter revenue by approximately 7 million. We anticipate Jimmy Choo revenue of approximately 165 million reflecting continued growth across both our retail and wholesale channels supported by strong product momentum and brand engagement. We expect first quarter operating income of approximately 10 million. In terms of operating margin by brand, we anticipate Michael Kors operating margin in the high single digit percent range and Jimmy Choo operating margin in the low single digit percent range. Turning to our expectations around certain non operating Items, we expect first quarter net interest and other income of approximately 20 million. We anticipate an effective tax rate of approximately negative 50% and a weighted average shares outstanding of approximately 116 million. As a result, we expect to generate diluted earnings per share of approximately $0.40. Looking ahead based on the progress we are making against our strategic initiatives, we remain confident in our ability to return to growth in fiscal 2027. We are encouraged by early signs that validate the effectiveness of our strategic initiatives and reinforce our confidence in our ability to drive sustainable long term growth. Now we will open up the line for questions.
OPERATOR
Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. In the interest of time to allow as many as possible to ask questions, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question. If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press Star one from your telephone keypad and a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Thank you. And our first question is from the line of Matthew Boss with JP Morgan. Please receive your question.
Matthew Boss (Equity Analyst)
Great. Thanks and good morning. So John, maybe could you speak to the drivers of the embedded Michael Kors revenue improvement throughout FY27 to get to the 1% full year growth just relative to the high Single digit decline guided for the first quarter and then near term. Could you elaborate on the progression of retail sales demand and Michael Kors that you're seeing entering the first quarter relative to the mid single digit decline in the fourth quarter?
John Idol
Thank you and good morning, Matt. So first thing I'd like to say is that we are very optimistic about the future of Capri and obviously both of our fashion luxury brands. As you saw, we had a very strong quarter with Jimmy Choo with comps accelerating and positive. So we think that the storytelling, that the product and our pricing architecture is having a very strong resonance with new and younger consumers. So we feel good about where we're going with Jimmy Choo and we know we have work to do on the profitability of that business. But we also have confidence around some initiatives that we'll put in place at Jimmy Choo. Secondly, on Michael Kors, again, we're very optimistic. In particular, we can see what's happening with our storytelling about Michael Kors traveling the world in style and our hotel stories. Brand awareness is growing again. We're seeing our database grow. We're seeing consumers, both existing and newer and younger consumers engage with the brand. We know engagement levels are rising. We see full price comp store sales comping positive again, which is a great indicator of our initiatives driven through a lot of great new product that's been in our stores. And I know many of you on this call have been into the stores and seen that product. We also see our new store renovations taking hold and showing strong traffic and revenue gains. So we feel great about that program as we roll that out across the globe. So our full price business gives us a lot to build on and to continue to drive. As we've talked about before, the area that we need to get going in a positive direction is our outlet channel. That channel again remains down at about the mid single digits. But that has to be looked at under a light of a few things. Number one, we have been focused on a quality of sale initiative that has a number of components to it. The first is we have significantly reduced and almost eliminated our third party sales through our outlet channel. I think we said in our prepared remarks that quality of sales both in wholesale and in retail impacted us by about $150 million last year. So it's a very significant number and that's all on the Michael Kors business. Secondly, we have had a reduction in just the promotional activity in total in outlet. That's reducing the amount of promotions that we've had and the actual discounts themselves. And then the third issue, which is the one that we think is going to be most helpful for us is around new product introduction. And we saw some of that coming in the very, very tail end of Q3 and in Q4 we saw some more arriving. And as we said in our prepared remarks, we saw for the first time quite some time AURs and full price selling actually accelerating in the outlet. Chann we have two more quarters worth of our quality of sales initiatives that we will be going up against. And just to give you an order of magnitude, it's about $75 million that will impact us in the first half of the year. About the same as what we saw in each first and second half of last year. And once we get past that, that will no longer be a headwind for us. And so when we get to this, you know, kind of October time period, and I think I've mentioned that to you all before, we'll have a number of things that will be really be very helpful for us. Number one, the third party sales, we will lap that reduction. Number two, we will lap almost all, not 100% of it. But we're doing some further promotional reduction in outlet. We'll be almost completely lapping that and we'll have about 75% of the product turned over in our outlet stores to new and what we think will be more trend right product for us. So we think that we're on the right track. Clearly that's what we did in the full price business. The full price business turned positive. We are doing the same exact initiatives in the outlet with one additional caveat. Outlet we actually raised prices. I think we talked about that in some of our previous calls and it's quite interesting. The customer is not moving away from us based on those price increases. Our conversion rates have remained the same even after raising prices in the outlet stores. So we feel very, very positive and optimistic about how the progression is going to happen At Michael Kors. I want to remind you also that in the first half of the year the wholesale business will be down double digits and actually the retail business will be up in the first half of the year primarily driven by whole price. And so there's a lot of really good underlying trends that are happening for us. Additionally, even though the wholesale business is down double digits, the the majority of that is coming from the reduction in off price sales. You can see we entered the year with inventories down 17% and we just don't have the inventory to sell in the off price channel. And we actually want that to remain a consistency for us and reducing third party sales through our outlet stores and reducing off price through our own wholesale channels. It's just going to create a better platform and a foundation for us to grow these businesses off of. And so I think we're feeling optimistic that we've got the right building blocks in place. We're going to finish this quality of sale initiative and have the brand in a very solid position in particular for the back half of the year. And then the last thing I'd like to point out is you saw opportunity, our gross margins increasing during the back half of this past year, fiscal 26, and we will have about a 200 basis point increase in gross margin in fiscal year 27. And that's also another very good indicator for us. And so that's going to lead to a 60% operating margin increase, which is, we think, significant for the group and a 40% earnings per share increase, again, a very significant number. So we believe Capri is on the right track for growth and we think we have the right strategic initiatives in place to be able to deliver on our future goals. Thank you very much for that question.
Matthew Boss (Equity Analyst)
Best of luck.
OPERATOR
The next question is from the line of Brooke Roche with Goldman Sachs. Please receive your question.
Brooke Roche (Equity Analyst)
Good morning and thank you for taking my question. I was hoping you could unpack the core drivers of gross margin expansion that you're anticipating for the year. Can you unpack how much of that is coming from some of the moving pieces with tariffs, how you're thinking about the underlying magnitude of improvement that you're expecting from the Michael Kors brand and any cadencing or sequencing that we should be expecting throughout the year as you look to continue to drive profit improvement. And then additionally, finally, John, I think you mentioned in your prepared remarks that you had a profit improvement program that you unveiled that you're looking to drive improved profit as you exit FY27. Can you give a little bit more detail on what that means and what you're looking for and how you're thinking about further profit expansion beyond FY27? Thank you.
John Idol
Okay, Brooke, let me make sure I've got all I counted three parts to the question. I'll take a little bit of the first, which will be some of the drivers for the gross margin improvement. I'll turn it over to Raj to talk about some of the cadence in that. And I think the improvement that you're referring to in gross profit I think was for Jimmy Chu. Is that the question? So I'll make sure I have that third Part, Right. I think you talked about a profit improvement program for the company that would drive some improvement in 28.
Tyler Redin (Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer)
Yeah, no, that's, that's Jimmy Choo. But let's see if we can, let's see if we can unpack some of this stuff for you and then we'll. And actually Tyler's going to take that last piece, so you'll get all three of us in. Michael Kors, remember, I'm going to start with that from a profit improvement standpoint, actually, both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, in the spring of this year, around February, we took price increases in both full price and outlet channels. And that was to offset some of the, some of the tariffs that were impacting the company. We also have been working very closely with our supply chain to help us reduce costs. And so there was a positive impact that we started to see in the very beginning of the fourth quarter of this year from those initiatives. The second thing, and again, I think we mentioned it a number of times in the script at both Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors. Full price sell throughs are rising. Aurs are rising. That means we're just selling less product on sale as well as we did have some price increase. But it's showing how the brands are resonating with the customer. And I think that's one of the lead indicators for us in terms of quality and health of the business. And then lastly, I think that you can see that we've really done, I think, a fantastic job managing our inventories and making sure that we keep the company in a position where we're able to keep demand and inventory in balance. And that's again, making it so that we're having things sell out quickly inside the stores. And we've had, last quarter we had our second best selling handbag in the company basically sell out on us. That's not where you always want to be, but that's a good place to be. We've had some of our new footwear introductions sell out on us and we're chasing inventory. So we like the idea that we are creating desire and demand and we think that's an important component to our gross margin expansion. Lastly, there will be some level of benefit because in the second half of this past year we were operating at approximately 19% higher tariffs and now we're operating with approximately 10% higher tariffs. And so there'll be a little bit of an offset in the back half of the year that will, that will help us in our gross margin. But let me pass it over to Raj to talk to you a little bit about the cadencing. Thanks, Brooke. Yeah, look, we're pleased that our strategic initiatives are gaining traction. We're continuing to see higher full price sell throughs and aurs in addition to the quality of sales initiatives that are impacting our gross margins. As I stated previously, you know, the 25 million removal of the refund of IEPA tariffs, it's not really a benefit in the first half. Our margins will be up 300 basis points in the first half of the year. And then as we look to the second half of the year, our margins are going to be up 100 basis points. But excluding the 40 million refund, our underlying margins will be up 300 basis points. So I think there's a little bit of noise in the back half with the 40 million refund. But it's best to look at our overall annual growth rate where we're expecting a 200 basis point improvement in margin for the full year as we continue to drive on better full price sell throughs and higher aursh. Let me turn it over to Tyler who as you know only joined us a short period ago. But one of the interesting things Tyler has been able to dig into is the future profitability of Jimmy Choo. So let me turn that over to Tyler. Yeah, thanks John. And we're obviously in the early stages of developing the overall profit improvement program for Jimmy Choo and still evaluating the full scope of opportunities and timing. That said, early analysis points to a few areas to drive sustainable margin enhancement on the path to low double digit operating margin said Jimmy Choo. First, as John mentioned, our new product and communication are resonating with the customer and we're seeing a return to revenue growth with, and we expect with this revenue growth we're going to see improved store productivity and overall profitability. That said, we will still need to evaluate the overall store fleet and quality close underperforming stores. Next we see opportunities to improve gross margin. We're going to be looking at rationalizing SKU count to improve inventory management in turn and drive operational efficiencies in our own factories which account for about 50% of our production. Lastly, we'll be driving efficiency across SGA both through disciplined expense management and also implementation of corporate opportunities to drive synergies. So as I said, we're still evaluating the full scope and timing but we expect to have the plan more fleshed out in the coming quarters.
John Idol
Thank you Brooke.
Brooke Roche (Equity Analyst)
Thanks so much.
OPERATOR
Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask, you may Ask one question at this time and allow as many as possible to ask questions. Our next question is from the line of Paul Lechway with Citigroup. Please receive your question.
Tracy Kogan
Thanks. It's Tracy Kogan filling in for Paul. I was hoping you could give some more color on how your business trended by month in 4Q for Kors, US full price and outlet channels and how is it performing now? Is that in line with your guidance for 1Q and then I just was wondering if you thought there was a reasonable chance that your business could inflect to growth in the retail channel for Kors before kind of the October timeframe. Thanks.
John Idol
Thanks Tracy. Tracy, we don't break out by month our revenues. I think what we're we were very pleased because we came in at the top end of our guidance in terms of revenue. So we felt that we delivered both revenue and earnings per share at the high end of our guidance and actually earnings per share were slightly higher than we had anticipated. So we felt that Q4 was very strong. We saw a sequential improvement really across almost all indicators in the business, both in the regions and in the stores. Again with the exclusion of the Michael Kors outlet business. It was roughly similar. So as far as we can see, Capri is definitely moving forward and including returning to profitability in terms of first quarter. We just are here giving you guidance and so I think we feel comfortable with what we see in terms of our ability to perform and deliver against that. The last thing I would say to you is and I think if you go back and listen carefully to our prepared remarks, Raj has indicated that our retail business actually will be positive in the first half of the year. So we're then I said that's really tilted by the full price business and the wholesale business is the part of the business that will be down in the first half of the year. And I might want to also point out that while wholesale is down in the first half of the year at point of sale, very important milestone for us. We went flat in Q4 which is the first time in the last couple of years. And the trajectory of certain stores, certain of our big partner stores is actually up. So we saw some of our partner department stores have increases on a yearly basis which is exactly like our full price business in our own full price stores is trending as well. So we're feeling again quite positive about our ability to deliver against our guidance. And again $75 million impact in the first half of the year from quality of sales initiatives. I think we feel that this is the right thing to do for the long term health of our business and to create a very sustainable foundation to build off of and to drive a second half growth in particular in the Michael Kors retail business.
Tracy Kogan
Thank you.
John Idol
Great. Thank you very much.
OPERATOR
The next question is from the line of Simeon Siegel with Guggenheim. Please receive your questions. Thanks.
Simeon Siegel (Equity Analyst)
Hey, morning everyone. Tyler, welcome to the Call. Looking forward to working with you in the future. John, it was nice to see the longer term goals that you mentioned. Any thoughts on how to get there? Maybe just help us think through what a 4 billion Michael Kors looks like in the future. Whether it's channel geography, margin, just any color you think you, you're comfortable sharing. I just assume it'll look different than the last version of the $4 billion Michael Kors. And then the buybacks was. It was nice to see that resumption. Just any parameters for how you guys are thinking about future repurchases here? Thanks, guys.
John Idol
Sure. So, Simeon, I think again, fiscal 26 was stabilizing the business. We had a lot of issues coming out of fiscal 25 that we needed to correct. I feel really good and I think the teams feel really good about what is happening. And we do a lot of research on the consumer and the way the consumer is looking at both Jimmy Choo and, and Michael Kors. And we haven't seen healthy indicators like this for both brands in years. You know, I also want to point out that at Jimmy Choo, after we kind of got through some of our issues late 24 and early 25, the team is so laser focused on the growth of our accessories business. And we're starting to see some very significant trajectory. You know, and as Tyler mentioned, that business we actually think can be, can be profitable relatively quickly. It's going to be profitable this year, but we think we can accelerate that profitability relatively quickly. And in particular now that we have accessories on a very good track inside the company. Just a lot of excitement, not only from our own internal teams, but from our wholesale partners are starting to see how this part of Jimmy Choo can be a very strong business for them. And you also heard us talk about the Jimmy Choo North American retail and wholesale businesses up double digits. I mean, that's quite extraordinary and we're really proud of that. So we're feeling good about that $800 million timeline for Jimmy Choo. And that's going to come just from productivity inside of our, our own store base and most likely a smaller store base that we have today. We've always said we could get higher sales per square foot out of the Jimmy Choo stores. And we're starting to see that happen. So feeling quite strong about that. And accessories, as we've said, over time, we think that can be 30 to 40% of our business. At Jimmy Choo. It's in the kind of low 20s, mid-20s today, and that should be a pretty quick acceleration for us. And then the casual footwear business is also starting to see some very strong take by the consumers. So those strategic initiatives are really taking hold at Michael Kors. I think that we are, number one, very, very pleased with what's happening in our full price business. And in fact, I think I mentioned in the last call we are going to be now opening new stores with Michael Kors wholesale. I'm sorry, not Michael Kors retail, full price. We've got a number of mall owners that are coming to us. They want the brand back in malls that we closed, actually. And they see two things. They see, number one, that the brand is resonating with younger consumers in particular. And number two, this category of accessible luxury, modern luxury, whatever you want to call it, there's three or four players who are doing extremely well in this category. And clearly the customer has become a bit more choiceful. And you know, there's growth that's happening at the expense of some of the higher luxury pieces of the business. We're still all in luxury, but there's different levels of that. And I think there's a great desire. We are the number two in this category in terms of accessories. And I think that the mall owners want to see us more present in more of their properties. So we see growth in the full price channel for us. And secondly, we are seeing a very nice expansion with wholesale. Either shop at shops, new conversions. We said we're opening 100, renovating 150 stores. But additionally, in particular in Europe we've had a number of of wholesale partners where we actually pulled the line out. We're now going back in. They're excited about having us back in. So as a long way of saying we think a lot of growth is going to come from our full price channel, a lot of growth can resume again in wholesale because we've had this decline over wholesale over the past six years. And we think that in fiscal 28 we'll stabilize that and begin to grow wholesale again modestly. And then lastly a return to growth in our outlet channel as well. So we think to be able to shape the business in a way that's led by full price Then probably secondly by wholesale gross and then thirdly by outlet is kind of how you will see that trajectory happen. But again, I think one of the things we've also done a very good job with is we've got our SGA in line. And at this point, you know, if we can just grow the business mid single digits maybe a little faster than that in the out years, the profitability and the way that that looks is quite positive. And I think our shareholders and I think it will be reflected in the share price. We'll see a very strong movement forward. And then lastly on the buyback, I'll let Raj speak to that. Thanks, Amit and good morning. Yeah, we were pleased to have restarted our share repurchase program and returned capital to shareholders. We've repurchased approximately 80 million in Q4 slightly earlier than we anticipated. And that's really due to our confidence in Capri's future growth. We plan to repurchase an additional 200 million in FY27 as we continue to deliver on our strategic initiatives. And the last thing I'd like to point out is our balance sheet is very strong at this point. So with the sale of Versace, we have a significantly reduced debt level. We also have positive cash flows in the company. And so we have the capability to put the $300 million that we've talked about into store renovation program which will be primarily around Michael Cores $200 million in share repurchases, probably that or more on a go forward basis each year. And we'll have the cash flows to support that and the balance sheet to support that. So Capri financially is in a very, very solid place.
Simeon Siegel (Equity Analyst)
Sounds great, guys. Thanks. Best luck for you.
OPERATOR
Our next question is from the line of Rick Patel with Raymond James. Please sue with your question.
Rick Patel (Equity Analyst)
Yeah, thank you. Good morning. Can you unpack the AUR opportunity from a geographic perspective for Michael Kors, given the growth that you're seeing in Europe and Asia, did it present an opportunity from a pricing perspective? And secondly, as it relates to new products at Michael Kors, which lines are driving the strongest growth that give you confidence in sustaining higher comps in full price stores? And how are those lines doing in the wholesale channel right now?
John Idol
Great, thank you, Rick. Rick, I think you asked about the gross margins related to the geographic impact. Was that correct? I apologize, it was the AUR pathway in international markets. Oh, AUR pathway, sorry. So aur, as you can see, has been rising and what's interesting is that's globally and that's been very Very significant. And actually the biggest AUR increases have actually been in the United States or the North American market because we really have reduced. And this is full. I'll start with full price. We've reduced our promotional activity in the full price and let me also say there will be further reduction of promotional activity in the full price that you're going to actually see happening here very shortly. So we're going to take another step forward on reducing promotional activity in the full price. So that's impacting aur. But the thing that's really helping to impact the AUR is the full price sell throughs. And when we decided to lean heavier in particular into smaller handbags, which resonate with younger consumers and it's just more trend. Right also actually sells at a reduced price point, but you're just getting a better full price sell through on that. It's raised the auras inside the stores. So that's really, it's really a combination answer in that the geography, while it will help slightly if we have a bigger business in Asia in particular, we still have such a dominant business in North America. It's almost more important that we get the higher full price sell throughs here, etc. In North America. In terms of new product, accessories are doing extremely well for us and that business is really moving at a very, very solid pace forward again, particularly in our full price business. And we are now seeing almost not identical but very close to the same trends in our wholesale channels. If you remember, over the last kind of year plus I kept saying the wholesale channel had not caught up to what we were seeing in full price and they're there now. Some of our biggest accounts in the world are now seeing almost similar and identical full price sell throughs on the same styles from us. So it's clearly resonating with the consumer. We need to get that same trajectory happening in outlet with accessories. But it's starting to happen now. So the accessories part of the business in outlet is, and we've seen this in particular in the last two months is starting to happen. Our biggest issue inside the company actually is not the accessories, it's our footwear. And we are going through a strategic repositioning of our footwear business. In Michael Kors, we're leaning much more into the casual category of footwear which is where there's quite a bit of trend happening. And so I think you're going to see that product, it's already started to hit our full price stores. It has not hit the outlet stores. And that'll be really the last component more towards the fourth calendar quarter of this year to get into the stores. But if we can get that part of the business turned around, we will get comp store positive in our outlet stores much faster because the bag part, accessories part of the business is really heading down the right path.
Rick Patel (Equity Analyst)
Thank you.
John Idol
Thanks very much.
OPERATOR
The next question is in the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowan. Please receive your question.
Oliver Chen (Equity Analyst)
Hi John, Raj and Tyler on the outlet front, what are your thoughts regarding the renovation timing that we should understand? And also overall, John, with pricing you've had experiences where prices were too elevated. But of course having full price sales is best for the brand. But what's happening overall for good, better, best and or year over year pricing architecture just to continue to convey value relative to style as well as the integrity of the brand. Lastly, on the customer data platform and loyalty and AI flywheel, anything we should know about what you're doing there to segment the customer list and manage across channels? Thank you.
John Idol
Sure. And thank you Oliver. So I'll start with the renovation plan which as you know we said we've got 300 stores that we're going to renovate and I'd say more of those are going to be the full price stores than the outlet. We have approximately 700 stores. A number of stores in the fleet are in very good condition or only been built over the last few years. And our priority is to renovate as many of the full price stores as fast as we possibly can. And so that's underway. I think we said in our prepared remarks we're going to renovate approximately hundred stores this year. That's 100 stores renovated and new stores included in that number. And as we also said we're very pleased with the results. Both traffic and sales are up in the renovated stores and some of the numbers are quite strong. So we find it very interesting how when we brought this new product together, we've got our new store format together, how we're engaging with customers. And in those stores, quite frankly there's a much higher percentage of new customers coming to those stores who either didn't know what Michael Kors stood for or think it's almost a new brand that's arrived inside some of these shopping malls. So we're really, really excited about how that's going to play out for us over the next couple of years in terms of pricing. You're absolutely right. We went through a period of time where we raised the prices to too far and as you know, about a year and change ago we went back to our historical pricing structure and that's worked really well for us in full price and the consumers. We don't see any issues around the current pricing. We took about a 5% pricing increase in February across the board and there's been no noise based around that. So I don't think that that's. Our current intent is to not to keep raising prices. Our current intent is to keep having better full price sell through engagement with the consumer and them seeing an incredible value. The other thing that's quite interesting in our ready to wear business where we took the largest price declines, our ready to wear business has been very, very strong and on a percentage basis it's actually the strongest percentage producing part of our business in our full price stores in particular and we're starting to re enter our wholesale accounts and they're having similar types of sell throughs. So again we think that we're in the right place, we've created the right value, we've got great looking product coming in in the outlet stores. We were absolutely too inexpensive and raising the prices was the right thing for us to do. The Aurs are up quite significantly in our outlet business and I just got back from a tour of a few days recently talking to our sales associates and none of them are seeing any resistance from the consumer. And as I said, our conversion rates are basically static. So we're not seeing any issues around that. And it's important to position Michael Kors as a brand that offers great value, but also that is not an inexpensive brand. That's not the place that we're trying to position the brand. Lastly, we've done a tremendous amount of data analytics work over the last two years around the consumer and how they're engaging with us. Most importantly, we've talked about this before. We've got a very significant influencer program with over 400 influencers now representing the brand around the globe. And that has I think had a very big impact for us in particular on a younger consumer as they see the voice of the brand expressed through someone who might be a part of their cohort. We are now taking a step two in that process and really increasing our presence on certain social media channels which represent a younger demographic. And we'll really start that program kind of it's been started but it's going to go in a much bigger way in the second half of this year and we expect to see some very strong results from that. And then as I said, we weren't looking for brand awareness to rise. That wasn't one of our goals. Our goals was really just try to activate younger and new consumers. But we saw that brand awareness started to rise as well. So the indicators that are coming through from the data analytics are really quite spectacular. And that's all on Michael Kors. And I just also have to say that in Jimmy Choo what we're very pleased with, and I won't say surprised, but quite interestingly, our Gen Z business in Jimmy Choo is growing very, very fast. Big part of that is through our initiatives around certain channels that we're marketing on, we've changed the marketing. If you've noticed in Jimmy choose, it's much less glamorous and much more, we're using the term effortlessly alluring, so a bit more natural. And that is resonating with the consumer and in particular the younger consumer. And our drive to try to take casual and make that a more important category in Jimmy Choo is also resonating with this younger demographic. So I think we feel good about what we're learning from the data and how we're acting on that and we think it's going to be a big part of our success in the future. I'd like to thank everybody for joining us today. We are excited about what the future holds for Capri. We believe that we will deliver low single digit growth next year with operating margin expansion of approximately 60% and earnings per share growth of approximately 40%. We believe we are on the right trajectory to return this company to sustainable growth and we look forward to updating you more in our upcoming first quarter call. Thank you very much.
OPERATOR
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.
Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company's SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants' and analysts' statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.
Login to comment