JILL - J.Jill Inc. (JILL) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-03-20 11:33:05 ET
J.Jill, Inc. (JILL)
Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call
March 18, 2024, 8:30 a.m. ET
Company Participants
Claire Spofford - President & CEO
Mark Webb - EVP, CFO & COO
Conference Call Participants
Ryan Meyers - Lake Street Capital Markets
Jeff Lick - B. Riley Financial
Dylan Carden - William Blair
Jonna Kim - TD Cowen
Marni Shapiro - The Retail Tracker
Dana Telsey - Telsey Group
Presentation
Operator
Hello, and welcome to the J.Jill Inc. Q4 2023 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions].
I will now turn the call over to Claire Spofford, Chief Executive Officer and President. Please go ahead.
Claire Spofford
Thank you. Operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. We are pleased with our strong end to 2023, capping off another year of great progress for J.Jill as a result of disciplined execution of our operating model. For the fourth quarter, we delivered adjusted EBITDA above the prior year, supported by strong gross margin performance. As we discussed on our third quarter call, we started to see our customer become somewhat more discerning with their spend, and we had prepared for a slightly higher promotional holiday period, which didn’t play out. However, through strong execution, solid customer reception for our winter assortment and spring preview in the latter half of the quarter, as well as tightly managed expenses, we delivered Q4 results above our expectations. Our performance throughout the year, including during the fourth quarter, is a testament to our team effectively leveraging our loyal customer base and to their ongoing focus on consistently delivering against our objectives amidst a volatile consumer environment. For the year, we delivered sales of $605 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.6%, while generating $46 million in free cash flow, in line with our recent annual trends. During the year, we make great progress on strengthening our financial and operational foundation while planting the seeds for future growth. We successfully refinanced our debt, enhanced our omnichannel capabilities with the rollout of our POS system and refinements to our website, delivered our first net new store opening year in over three years, and continued to identify and test new concepts within our assortment with capsules, including Pure Jill elements and Wearever Works. We also effectively managed our customer acquisition strategies and costs to support our customer file. Our customer file remained healthy, and we saw nice growth from our best customer segment for the year, which partially offset the impact we had from our more cost-conscious cohort, given the dynamic macro environment she was navigating. Average customer spend increased versus the prior year, supported by growth in frequency and full price penetration, and we continue to benefit from our ongoing customer insight work. As a result, we've been able to not only strengthen our relationships with new and existing customers, but also identify areas of opportunities for enhanced focus and growth, as seen with our inclusive sizing offering and capsule launches, including the Wearever Works collection. Through offering quality fabrications and an assortment that celebrates the totality of who she is, we were able to deliver the experience our customer expects from J.Jill. With this stronger foundation in place, we believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver on our financial objectives while supporting our growth initiatives. ...
J.Jill, Inc. (JILL) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript