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Transcript
OP
Operator
Operator
Good morning. My name is Tiffany, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Limited Brands Fourth Quarter Year-End 2010 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Amie Preston. Ms. Preston, you may begin.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
Thanks, Tiffany, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to Limited Brands’ Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call for the period ending Saturday, January 29, 2011. As a matter of formality, I need to remind you that any forward-looking statements we may make today are subject to our Safe Harbor statement found in our SEC filings. Our fourth quarter earnings release is available on our website, limitedbrands.com. Also available on our website is an investor presentation, which we will be referring to during this call. This call is being taped and can be replayed by dialing 1-866-NEWS-LTD. You can also listen to an audio replay from our website. Stuart Burgdoerfer, EVP and CFO; Sharen Turney, CEO, Victoria's Secret; Diane Neal, CEO, Bath & Body Works; and Martyn Redgrave, EVP and CAO are all joining us today. After our prepared comments, we'll be available to take your questions for as long as time permits. So that we can speak to as many callers as possible, please limit yourself to one question. Thanks, and now I'll turn the call over to Stuart.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
Thanks, Amie, and good morning, everyone. We're very pleased with our fourth quarter performance. Our adjusted earnings per share increased 25% to $1.26 per share versus $1.01 per share last year. Our reported 2010 result was $1.36 per share versus $1.08 last year. Both this and last year's reported results include significant items as detailed in our press release. This year's reported fourth quarter results include pretax gains from the sale of Express shares and the payment of an Express dividend totaling $52 million or $0.10 per share. 2009's reported results include a tax benefit of $23 million or $0.07 per share, primarily related to the reorganization of certain foreign subsidiaries. All results discussed on this call exclude these significant items in both years. Our fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.26 significantly exceeded our beginning of the quarter expectations of $1.02 to $1.17 per share. This upside was driven by the 10% comp increase versus our initial forecast of up low-single digits. To take you through the fourth quarter results as detailed on Page 1 of the presentation, net sales were $3.456 billion versus $3.063 billion last year, and comps increased 10%. The gross margin rate increased 100 basis points to 41.8%, primarily driven by leverage on buying and occupancy expense. The merchandise margin rate increased slightly despite a negative impact of about 60 basis points related to the increase in Mast sales to Express and Limited Stores, which are recognized at 100% this year versus 75% last year. The change in revenue recognition is a result of the change in accounting for our Express investment to the cost method versus the equity method last year and the sale of our remaining investment in Limited Stores. This accounting change, which occurred in the third quarter of 2010 will continue…
ST
Sharen Turney
Analyst · Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America
Thank you, Stuart, and good morning, everyone. Victoria's Secret earned record Q4 and full year profit in fiscal 2010. We are very pleased with this result and are confident that the keys to our success are the priorities we've been discussing all year, so let's talk about those. The first is our focus on our core categories, bras and panties, coupled with a much higher emphasis on getting faster and more agile. Second, is our continued purposeful balance between managing business with optimism and conservative management of inventories and expenses. And third is bringing all our work together in a well-told brand story across channel and telling that story through innovative products, steady newness with the right fashion and outstanding in-store execution. I'll begin my remarks this morning with review of fourth quarter performance at both Victoria's Secret channel, followed by a brief recap of the full year and will then turn to a discussion of how we are thinking about the business as we head into the first quarter of 2011. Our fourth quarter results are detailed on Page 8 of the presentation. In the Victoria's Secret stores channel, fourth quarter comps were up 15% with total sales increasing 16% to $1.39 billion. This result was driven by strength across the assortment as customers continue to respond favorably to our new, fresh and fashion-right [ph] offerings. We remained agile on inventory, chasing into winners and placing strategic bets in a controlled manner. Our Lingerie business demonstrated balanced growth in Q4 with bras, panties and sleepwear all performing well. The quarter began with a relaunch of the Miraculous bra. We didn't focus on gifting for the holiday-selling season. All three of our businesses were much less promotional than both last year and the mall in general. Pink has outstanding performance.…
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Michelle Tan of Goldman Sachs
Thank you, Sharen, and good morning. At Bath & Body Works, we are very pleased with the results of our fourth quarter. We were able to deliver growth in sales and operating income versus last year. We continue to deliver improved results versus our strong performance last year by maintaining focus on our top three categories, which is our Signature Collection product line, the Anti-Bacterial Soap and Sanitizer business and our Home Fragrance assortment. Performance improved on top of strong results last year in our Signature Collection, driven by the performance of our holiday collection and launches of our new fragrance, Secret Wonderland, the new Island Escape collection and the continued success of fragrances launched throughout the past year. The Anti-Bacterial business continued its strong growth trajectory, driven by growth in our Hand Soap and Sanitizer business, as well as performance in holiday fragrances and new seasonal forms. Our home fragrance sales also grew versus strong performance last year and continued to be driven by candles and seasonal fragrances, as well as the introduction of new forms and novelties in our diffuser [ph] category. Transactions were up versus last year, driven by an improvement in our conversion rate. Customers also spent more per transaction versus last year. So with that backdrop, let me take you to the financial results in the quarter as detailed on Page 10 of the presentation. Bath & Body Works fourth quarter comps were up 6%. Total sales for the quarter were $1.1 billion, which was up 7% or $73 million versus last year. For the quarter, our operating income was $330 million, which is up $35 million or 12% from last year and represented a record performance. Operating income as a percentage of sales is 31% in the quarter and up to last year, driven…
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Neely Tamminga of Piper Jaffray
Thanks, Diane, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to spend some time this morning updating you on our strategy to grow our international businesses. Of course, it goes without saying that we recognize that we have tremendous international growth opportunities for all of our brands, and we are expanding now outside of the United States aggressively. We're determined to pursue this growth with discipline, while making sure that we do not overrun our headlights or denigrate the reputation of our brands. We want to ensure that we have both the managerial bandwidth and the sourcing logistics and systems infrastructure in place to support our growth and deliver a superb brand experience to our customers. We made significant progress in 2010. We opened 77 new stores internationally. We moved the La Senza business to Columbus, and we launched our first organic franchise partnership. We also just recently hired Mary Mitchell to join Martin Waters’ core leadership team as Chief Administrative Officer. Most recently, Mary led inventory management and strategy for Banana Republic's North American business. Previously, she served as General Manager for Gap's international operations in Europe and Japan, where she delivered business teams in each of these markets and opened the Banana Republic flagship store in London. Now, many of you are familiar with our six-point agenda for international business development, which is detailed on Page 12 of the presentation. Now just before I go on, let me just level set for a minute. Please remember that the La Senza and La Senza international businesses, as well as the Victoria's Secret Direct International business roll up under the Victoria's Secret segment for reporting purposes, while the BBW, VS and Pink Canada business, the Travel and Tourism business and our new franchise BBW business are all reported as part of the…
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
Thanks, Martyn. That concludes our prepared comments. And at this time, we'd be happy to take any questions you have. [Operator Instructions] Thanks, and I'll turn it back over to Tiffany.
OP
Operator
Operator
[Operator Instructions] You're first question is from the line of Neely Tamminga of Piper Jaffray.
NC
Neely Tamminga - Piper Jaffray Companies
Analyst · Neely Tamminga of Piper Jaffray
Martyn, just a question here for you on the international side. We're reading about press reports of Australian retailers that want you, and I think we're just running at this with the assumption that global demand for your brand is there. How are you guys choosing which region to go with? And are the licensing agreements pretty comparable across the regions? We're just trying to understand that a little bit more.
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Neely Tamminga of Piper Jaffray
Neely, I think the first thing that I need to cover is that today, we have the La Senza international franchise business, which has been an established business for a number of years and is growing, as I’ve commented on. It operates today under more of a wholesale, franchise-type model. We're actually converting that more to a traditional royalty-based franchise model, and those agreements are more consistent across the world. The only other franchise arrangement we have today is the BBW franchise arrangements with Alshaya in the Middle East, and that is a royalty-based franchise model. You're right to say that demand for our brands across the globe is significant, and it's across the globe. The choices that we're making as to where to go, when to go and who to go with remain guided by some of the things I mentioned in my prepared remarks, which is we're being very careful, very planful, very purposeful about making sure that we take steps carefully into this new world of international franchising, for instance. And right now, we're very focused on the deals, the arrangements that we have with our La Senza partners and with Alshaya. And we really are not prepared to discuss going beyond that today.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities.
PS
Paul Lejuez - Credit Suisse
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
After opening 20-plus BBW stores in Canada the last few years, why the slowdown to 10? And then just one separate question, what kind of cost pressure are you guys expecting in the second half?
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
Thanks, Paul, so we'll go to Martyn first.
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
So Paul, again, I think the pace that we've been on with our BBW expansion in Canada has been great and it’s been very successful. If you look at the aggregate of what I just announced in terms of 2011, the overall agenda for Martin Waters and his international business team, it is significant. There's a lot of things we're putting on the plan for 2011. And frankly, one of the trades that we've made in looking at resources, time, priorities is to continue the expansion of BBW in Canada but not exactly at the same pace. That has nothing to do with our performance or our concerns about our ability to expand in Canada over time, just simply a resources and priority decision. The other thing to note is we've increased our emphasis on expansion of the Victoria's Secret stores, and relatively speaking, in terms of square footage for instance because the Victoria's Secret stores are much bigger, the actual overall expansion of square footage in Canada in '11 will be very similar to '10, but it'll be the combination of VS and BBW.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
And Stuart, the cost question?
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · Paul Lejuez of Nomura Securities
Paul, I would want to reiterate the point that I made in the prepared comments, but beyond that, the cost pressure will be back-half weighted. We have initial internal estimates of that. And, again, it'll be more back half weighted. But we're not going to quantify that externally. And, again, we're working hard to offset it through all the things we talked about.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of John Morris of BMO Capital.
JU
John Morris - BMO Capital Markets U.S.
Analyst · John Morris of BMO Capital
Stuart, on SG&A, a little bit about your thoughts there in terms of the quarter and also go-forward where you would still see opportunity, in particular, I think I would have expected to see a little bit more leverage than you actually got. So I don't know if that requires a little bit more explanation on some of those components that you were good enough to break out to us, such as the dollar increase I think that you were getting from the Canadian stores perhaps, and then also the increase in marketing cost that you had mentioned, so a little bit more clarity there.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · John Morris of BMO Capital
The biggest thing to understand, with respect to Q4, is the two things I referred to. So we did recognize a meaningful amount of additional expense related to stock compensation because, frankly, we just had a lot less turnover in our business, which we view by the way as a good thing. So we've had a lot of stability in leadership and management, and the effect of that is that our forfeiture rates on stock comp were down a lot. And between Q3 and Q4, for different groups and based on additional analysis, we trued that up, and the effect during the quarter was significant. In addition, I mentioned the write-off of a trade name, which was also significant, which is why we called it out. And when you isolate or pull those two things out, the flow-through, the profit flow through from sales in Q4 was about 40%, which is kind of an ongoing benchmark in my mind. Obviously, over the last several years, our profit flow-through from sales has been higher than that. But when you account for those two things I described, the flow-through about 40%, and again, I think that's really the delta on expenses and some views that folks may have had on operating income. With respect to going forward, our mindset is we've been consistent about this, and hopefully you see it in our numbers. We intend very clearly to grow expenses slower than sales. And we did that in 2010. We expect to do that in 2011. There is a little bit of increase and de-leverage Q1 in SG&A, driven by some additional investment in marketing, but that “de-leverage” in marketing and SG&A is not that significant at the end of the day. So the key message is that we will continue to be disciplined on it and grow expenses slower than sales.
JU
John Morris - BMO Capital Markets U.S.
Analyst · John Morris of BMO Capital
What was the dollar increase in store selling costs in Canada that you were referring to, just clarify that? I think I accounted for half of the increase.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · John Morris of BMO Capital
I'm not going to break it out specifically, John.
JU
John Morris - BMO Capital Markets U.S.
Analyst · John Morris of BMO Capital
But it's coming from what, just opening stores there?
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · John Morris of BMO Capital
Absolutely, yes. You open stores -- I mean, in explaining the dollar increase in SG&A growth, obviously, if you open stores, you're going to have increase in dollar expenses. And, again, store selling in aggregate leveraged as a percent of sales.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America.
LL
Lorraine Hutchinson - BofA Merrill Lynch
Analyst · Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America
I know you've been highlighting innovation quite a bit at Victoria's Secret and had some very big success with the bras at Pink and the Miraculous. I was just wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on perhaps the number of launches versus last year and the price points that you're expecting for 2011.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America
Lorraine, we'll go to Sharen.
ST
Sharen Turney
Analyst · Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America
Lorraine, this is Sharen. Basically, we will have -- comping the launches that we had last year, so we'll have the exact same amount of launches that we did this year versus last year. But the different approach that we're taking is that we're actually putting more power in the launches by taking them across all the beauty products within the store as well. So I think we have a very exciting lineup. The prices are pretty much the same as what we were in the spring season of last year.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Brian Tunick of JPMorgan.
UA
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst · Brian Tunick of JPMorgan
It’s actually Ike [ph] calling in for Brian. Martyn, I wanted to speak with the international opportunities, regarding the opportunity you guys have in Canada for Bath & Body. And how many stores do you feel that you can get a hold [ph] above those concepts [ph]? And also, are you seeing a similar lift in volume at the Vicki’s [Victoria’s Secret] and the Pink stores over there that you have seen in the Bath & Body Works stores?
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Brian Tunick of JPMorgan
I think, given that we're at 60 stores at the end of the year, 70-plus at the end of 2011 for BBW, we continue to see a lot of opportunity for that concept to expand in over the next x number of years. And I think probably, I think we've said in the past, Martin Waters has said in the past, 150 to 250 stores are potential in Canada. The VS stores -- and they continue to perform extremely well versus our U.S. averages, and we've said, 1.5 to 2x, that kind of average. The Victoria's Secret stores have come out of the box very strong. Remember that's still early days. They've only open, on average, probably four months. And the results, so far, have been extraordinary. And, again, the same kind of ratios of performance to the U.S. averages. That concept though, because it will be in addition to our La Senza business in Canada, probably would not expand as aggressively within Canada, as we've said. I think we've probably always said over the past couple of years, maybe 30 to 40 stores in total.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Michelle Tan of Goldman Sachs.
MI
Michelle Tan - Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Analyst · Michelle Tan of Goldman Sachs
Diane, I think you mentioned conversion in dollars per transaction were up nicely at Bath & Body. I was wondering if you could give us any more color on drivers there in terms of marketing or different promotions that you're doing. And then, Stuart, not sure if you could make it easier for us on these couple of items on SG&A, whether you can quantify the basis point impact of the stock comp and the intangible write-off this quarter?
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Michelle Tan of Goldman Sachs
Michelle, it's Diane. I think the increase in conversion and transaction process is really due to the amount of newness that we’ve offered. We changed the shop and we’re actually -- among the seasonal fragrances that we offer, as well as forms, is doubling last year. We seeing that business change dramatically across all three of our big core categories. It's more seasonally relevant versus year-round. So that was really the biggest driver. We had tons of marketing, but it was only in the Chicago market, external marketing. And our promotional strategy was basically flat to last year.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Michelle Tan of Goldman Sachs
And we'll go to Stuart for the next question.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · Michelle Tan of Goldman Sachs
Michelle, as we mentioned, it's about 25% of the SG&A dollar increase. And just doing the math on that, on the fly here, it looks like that would be about 60 basis points on the total.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Kimberly Greenberger of Morgan Stanley.
KS
Kimberly Greenberger - Morgan Stanley
Analyst · Kimberly Greenberger of Morgan Stanley
My question's on the international agenda. I'm wondering if you can touch on two things. What guidepost should we be looking for out of the La Senza business? And what sort of goals do you have for that business here in 2011? And then secondarily, on the Victoria's Secret Direct opportunity, is it an IT upgrade? Or what are the steps that would be necessary in order to take the Victoria's Secret Direct division into other countries outside the United States and Canada?
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Kimberly Greenberger of Morgan Stanley
Kimberly, we'll go to Martyn for both of those.
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Kimberly Greenberger of Morgan Stanley
I'm not sure if I'll be able to comment on the VSD international, but let me start with La Senza. As I said in my remarks, the business is in the process of being transformed. And we’ve talked about that in the last three or four calls, still very much a work in progress, lots of progress being made. But as we’ve described today, the business was basically flat year-over-year in comps, and it's a breakeven business for us still today. In terms of prospects for the future, our goal and clear plan is to produce this kind of OI profitability, margin rate, if you will, from the La Senza Canada business, company-owned retail business that we would produce for our U.S. brands. It's, obviously, not there today, and that is the plan. How much progress we'll make in 2011 I really am not prepared to describe because it is, as I said, a work in progress. The other businesses, we've also described in more detail today in terms of how they're making contribution to the overall international results. And the last thing I would want to mention is, I think, in terms of the overall international business model, in addition to the company-owned retail business that we have in Canada with La Senza, Pink, VS, BBW, these other businesses that we're building, which is the franchise businesses and the Travel and Tourism businesses are a different business model. That's why I keep calling them businesses. It's not one business outside the United States. And for the T&T, what we call T&T, Travel and Tourism, and for the franchise businesses, it's important to remember that for those businesses, we'll be recognizing revenues that are based on a mix of wholesale, sales, royalty income and sourcing sales to those partnered businesses…
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital.
SP
Stacy Pak - Prudential
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
I was hoping both businesses could talk a little bit about what they've been doing with tickets now. For instance, five for $25.50 panties, that sort of thing. And kind of what you're seeing in terms of response? And also, both businesses, talk about how much faster you can get. And also Diane, can you talk about new product pipelines for spring overall relative to last year? And also address what it is that's been driving your costs down so much, and sort of what inning you're in there for BBW?
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
Stacy, that's like four questions, I think I counted, but we will try to do our best to address everything here. I think the first question was what are you doing with ticket prices now, and what the response has been. Diane, you want to start with that one?
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
We are always in a testing mode with price elasticity at BBW because we sell everything in multiples. So we're always looking for ways to drive price up or to drive more units and more basket. So where we have broadened units and we marked prices up, we've actually seen absolutely no resistance to that. So we'll continue to test those different strategies throughout the spring season to help us better inform fall and holiday of next year. And as far as -- I’ll just hit the other two questions you had for me, as far new product pipeline for spring, we're about double last year. And it's really due to the fact that, like I mentioned in the earlier answer, is that our business is being driven much more seasonally than it ever was in the past. So we have an opportunity for more seasonally relevant fragrance launches across all three of our businesses this spring that we didn't have last spring or as much last spring. And as far as costs being driven down, it really is a multiple of things, when you realize you have an opportunity and it goes from 10,000 units to 1 million units, there’s a cost advantage for that. And that has really helped drive a lot of our cost decreases over the last couple of years.
KS
Kimberly Greenberger - Morgan Stanley
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
And just what inning are you in on the cost?
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
What inning am I in on the cost? Where am I?
KS
Kimberly Greenberger - Morgan Stanley
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
Yes.
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
I would say that we're basically probably there, and we will probably start to see modest cost increases this year, but again, offset hopefully by newness and more fashion relevance.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
And then Sharen?
ST
Sharen Turney
Analyst · Stacy Pak of Barclays Capital
We are looking at pricing opportunities, but we're being extremely mindful in that area. We also test a lot of pricing before we make a move. And the pricing action that we have taken, we've actually seen no resistance whatsoever. We have a good-better-best strategy. We're not walking away from the good-better-best strategy. And as we said before, we are really focused more on getting the right product at the right time to the customer.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Tom Filandro of SIG.
TL
Thomas Filandro - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
Can you guys provide some color on the February sales update in terms of maybe brand performance and the drivers to the increase? Is this average dollar sale, AUR? And I'm kind of curious, given the quarter comp guidance at 2% to 4%, is that just a conservative view, or are you anticipating some slowdown due to either market conditions, comparisons and other factors? And if I could just quickly ask on Henri Bendel, the management change in long-term view there, I appreciate it.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
So we got February comps, we'll go to Stuart for that one.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
So Tom, February comps are stronger than we thought they would be at the beginning of the month. And again, as we commented on, we think a high single result -- both big businesses are doing well, a little bit stronger at VS than Bath & Body, but again, both businesses doing very well. With respect to the balance of the quarter, the whole quarter, our view is very clear. And hopefully, it's clear to those that are following us and that invest in us, and that is that we're managing this business with a very conservative mindset. And then when we have demand, we're chasing very aggressively to satisfy our customers and realize the potential of that demand. So that's how we're thinking about our business. That's how we've been running our business for the last several years, and it seems to be working pretty well. Obviously, it hard to predict sales, Tom. But obviously, a conservative view for the quarter, and particularly given the strength we’ve seen so far in February.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
We'll go to Martyn for the Henri Bendel question.
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
On Henri Bendel, just a couple of quick updates on there. I think overall, Henri Bendel had a very strong fourth quarter and full year performance in 2010. Sales margin, growth-driven, and we're very encouraged by that performance. As you remember, we have 10 new concept stores opened and of course the Fifth Avenue flagship store. We did, as you called out, we just recently announced that Chris Fiore has joined us to lead the Henri Bendel operations, and he'll partner with Bucciarelli, who leads the concept in accessories design and product development for Henri Bendel. Chris, as you probably know, Tom has deep experience in retail operations and developing brands. And he's worked at American Eagle most recently in their international businesses. He's also was the head of Coach retail, worked with Coach for a number of years. The bottom line is we remain very optimistic about the business, and we are planning, as you've seen in our analyst package information, to open an additional seven stores this year and really to further explore the potential of the new concept. It’s still in what I characterize a test-and-learn mode.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
Tom, did we miss a question somewhere?
TL
Thomas Filandro - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
Well, the only other question I had was related to the comp, if you could give us any kind of metrics, was it AUR or ADS or transactions that are driving the business?
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Tom Filandro of SIG
I'm not sure we have that information readily available, but I can follow up with you.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Todd Slater of Lazard Capital Markets.
TL
Todd Slater - Lazard Capital Markets LLC
Analyst · Todd Slater of Lazard Capital Markets
The comment that virtually every year since I've followed your company, your February comp and your first quarter comp were almost identical, uncanny, and I hope your model remains true to trend this year. My question is, you mentioned flat inventory coming out of the first quarter. And Stu, I know your mantra on improving inventory turns. So I'm just wondering on how you're planning inventory management over the balance of the year and what you're expecting especially given some potential inflation towards the back end of the year.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · Todd Slater of Lazard Capital Markets
Todd, with respect to inventory management, and again, it's probably getting a little boring to hear about it, but we're going to be very disciplined on it. We manage it very closely. And the “we” is a big we, most importantly at the brands. We would expect to grow inventory slower than sales, and we're very focused on continuing to improve turn, and a lot work going on there. With that said, we're not stupid. We know we sell high-margin goods, and we're very clear-minded about the cost of disappointing a customer. So we work hard and strike that down, and we measure inventory levels in units and dollars, and we measure in-stocks and out-of-stocks very regularly, so we're working hard to maintain that balance. We're very focused on it. We'll continue to be disciplined on it. In terms of guidance for the back half or unit views versus dollar views, I'm not going to get into those details. Again, I think the most important messages are the ones that I've just kind of reiterated and pretty consistent with what we've been doing for the last couple of years.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research.
JR
Janet Kloppenburg - JJK Research
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
For Martin and Stuart, I know you don't want to detail the dollar outlook for La Senza, but it was breakeven, and you said you're looking to make progress this year. So should we assume that it could be a contributor to the operating income line this year? And for Diane and to Sharen, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your product launches, what you've learned in fiscal '10 and how you might use your -- I think you both have increased marketing dollars -- wiser in fiscal '11?
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
Janet, so we'll go to Martyn for the La Senza question.
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
Janet, I think the simple answer to your question is yes, we expect that business to be a contributor to our profit in 2011. We believe we've made a lot of fundamental transformational changes, not the least of which is relocating the headquarters of the business in 2010. And we're on a path to the kind of profitability we’d expect us to deliver.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
Sharen, do you want to start with product launches?
ST
Sharen Turney
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
Yes, I think in 2010, we were very pleased with our performance in our product launches, not only in the bra category but as well as in the Beauty category and in Pink. And as we think about what our learns [ph] were, is that how do we get better about tying the power of the bra launch into the power of our beauty. So as you saw in the fourth quarter, we actually came out with our Bombshell fragrance, which actually tied to the launch of the Miraculous, which we called Bombshell. So in 2011, you'll be seeing more of that strategy from us as well. And Pink will continue to bring in new product and newness and they are in an innovation around their bra category as well as the important category of loungewear. I think from a marketing perspective, we are a very highly, emotional brand, and we will continue to market our launches with every launch that we do have from a TV, social media perspective, so you'll see more of that from us as well in 2011.
JR
Janet Kloppenburg - JJK Research
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
The TV will be a higher percentage of the budget, Sharen?
ST
Sharen Turney
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
No, the TV is about flat, except the problem is that, that you are going to have your TRPs are a little more expensive this year. So your TRPs are pretty much flat, a little higher because of inflation.
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
Janet, it's Diane. As far as product launches, I think what we've learned is what I said earlier as far as the seasonality of our businesses, also the more frequent launches we can have across the categories, as well as the more fashion-forward type point of view and also more youthful. All of that has been resonating extremely well with our customers. The only thing I can say about marketing is we don't do a lot of television marketing. In fact, we're still in a test mode, and the tests in the Chicago market have been somewhat inconclusive. So we'll continue to test television through the spring season, just in Chicago. But we do probably have a little bit of additional marketing expense in our in-store experience because as we really blow up that experience in the fourth quarter, that we are testing throughout the spring to see if we can add more foot traffic by more engagement in store.
JR
Janet Kloppenburg - JJK Research
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
So will you have more launches this year versus last?
DN
Diane Neal
Analyst · Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research
Yes, significantly more.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Emily Shanks of Barclays Capital.
EB
Emily Shanks - Lehman Brothers
Analyst · Emily Shanks of Barclays Capital
I had a question for Stuart around uses of cash and wanted to inquire if, one, a one-time special dividend is still on the table for fiscal year '11 and/or, two, how you view acquisitions as a growth strategy, particularly on your franchises.
SB
Stuart Burgdoerfer
Analyst · Emily Shanks of Barclays Capital
I'll take the second part of the question first. We're very happy with the portfolio of the business we have now, meaning that we always read what people send us or we’re curious about what's out there. But with that said, a big part of our success over the last years has been having a more focused portfolio of businesses to run and those that are leaders in their categories. So we don't have a big M&A agenda per se. With respect to views about special dividends, we evaluate the return of cash periodically. We do it with our board. You can look at our track record over time, but it would be premature and not appropriate to comment about what we may do in 2011. We'll see how the year unfolds. And we try to make the right decisions based on facts and circumstances as they evolve. What is absolutely clear is that we return excess cash to shareholders through a combination of repurchases and dividends.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your final question comes from the line of Jeff Black of Citigroup.
JB
Jeff Black - Lehman Brothers
Analyst · Citigroup
So Martyn, we've written off a lot of La Senza, anyway. I mean, how committed are we really to this brand? What sense do we have that it can be anything near Victoria's Secret margin? And if the answer is no, is there a plan to transition those, is there a path to transition those just to VS and Bath & Body stores?
MR
Martyn Redgrave
Analyst · Citigroup
Well, it's a nice challenge to close the morning here. Jeff, I understand the question, and it's a reasonable question for you to ask. I think the key thing from my point of view is kind of what we've declared from the stage in our last two years of investor update meetings, and I'll repeat it today, which is we believe La Senza is another core brand to us. It represents a value position in the intimate apparel category that works well around the world today, not as well in Canada as we needed to work because we're transforming it. And we believe that it has a position in our portfolio of businesses, alongside of, not up against, but alongside of Victoria's Secret and Pink. And that it has a global expansion potential beyond its current distribution around the world. We're committed to making it work. Les is personally committed to making it work. He's spending a lot of time on it, and I have a tremendous confidence in Les, Martin Waters, Joanne Nemeroff and our management team that they are going to figure it out and get it right, whether it will produce exactly the same kind of profitability that our Victoria's Secret produces, probably not over time, but close to it is the ambition that we have. And I'm talking about operating margin rate. It's obviously a lower per store sales volume type of business because of its smaller box size and value position.
AP
Amie Preston
Analyst · Citigroup
Thank you all for joining us this morning and for your interest in Limited Brands.
OP
Operator
Operator
This concludes Limited Brands' Fourth Quarter Year-End 2010 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect.