Ken Hannah
Analyst · Northcoast Research
Thank you Diane, and good afternoon everyone. As Diane mentioned, our fourth quarter results had a number of moving parts related to the acquisition of Allen Edmonds and some other actions. I'd like to start by taking a moment to walk you through each of these non-recurring items. First, we recorded $0.29 associated with the acquisition and integration of Allen Edmonds and for the reorganization of our men's brands, including the impairment of our investment in Jack Erwin. Second, we recorded $0.08 for the restructuring of our brand portfolio as we took proactive steps to realign and reallocate our resources against our top strategic initiatives. Third, we recorded $0.12 for an impairment related to the shoes.com announcement late in the fourth quarter of 2016 that they would be ceasing operations. This amount is for the book value of our convertible note related to our 2014 sale of shoes.com and for a small amount of accounts receivable for recent product sales. As a result of these proactive strategic and non-recurring decisions, we reported a net loss per share of $0.16 in the fourth quarter. The adjusted earnings per share excluding these non-GAAP charges was $0.33, up 26.9% over the same period a year ago. For the full-year, adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2 came in at the lower end of our guidance range and was flat to last year's adjusted earnings per share. Consolidated sales for the fourth quarter of $639.5 million were up 5.1% with e-commerce representing 16% of total sales. For the full year, consolidated sales of $2.5794 billion were essentially flat versus 2015. At Famous Footwear, fourth quarter sales of $367.5 million were up 1.9% over 2015 as we operated nine more stores year-over-year, while same store sales were up 0.3%. Famous.com sales increased nearly 40% to comprise 8.2% of total Famous Footwear fourth quarter sales. For the full year, total sales at Famous of $1.5901 billion or up 1.1% while same store sales for the year were up 0.6%. Throughout 2016, we delivered steady performance at Famous Footwear despite the overall promotional environment and shifting consumer demand patterns of retail. Lifestyle athletic product continued to resonate with consumers and our top vendors maintained their strong performance. For our brand portfolio, fourth quarter sales of $272 million were up 9.6% versus the prior year and included approximately six weeks of contribution from Allen Edmonds, which was acquired in December of 2016. E-commerce sales including our branded.com, drop-ship and pure-play.com sales increased nearly 90% to approximately 27% of total brand portfolio sales in the fourth quarter. For the full-year, brand portfolio sales of $989.3 million were down 1.5% year-over-year reflecting a significant and planned shift away from the mass channel throughout 2016 and an industry-wide overall reduction in initial orders. The team performed well despite continued retailer caution and the rapid pace of retail change and delivered exciting designs and fresh product throughout the year. Let's turn to gross profit which came in at $260.9 million in the fourth quarter. Gross margin adjusted for $2.8 million of costs associated with the acquisition of Allen Edmonds and the restructuring of the brand portfolio improved 48 basis points to 41.2% in the fourth quarter. For the full year, consolidated gross profit was $1.062 billion. Consolidated gross margin was up on both a reported and adjusted basis with year-over-year improvement of 52 and 63 basis points respectively. Brand portfolio drove strong contributions to gross margin in 2016, including the fourth quarter and delivered more than 260 basis points of improvement for the year on an adjusted basis. Throughout 2016, the team deemphasized low margin businesses, targeted overall improvement in supply chain productivity, and continued to effectively manage their inventory. For Famous Footwear, gross margin was down for both the quarter and the year reflecting product mix shift and sales growth at the famous.com. Throughout 2016, we saw lower margin sandals outperform boots and a continued shift within the boot category from tall shaft boots to booties combined with continued strong e-commerce sales. Our SG&A expense for the fourth quarter of 2016 was a 5.1% year-over-year due to the addition of Allen Edmonds and as we operated nine more doors at Famous Footwear versus 2015. Despite these increases, we maintained our SG&A expense rate at 38% of sales in the fourth quarter. Depreciation and amortization of $15.7 million, up 20% over 2015, due in part to our acquisition of Allen Edmonds and our Lebanon distribution center expansion beginning to ramp. For the full-year, depreciation and amortization of $56.1 million was up 9% versus the prior year. Net interest expense for the fourth quarter was $4.1 million, this was up from $3.5 million in the fourth quarter of last year as we borrowed against our revolving credit facility to finance the acquisition of Allen Edmonds in December. For the full year, net interest expense was $13.7 million. Our consolidated tax rate for fiscal 2016 was 32% on a GAAP basis and 29.5% on adjusted basis. Our capital expenditures were $10.9 million for the fourth quarter and $59.6 million for the full year reflecting the investments in our consumer fulfilling initiative and new retail stores. Now turning to the balance sheet, we ended the year with cash and equivalents of $55.3 million. And as Diane mentioned, when we acquired Allen Edmonds for $255 million in December, we borrowed against our revolving credit facility to finance the acquisition with plans to use cash from operations to pay down the revolver. At the end of fiscal 2016, we had $110 million of borrowings remaining against our revolving credit facility and we fully expect to pay down this amount within one year of the acquisition. Our consolidated inventory position at the end of the year was $585.8 million. Excluding Allen Edmonds, inventory was down 2.3% year over year. For our brand portfolio, inventory was up 1.8% to support spring orders and at Famous Footwear, we ended the year with inventory down 5.1% per store on a dollar basis. We're very pleased with our fourth quarter performance as we delivered solid adjusted earnings per share improvements of 26.9% despite a highly promotional and challenging retail environment. Throughout 2016, we continued investing in our business, delivered strong cash from operations of $183.6 million and maintained the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet even as we acquired Allen Edmonds. So before we begin Q&A, I'd like to quickly review fiscal 2017 guidance that we presented in our earnings release. Our consolidated net sales of $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion. Our same store sales at Famous Footwear, up low single digits. Net sales for the brand portfolio segment up in the high teens including our Allen Edmonds. Our gross margin expected to be up 45 to 55 basis points. Our SG&A expense as a percentage of sales is expected to be up 30 to 40 basis points. An effective tax rate of between 31% and 33%. And adjusted earnings per diluted share between $2.10 and $2.20 excluding approximately $0.06 of inventory adjustment amortization in the first half of the year related to the Allen Edmonds acquisition. This guidance includes the closing of 70 Famous Footwear stores and the opening of 40 new doors as part of our normal lease renewal process, the closing of 11 Naturalizer stores and the opening of four new locations, the opening of ten new stores for Allen Edmonds and one new store for Sam Edelman. Depreciation and amortization of approximately $60 million and capital expenditures of approximately $55 million and we do want to remind everyone that there is an additional $12 million of operating expense related to 2017 having a 53rd week. Additionally, we expect our 2017 earnings to be weighted more heavily to the back half due to a continued shift in the seasonality of our brand portfolio shipments and as the benefits from our investments in Allen Edmonds and our Lebanon distribution center will build incrementally as the year progresses. And with that I'd like to turn the call back over to the operator for questions and answers.