Jean Madar
Analyst · D.A. Davidson
Thank you, Karin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's call. I will start the ball rolling and later, you will hear from Michel Atwood, our CFO, who has been with us now for 6 months. For anyone new to Inter Parfums, keep in mind that when we refer to our European-based operations, we are talking about our 72% owned French subsidiary called Interparfums SA. And when we refer to our U.S.-based operations, we are talking about our wholly owned domestic subsidiaries. 2022 will always be remembered as the year we topped $1 billion in net sales. In 2022, our sales reached $1.087 billion to be exact, resulting in diluted EPS of $3.78 a record year marked by a 24% increase in net sales and a 38% increase in earnings per share. 2022 will also be remembered as the year Donna Karan and DKNY fragrances joined our portfolio as the first full year producing and selling Ferragamo fragrance and also the first full year that our Italian office was operational. And finally, the year in which we entered into a license agreement with Lacoste, but it wasn't easy selling. 2022 was also a year of ramp-up inflation, surging dollar, holdups in transportations, component shortages and other supply chain headaches along with China lockdown and, of course, a war in Eastern Europe. Let's move on to business by region. First, I want to focus on North America, our largest market. You may recall that for several reasons, through the first 9 months of 2022, sales were up by only 4% in North America. As we reported earlier this year, we had logistic difficulties stemming from a change in shipping software, which delayed shipments. Plus in 2021, you may recall, many U.S. customers trust us to deliver their holiday shipments in the third quarter, fearing supply chain problems. Those 2 factors were the main reasons why North American sales rose 140% through the first 9 months of 2021. But that fell flat in 2022 when a large amount of holiday set initially scheduled for delivery in the third quarter didn't get shipped until the fourth quarter, making for a huge fourth quarter comeback. We booked $147 million in sales in the final quarter, resulting in a 22% increase in 2022 North American sales for the full year. Now for the rest of the world, sales in Western Europe and Asia rose 28% and 19%, respectively. Central and South America grew sales by 24% and the Middle East by 44%, even Eastern Europe achieved modest sales growth of 6% despite the conflict in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia. What is notable about Eastern Europe is that through the first 9 months of the year, sales were down 16%. So to be 6% ahead at year-end is a good term of events. With the exception of China, our travel retail business has shown remarkable resiliency. As we have stated over the course of 2022, the strength of the dollar minimized the accomplishments of our European operation, which grew sales in U.S. dollars by 12%, but grew 20% in constant currency. For Montblanc, we launched a new flanker called Legend Red, which contributed to a 15% sales increase in dollars, but 22% increase in constant currency. Jimmy Choo, welcome the Iron forever, Pillar and Man Aka, both flankers, combined with legacy Sense, produced a 23% increase in sales in dollars but a 29% increase in constant currency. Coach fragrance sales were up 18% in dollars and 22% in constant currency. -- as we introduced a new men's fragrance family called Open Road and Wild Rose for women. Our Moncler deal was on the market for a full year, while in 2021, the program debuted in a limited number of our check late in the year. Among our other new product launches, as a product for fragrance for Boucheron called San Julie, Spark for Kate Spade and business Gofore. Now let's discuss U.S. operations, which achieved sales growth of 58% in 2022, and we have doubled our sales versus 2019 pre-COVID. In the U.S., we launched Momo for men and the sense for the Belavia fragrance family for Gas which speed brand sales growth by 24%. With the introduction of Alibi and continued sales of brand favorite, Oskaret brand sales rose also by 24% and Abercrombie & Fitch and largely authentic and OA pillars with new flankers, growing sales by 28% and Hollister welcomed Kenyan and Wave brand extensions to grow the brand's fragrance franchise by 16%. As we have said, newer brands such as Ferragamo were included for all 2022 but only in the final quarter of 2021, and Donna Karan and DKNY sales were consolidated starting in July of 2022. It now appears very clearly that the combination of Donna Karan and DKNY franchise will emerge as our second largest brand within U.S. operation. Starting this year, we have taken over production from the former licensee holder, and have been able to build inventory and gain better control over the supply chain, which in 2022, limited sales and shipments. As our guideline implies, 2023 should be an even better year with new products and brand extensions and billing throughout the year. 2023, not unlike 2022, will be terminated by brand extension for all our -- of our major and mid-sized brands following an exceptional new product launch schedule in 2021, which included many that we have delayed from 2020. As I have said on previous calls, the advantage of flankers and extensions for successful pillar is that we can leverage the design elements, packaging components, photography labels as well as advertising and promotional materials. -- across all numbers of the fragrance family. And the big news we announced in December was the signing of a 15-year exclusive fragrance license agreement with Lac cost perhaps the most widely recognized sports fashion brand globally. Effective in 2024, we will take over the brands legacy fragrance collection for men and women and our plan calls for something new to reap the market this year. For generations, the instantly identified crocodile logo has advanced sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, home goods, watches and of course, fragrance. In fact, I recently read that well like cost was founded in 3. It was the first brand to feature a logo on its clothing. Lacoste should rank among our largest brand having generated 2022 sales of over $100 million. As I say on every conference call, our search for additional brands, both established and Rising Star remains a priority for the company. Another piece of good news is Richman, the owners of Montblanc, our largest brand with sales approaching $200 million, has agreed to extend our fragrance license through December 31, 2020, adding 5 years to our partnership. So with a 7-year window, we are better able to plan new product launches promotion and advertising and distribution plan well into the future. While our new ERP system is hardly a fun topic, it is virtually important to our future. It is -- I'm sorry, not actually vitally important to our future. I will admit that we outgrew our whole system faster and we could replace it. but it was worth with the weight. With component suppliers, fillers and customers across the globe, it was quite a task to keep track of inventory real time. Today, authorized personnel can easily access from any secure device anywhere in the world, whatever they need from the quantities and location of goods to the status of existing orders. they can reserve goods spending the sale, and we have implemented EDI for certain large customers. A major portion of the ERP system has been deployed with additional modules in the works, including more vendor portal. This was a big investment, a big headache along the way and problems still -- many problems still to solve but the payoff even this early in the game will be very rewarding. I don't have to tell you that the growth of the fragrance industry has been extraordinary over the past 2 years, and we see no sign of the slowdown. Of all the key beauty categories, fragrance is the fastest growing, far outpacing hair care, makeup and skincare. As a pure play in fragrance, with a diverse, well-balanced and well-recognized portfolio of brands, plus an exceptional staff, we are well positioned to continue to gain market share. We now have 4 brands with sales ranging from $100 million to $200 million, and they have been growing annual sales by double digits. Overall, our midsized brands are performing exceptionally well as well. Among the trends working in our favor and for most of our peers, is the popularity of higher concentration products and higher-priced luxury brands. In addition, while perfume has always been and continues to be a popular gift for Mother's Day, Christmas and Valentine's Day, in recent years, more shoppers are buying fragrance for themselves. They are building fragrance world drops, and they are indulging in brands that may be out of reach, price-wise in clothing and jewelry. In the pandemic, fragrance buyers have grown exponentially and when consumers start taking interest in a category that typically stay. While our 2023 guidance barely factors in China, perhaps kicking in late in the year, the opportunity over time is enormous. I have read estimates that only 3% of the Chinese population is wearing fragrance, but those that do are young, high-end shoppers. Doing business in China has a host of challenges beyond COVID related restrictions. China's weaker economy and sluggish store traffic. For example, it can take 8 to 12 months to be granted today a health registration on a new fragrance product. That said, if the Chinese retail and online market opened faster and if Chinese travel retail becomes more robust, we will need to revisit the subject of guidance. But for now, we are rightfully conservative, cautious and comfortable with our estimate. Similarly, as the year progresses, we will have better visibility as to orders and sales that may once again call for guidance adjustments. Now I will turn the call over to Michel for a more detailed financial review. Michel?