Thomas Chubb
Analyst · Citi
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us again. We apologize for the technical difficulties that we experienced and would like to assure you that they are not COVID-related. Like most, we are delighted to have 2020 behind us and are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead in 2021 and beyond. Before I start the discussion of what we learned from 2020 and what we have planned for 2021, I would like to take just a moment to thank our incredible team of people. 2020, of course, presented enormous business challenges as we faced a myriad of shutdowns, restrictions, the need to change operational procedures to protect the health and safety of our people and customers, remote work, and the list goes on and on. In addition, we know that our people faced tremendous personal challenges, both known to us and not known to us. These challenges included personal concerns about COVID amongst their family and friends, homeschooling children, concerns about their own or a spouse's job and many others. While we will never know the full extent of the personal challenges that our people were facing, we do know that they were substantial. And we appreciate our people rising to the occasion and continuing to deliver positive, upbeat brand messaging, products and experiences to our customers. We are extremely grateful for all that our people did and were able to accomplish during the most challenging year than any of us remember. I'd like to now briefly recap 2020 and some of the key lessons we learned that are informing our plans for 2021 and beyond. You may recall that we were off to a terrific start in 2020 with outstanding results in February and the first couple of weeks of March. Then the pandemic hit. And on March 17, we temporarily shut down all our stores nationwide. At that point, we realized the wonderful plans that we had for 2020 were simply not going to be achievable and we pivoted towards our three defensive priorities: People, brands and liquidity. With respect to people, we worked hard to follow all the applicable guidelines to protect the health and safety of our own people, our customers and the communities in which we work. This was a significant effort and very difficult, but we were pleased to do our part to help battle the pandemic. With respect to our brands, we were focused on preserving the integrity of our brands during the pandemic year. Through an excellent inventory management and outside-the-box merchandising and planning, we were able to keep inventories in good shape. Without an overhang of access inventory, we were able to avoid the type of excessive promotion that can damage brand integrity. 2020 also reinforced how much our guests love the happy, optimistic messages, products and experiences that we provide. Put simply, when we deliver happiness to our customers, we succeed. Finally, on the liquidity front, we finished fiscal 2020 in a strong position, with cash increasing to $66 million from $52 million at the end of fiscal 2019 and no borrowings outstanding at the end of either year. The improvement in our liquidity position was attributable to $84 million of cash flow from operations, which funded capital expenditure investments in data, digital marketing and omni-channel technologies, share repurchases, dividends and minority investments in smaller branded businesses. Our strong cash flow and liquidity puts us in excellent position to invest in our business and execute our strategy going forward. Given the circumstances of 2020, Lilly Pulitzer once again delivered an outstanding year. In the several years prior to 2020, we had invested in enhancing and developing Lilly's digital commerce and marketing capabilities. In particular, we were focused on having a beautiful and easy-to-shop website as well as being able to simulate, analyze and use customer data to better serve existing customers and target new customers. As a result of these investments and the work the Lilly team has done to capitalize on them, we went into 2020 with a direct-to-consumer business that was balanced in revenue between e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar retail. In addition, we were acquiring new customers through digital means at about twice the rate that we were acquiring them through our bricks-and-mortar retail stores. This set Lilly up very well when the world shifted to digital commerce during the pandemic. Our digital prowess, combined with our happy brand message and comfortable casual cheerful products drove terrific results. Lilly finished the year with 63% growth in full price e-commerce, which helped drive a 12% operating margin. As we progressed through 2021, and more and more customers are increasingly feeling safe to come back into stores, we are delighted to be able to provide the outstanding Lilly Pulitzer experience. This experience will be enhanced by many of the innovations that we delivered during 2020 that more tightly integrate the in-store and digital experiences. In addition, we are continuing to invest in projects that will enhance our ability to integrate first, second and third-party data, providing insights to help us develop segments that better understand and target customers and track engagement to inform future enhancements. We are also moving forward with projects that will enhance our customer service by providing more complete information on an automated basis. These are just some of the many projects that are underway that will help us better serve our customers. Tommy Bahama also has an upbeat positive brand message and easy-to-wear, easy care products that customers love. That said, going into 2020, Tommy Bahama was much more dependent on bricks-and-mortar for both revenue and new customer acquisition. Tommy's pre-pandemic direct-to-consumer business was split roughly 75% stores, outlets and restaurants and 25% e-commerce. In addition, it was acquiring customers in bricks-and-mortar at more than twice the rate that it was through digital. While Tommy Bahama's e-commerce business grew significantly during 2020, and we believe there is substantial opportunity for additional growth, Tommy Bahama's reliance on bricks-and-mortar retail pre-pandemic for both revenue and customer acquisition meant that the challenges posed by the shutdowns and other restrictions were more difficult to overcome in the short term. As we move into 2021, Tommy is investing in the people, processes and systems that it needs to better compete and win with the consumer of the digital world. These investments will help enhance our ability to build and better develop customer segments and create customer journeys tailored to those segments and to particular use occasions. During 2020, our Tommy Bahama restaurant business was challenged by shutdowns and multiple operating restrictions implemented by state and local government. Given these headwinds, we were very pleased with the results that we were able to achieve, particularly with our Marlin Bars, the fast casual concept that we initiated at Coconut Point, Florida several years ago. With their emphasis on outdoor dining, cocktails and smaller, lighter food items, the Marlin Bar has resonated strongly with guests during the pandemic. More importantly, leveraging its 25 years of expertise in food and beverage, we believe that the concept delivers our wonderful brand in a way that is highly relevant through today's guests. To that end, we opened 4 Marlin Bars during fiscal 2020, and with our recently opened location at Fashion Valley in San Diego, we now have 7 in total. We believe that the concept provides an excellent avenue for future growth and investment. Not only can we do business on the food and beverage side, but the Marlin Bars had outstanding results of the company and retail store. In particular, the hospitality offered by our Marlin Bars creates an environment that is really helping to grow our women's business. Amongst our three smaller brands, Southern Tide, The Beaufort Bonnet Company and Duck Head, The Beaufort Bonnet Company was a standout, delivering both top and bottom line growth in fiscal 2020 and operating margin expansion, finishing the year at almost $21 million in sales, with 2/3 coming from e-commerce. All 3 brands, like their larger siblings are focused on enhancing their digital e-commerce and marketing skills in 2021, with projects that are similar to those at Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer but scaled appropriately for the smaller businesses. In addition, Southern Tide is continuing to learn from its 3 recently opened stores and refined its retail concept while The Beaufort Bonnet Company's third signature store recently opened. We are very excited about what lies ahead in 2021. Since late February, we have seen a marked improvement in business in our bricks-and-mortar, particularly in warm weather, off-mall locations and at the same time, our e-commerce business remains very strong. Thank you for your time, and I will now turn it over to Scott for additional detail on 2020 results as well as our plans for 2021. Scott?