Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Sally Beauty Holdings Fiscal 2015 Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Karen Fugate, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Karen Fugate - Vice President Investor Relations & Strategic Planning: Thank you. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain comments, including matters such as forecasted financial information, contracts or business, and trend information made during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21-E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as may, will, should, expect, anticipate, estimate, assume, continue, project, plan and believe. These matters are subject to a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Those factors are described in the Sally Beauty Holdings' SEC filings, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K being filed today. The company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements. The company has provided a detailed explanation and reconciliations of its adjusting items and non-GAAP financial measures in its earnings press release and on its website. With me on the call today are Chris Brickman, President and CEO, and Mark Flaherty, CFO. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Chris. Christian A. Brickman - President & CEO: Thank you, Karen, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our fiscal 2015 fourth quarter and full-year earnings call. I'll briefly provide an update on our business performance and Mark will discuss our 2015 fourth quarter results in more detail. We finished the year with solid consolidated same-store sales growth of 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Our BSG business achieved a record comp of 7.4%, leading to strong operating performance. In our Sally business, the two-year same-store sales stack was the highest level in nine quarters. In addition, we generated $301 million in operating cash flow in fiscal 2015 and repurchased approximately $228 million or 8.1 million shares of stock. Over the fiscal year, we launched multiple initiatives in the Sally U.S. business to stimulate brand awareness and transform the consumer experience. As I mentioned before, it is taken longer than we expected for traffic from the non-Beauty Club Card customer to recover. But we are seeing positive indicators that our initiatives are working. We are nearing the anniversary of the Nail Studio rollout and we continue to be pleased with the results. Although, the nail category has experienced softness across the industry, we ended 2015 with year-over-year sales growth. Sales in our lash category have consistently grown in the high teens, since we launched our new static studio last April. And the rollout of our cosmetic studio in October is off to an impressive start with double-digit sales growth. Both cosmetics and eyelashes are high trend, high impulse categories, and we believe the updated presentation and improved assortment will continue to have a positive impact. The new impulse kiosk installed near the sales counter entices the customer to increase their basket with on trend high margin impulse items. We expect to have this unit installed in 2,400 Sally stores by early November. In fiscal 2016, we will continue our visual merchandising innovations. Starting in January, we expect to launch the hair care solution center in both general market and multi-cultural hair care. This upgrade should demystify the extensive offerings of shampoo, conditioners and styling aids by organizing the products by the solution they are meant to address. For example dry, frizzy, thinning or colored hair. The refresh to our own brand packaging in Ion hair care is expected to be completed by the end of this year. So far the brand has outperformed other brands in this category and we expect to extend this strategy to all of our own brand products. Our largest category, hair color, can also be overwhelming for a retail customer. We intend to implement a merchandising solution late this spring that will provide the customer with an easier shopping experience for home hair coloring. We also have concepts and design for appliances, brushes and combs. And these are scheduled for mid to late fiscal 2016. About six months ago, we launched our sophisticated CRM program with automated triggers and dynamic capabilities and we've seen strong responses to our email and digital campaigns. We will continue to enhance the platform with new benefits and features as we learn more about our customers' shopping behaviors. By the end of November approximately 1,000 Sally U.S. stores will have been refreshed with new lighting, flooring and graphics. The uplift in sales in the refreshed stores is encouraging. We continue to realize a comp improvement of 100 basis points to 150 basis points versus the benchmark of stores that has not been refreshed. These results exclude any marketing support designed to inform the consumer about these changes. Most recently we've tested radio and local TV in the regions with refreshed stores. We expect this advertising will further increase awareness of our refreshed stores and lead to traffic improvement. As we look towards the new fiscal year, we now anticipate that the Sally Beauty segment same-store sales will continue to improve sequentially and reach historical growth levels of 3% in the back half of next year. Our Beauty Systems Group consistently performed well throughout the year; and the fourth quarter was no exception. The introduction of new brands and product innovation continues to drive sales growth above historical run rates, resulting in strong bottom-line performance. In fiscal 2016, it's clear that BSG will be up against difficult sales comparisons. However, we believe they will continue to win new brands and customer loyalty, resulting in another solid year of performance. On a consolidated basis, we expect our sales and profit improvement initiatives we implemented in the back half of 2015, such as tactical and zone pricing, increased vendor support, global sourcing and other cost savings programs will largely offset anticipated cost headwinds and allow for steady profit growth for SBH in fiscal 2016. In addition, we are excited about the pipeline of initiatives for the coming fiscal year, including the completion of our own brand packaging upgrades, the reset of our hair care and hair color categories, as well as the introduction of local TV and radio advertising. These investments, combined with all of the projects and upgrades completed during fiscal 2015 will create significant points of difference and a modern image for Sally. As a result, we believe we're well on our way to reframing and repositioning the Sally brand to be more meaningful to the next generation of consumers. Now, I'll turn it over to Mark. Mark J. Flaherty - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Thanks, Chris. Consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter increased 2.1% to $964 million. This increase was driven by same-store sales growth of 3.5% versus 2.6% in the prior-year quarter and the addition of new stores. The impact from unfavorable foreign currency exchange rate for the quarter was $27.6 million or 2.9% of sales growth. GAAP gross profit margin in the fourth quarter was 49.3%, a 20 basis point decline over the fiscal 2014 fourth quarter. Excluding a $1.4 million impact from the Sally Germany restructuring, adjusted gross profit margin declined 10 basis points to 49.4%. Fourth quarter SG&A expenses as a percent of sales, including charges associated with the data security incident and the restructuring of our Sally Germany business, were 34.3%, a 40 basis point increase from the prior year fourth quarter. Consolidated adjusted SG&A expenses, excluding the data security and the restructuring charges, was 34% of sales. Unallocated corporate expenses, including share-based compensation were $36.5 million or 3.8% of sales, up $737,000 from the prior year quarter. GAAP consolidated operating earnings in the fourth quarter, including charges associated with the data security incident and the Germany restructuring were $119 million, a decrease of 5.5%. Operating margin was 12.4%, 100 basis point decrease from the prior year. Adjusting for the data security and the Germany restructure charges, operating earnings were $124 million, down 2.1%. Adjusted operating margin was 12.9%, a 50 basis point decrease from the prior year metric of 13.4%. For the fiscal year 2015, our effective tax rate was 37.9% versus 37% in the prior year. GAAP net earnings in the fiscal 2015 fourth quarter were $56.2 million compared to fiscal 2014 fourth quarter net earnings of $61.8 million. Adjusted net earnings excluding the data security charges and the Germany restructuring charges were $59.2 million. GAAP and adjusted net earnings per share was $0.36 and $0.38 respectively compared to the fiscal 2014 fourth quarter earnings per share of $0.39. And looking at the balance sheet for the fiscal yearend, inventories increased $56.8 million or 6.9% compared to ending inventory on September 30, 2014. This year-over-year increase was primarily due to the additional inventory for new store openings and the addition of new brands. Capital expenditures finished the year at $107 million, which was above the high-end of our guidance range of $95 million to $100 million. Capital expenditures were higher due to additional stores in the Sally refresh initiative versus our original plan. And turning to the segment performance for the fourth quarter starting with Sally Beauty Supply, net sales were $582 million compared to $581 million in the prior year quarter. The unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange on sales was $21.7 million or 3.7% of sales. Same-store sales grew 1.8% versus 2.1% in the fiscal 2014 quarter. Gross profit margin at Sally Beauty was 54.6%, a 20 basis point decline from the prior year quarter. This decline was primarily due to the $1.4 million charge from the Germany restructuring, which led to an unfavorable impact on Sally's gross margin of 30 basis points. Operating earnings were $97.9 million with an operating margin of 16.8%, down 180 basis points from the fiscal 2014 fourth quarter. The $4.2 million charge from the Germany restructuring had an unfavorable impact to operating margin of 70 basis points. Sally Beauty ended the fiscal year with 8.9 million active Beauty Club Card members, a 10% increase over the prior year. These customers now represent 59% of Sally's U.S. retail sales versus 57% last year. Net new stores opened in the Sally's segment in fiscal 2015 were 110 stores for a growth of 3.1%. This growth is net of the 15 stores closed in Germany. And turning to BSG, BSG had another great quarter with same-store sales of 7.4%. Sales reached $382 million for growth of 5.2%. This performance includes an unfavorable foreign currency exchange impact of $5.9 million or 1.6% of sales. Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 41.2%, up 10 basis points over the prior year. Fourth quarter operating margin improved 20 basis points to reach 15.1%. Net new stores at BSG increased 29 or a growth of 2.3% for a total store count of 1,294. We ended the year with 958 sales consultants. Now I'd like to provide some guidance for fiscal year 2016. For 2016, our consolidated same-store sales, we expect our growth to be in the low 3% range with sequential quarterly improvement in our Sally segment and slightly slower year-over-year growth in our BSG segment as they anniversary at very strong performance in fiscal 2015. Consolidated organic store growth is expected to be approximately 3%. Consolidated gross profit margin expansion is expected to be in the range of 35 basis points to 45 basis points. We believe we can achieve the gross margin expansion because of the initiatives we have started in the back half of fiscal 2015, such as tactical and zone pricing as well as our ongoing vendor negotiations. For fiscal 2016 unallocated corporate expenses, including approximately $16 million in share-based compensation are expected to be in the range of $150 million to $155 million. Consolidated SG&A as a percentage of sales, including the unallocated expenses is expected to be up 10 basis points to 20 basis points from the fiscal 2015 GAAP metric of 34.2%. The 2016 SG&A includes approximately $16 million in new business developments, initiatives in South America and continued investments in Loxa Beauty. The effective tax rate for fiscal year 2016 is expected to be in the range of 37.5% to 38.5%. And finally, we anticipate capital expenditures in fiscal 2016 to be in the range of $125 million to $135 million. Capital expenditure projects for the fiscal year include investments in new payment terminals for Sally U.S. merchandise resets in the Sally U.S. stores and the continuation of the Sally store refresh initiative and upgrades to our U.S. distribution centers. Chris? Christian A. Brickman - President & CEO: Thank you, Mark. In summary, fiscal 2015 was a very busy and productive year. I'm extremely pleased with our BSG results and I remain encouraged with the progress in our Sally Beauty business. We have a great team in place and we're executing against the right initiatives to create significant points of difference for our business. I believe fiscal 2016 will be rewarding and successful year. Now, I'll turn it back to the operator to open it up for questions.