RH Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2018 Results

CORTE MADERA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- RH (NYSE: RH) today announced fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 results and Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Gary Friedman, provided an update on the Company’s continued evolution and outlook.

RH Leadership will host a Q&A conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) today.

FOURTH QUARTER 2018 HIGHLIGHTS

Q4 GAAP DILUTED EPS $1.41 vs. $0.01 LY
Q4 ADJUSTED DILUTED EPS $3.00 vs. $1.69 LY +78%

Q4 GAAP NET INCOME $36.1M vs. $0.3M LY
Q4 ADJUSTED NET INCOME $76.0M vs. $43.3M LY +76%

Q4 GAAP OPERATING MARGIN 15.4% vs. 10.3% LY
Q4 ADJUSTED OPERATING MARGIN 15.9% vs. 11.2% LY

Q4 GAAP NET REVENUES FLAT vs. +14% LY
Q4 ADJUSTED NET REVENUES +7% vs. +6% LY ON COMPARABLE 13-WEEK BASIS

FISCAL YEAR 2018 HIGHLIGHTS

FY GAAP DILUTED EPS $5.68 vs. $0.07 LY
FY ADJUSTED DILUTED EPS $8.54 vs. $3.05 LY +180%

FY GAAP NET INCOME $150.6M vs. $2.2M LY
FY ADJUSTED NET INCOME $223.7M vs. $89.2M LY +151%

FY GAAP OPERATING MARGIN 11.5% vs. 5.4% LY
FY ADJUSTED OPERATING MARGIN 12.1% vs. 7.0% LY

FY GAAP NET REVENUES +3% vs. +14% LY
FY ADJUSTED NET REVENUES +5% vs. +12% LY ON COMPARABLE 52-WEEK BASIS

Note: Please see the tables below for a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures referenced in this press release.

To Our People, Partners, and Shareholders,

Fiscal 2018 was an extraordinary year for Team RH. We generated record revenues in excess of $2.5 billion, record GAAP operating margin of 11.5%, record adjusted operating margins of 12.1%, and industry leading ROIC of 27.8%.

Our focus on elevating the brand and architecting an integrated operating platform has resulted in our profit model leapfrogging past the home furnishings industry, and RH becoming one of the few retailers that is expanding margins, increasing operating earnings, and driving significantly higher returns on invested capital.

We’ve created separation by bringing truly innovative and disruptive strategies to life, many of which are counter to those being pursued in the broader retail industry, including:

Designing an integrated ecosystem of products, businesses and services that collectively amplify and render each other more valuable, creating a truly unique customer experience that will be difficult, if not impossible to replicate.

Creating a global product development platform that attracts and amplifies the best designers, artisans, and manufacturers in the world.

Controlling our collections from concept to customer, rendering our products and brand more unique and valuable, while affording us long term pricing power.

Operating a highly efficient multi-channel platform that enables customers to access our brand where and when they want with a single inventory and seamless experience.

Moving from a promotional to a membership model, elevating our brand and streamlining our business while developing a more intimate relationship with our customers.

Pivoting the brand from creating and selling products to conceptualizing and selling spaces by building the largest residential interior design firm in North America.

Opening architecturally inspiring and immersive physical experiences that render our products and services more unique and valuable, while doubling our retail revenues and earnings in every market.

Developing a dynamic and seamlessly integrated hospitality business that activates all of the senses, drives tremendous traffic into our galleries and generates incremental revenues and earnings for our brand.

Architecting a real estate development model that decreases occupancy costs and capital requirements while increasing earnings and returns on invested capital.

Building an integrated operating platform that is enhancing the customer experience, while reducing costs and increasing returns on invested inventory.

Redesigning our organization to break down the silos and bureaucracy that build up as businesses grow, resulting in improved focus and collaboration, and increased accountability and decision speed.

While proud of what we’ve accomplished, and how we’ve redefined our business and brand, it’s the potential to redefine our industry and create new markets that continues to drive us.

Our future opportunity is based on our belief that, “There are those with taste and no scale, and those with scale and no taste, and the belief that the idea of scaling taste is large and far reaching.”

We see an unlimited opportunity to create value by leveraging our unique taste and scale to create large and lucrative global markets across retail, interior design, hospitality, residential, and commercial development.

We also believe, “We have to think until it hurts, until we can see what others can’t see, so we can do what others can’t do.”

The separation we’ve created in our market reflects the efforts of a team of people who have thought deeply for decades about the brand we are building and the opportunities we carefully choose to pursue. A team that understands that great brands are built based on a long term view and willingness to make the investments that lead to innovation and value creation.

The path we’ve chosen, while at times in conflict with current thinking and conventional wisdom, has proven to be significantly more right than wrong, and oftentimes shapes new paradigms. As an example, the simplifying assumption that digital was more profitable than physical, and online furniture businesses should somehow be confused with technology companies may prove to be misplaced as digital brands rush to build physical stores in search of growth and profitability.

Speaking of profitability, which is surprisingly absent in the narrative of most retail businesses that are birthed online, we believe what many have overlooked is that the cost of marketing an invisible store is proving to be more expensive than physical experiences. While it’s certainly in vogue to launch a retail business online, the numbers do not reflect that it is more capital efficient and surely not more profitable.

We believe the past ten years will be looked back upon as the lost decade of retail. A period where many brands have proclaimed a consultant coined “Digital first strategy” allocating the vast majority of their capital towards building unnecessary and complex “Omni-channel capabilities”, while leaving their retail stores to rot. It should not be a surprise that the vast majority have simply shifted business from offline to online, with increased costs and free shipping, destroying their operating margins.

We will instead follow our own unique path, one led by our vision and values, and an obsession for building a brand with no peer. We will sharpen our focus on elevating versus expanding, pursue quality over quantity, and prioritize innovation over duplication. We will continue, as we recently did in New York, bringing architecturally inspiring, immersive, and profit generating brand experiences to life that create emotional physical connections in a world moving toward social digital connections. (BTW, RH New York is already trending in excess of $100 million in annualized revenue)

On Team RH we say, “Leaders have to be comfortable, making others uncomfortable.”

We believe leadership is about pursuing a vision, something you’ve never seen, that’s somewhere you’ve never been. As creatures of habit, change is uncomfortable for humans, but for the people of Team RH, a culture of leadership and innovation is at the core of who we are, and reflected in everything we do.

We’ve grown comfortable making ourselves and others uncomfortable for nearly two decades, and hope to continue for the foreseeable future. It’s what leaders do, and how we know we’re on the right path. It’s why you should count on us to take the road less traveled, and make the long term decisions that we believe will continue to inspire our customers and generate the highest returns in our industry for years to come.

18 years ago we began this journey with a vision of transforming a nearly bankrupt business that had a $20 million market cap and a box of Oxydol laundry detergent on the cover of its catalog, into the leading luxury home brand in the world. The lessons and learnings, the insights and the intricacies, the sacrifices you make and scar tissue that you develop by getting knocked down 10 times and getting up 11, leads to the development of the mental and moral qualities that build character in individuals and form cultures in organizations. Lessons that can’t be learned in a classroom, or by managing a business, but must be earned by building a brand. If you’re inspired by what we’ve achieved over the past 18 years, just imagine what we will accomplish in the next 18.

We like to say, “We’re looking for a few good people who don’t know what can’t be done.”

If you’re one of those people, we invite you to continue reading, or better yet, come join our cause.

Fiscal 2018 Highlights - Continued Focus on Execution, Architecture and Cash

As we completed our second year focused on executing a new business model, architecting a new operating platform and maximizing cash flow by increasing revenues and earnings while decreasing inventory and capital spending, our results are demonstrating that we are building a disruptive brand and business to gain profitable market share for years to come.

Our record fourth quarter and fiscal 2018 results demonstrate the strength of the RH brand, the power of our new business model, our focus on managing the business with a bias for earnings versus revenue growth, and our continued success revolutionizing physical retailing.

We raised our guidance for the fourth quarter after the close of market on December 3rd. Despite the severe stock market volatility that occurred through the rest of the month, with the Dow dropping 799 points on December 4th on its way to losing over 4,000 points -- making it the worst December for stocks since the Great Depression – we exceeded our guidance for adjusted operating margins, adjusted operating income and adjusted net income.

Our core RH business, which has historically tracked to stock market fluctuations, experienced a sales decline of approximately 10 points beginning the third week of December which persisted through the remainder of the fourth quarter leading to a $13 million shortfall to the mid-point of our revised revenue guidance in December.

On a comparable 52-week basis, adjusted net revenues increased 5% to $2.51 billion. Adjusted gross margins expanded 500 basis points to 40.1% and adjusted operating margins increased 510 basis points to 12.1%.

We generated adjusted diluted earnings per share of $8.54 in fiscal 2018, driven by the significant growth in operating earnings coupled with a lower adjusted effective tax rate of 16.9%, primarily as a result of tax benefits associated with the exercise of associate stock options and vesting of associate restricted stock units, as well as a lower share count resulting from share repurchases.

Fiscal 2018 free cash flow of $163 million fell short of our expectations largely as a result of the lower revenues and higher inventories due to softer sales and receipt timing, plus the $50-$60 million in assets sales we anticipated closing during the quarter the timing of which were also impacted by the market volatility. We are currently reviewing multiple offers for our Yountville property at attractive cap rates, and expect to finalize the sale in the first half of this year. In addition, we are now being advised to maximize the sale price of our Edina Gallery by holding off on accepting offers for the property until the Gallery opens this fall, which means the transaction would close in the second half of 2019.

Merchandise inventories increased slightly to $532 million as a result of lower sales during the quarter and an acceleration of receipts from the first quarter to the fourth quarter as vendors accelerated shipments ahead of Chinese New Year and potential increase in tariffs.

As we did in fiscal 2017, we continued to hold ourselves back from adding new businesses in fiscal 2018 outside of ongoing investments in RH Hospitality as we remained focused on optimizing the profitability of our new operating platform.

While most in our industry are closing or downsizing stores, we remain committed to our quest of revolutionizing physical retailing. We have proven our ability to double the retail sales in our markets with legacy stores while more than doubling our profitability. Our progress in fiscal 2018 included the opening of RH Portland and RH Nashville in the first half of the year, and the opening of two very unique and diverse retail experiences, RH New York and RH Yountville, in September. We continue to be pleased with the performance of our new Galleries and now have six Galleries with our integrated hospitality experience.

RH New York continues to outperform despite the ongoing street construction in the Meatpacking District, and is now trending at an annualized revenue run rate in excess of $100 million. We expect Gallery sales to further accelerate throughout the year as street construction is completed and new luxury tenants begin to fill in the empty storefronts.

Our efforts architecting a new operating platform, inclusive of our distribution center network redesign, the redesign of our reverse logistics and outlet business, and the reconceptualization of our home delivery and customer experience, is driving lower costs and inventory levels, and higher earnings and inventory turns. Looking forward, we expect this multi-year effort to result in a dramatically improved customer experience, continued margin enhancement and significant cost savings over the next several years.

Moderating Preliminary Fiscal 2019 Outlook

Due to the continued weakness in our core business post the fourth quarter market volatility, the negative trends in the high end housing market, and our continued efforts to edit unprofitable and non-strategic businesses, we are moderating our fiscal 2019 net revenue outlook to $2.585 billion to $2.635 billion, representing growth of 3% to 5%. The 6 point reduction at the midpoint from our prior preliminary guidance is the result of a 3 point reduction due to the market volatility and negative trends in high end housing, plus a 3 point reduction as a result of editing unprofitable and non-strategic businesses, namely the elimination of the remaining holiday business (1 point), the elimination of fringe promotions (1 point), and the transition of our rug business from a single source importer to a direct sourcing model (1 point).

Despite the lower sales outlook for fiscal 2019, our adjusted operating margin outlook is only moderating slightly given the power of our operating model and the editing of the unprofitable and non-strategic businesses. Excluding adjustments for the new ASC 842 lease accounting adopted at the beginning of fiscal 2019, we are expecting adjusted operating margins in the range of 12.7% to 13.3% up 90 basis points at the midpoint versus 12.1% in 2018, and slightly lower than our prior guidance of 13.0% to 14.0%. The new lease accounting is expected to have approximately an 70 basis point impact on our adjusted operating margins, and 40 basis point impact on our adjusted net income margin.

Our updated fiscal 2019 outlook excluding adjustments for the new ASC 842 lease accounting is as follows:

• Adjusted net revenues in the range of $2.585 to $2.635 billion, an increase of 3% to 5%
• Adjusted operating margins in the range of 12.7% to 13.3%
• Adjusted net income in the range of $213 to $230 million, representing a 7% to 16% increase on a normalized 26% income tax rate in fiscal 2018 and 2019
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of $8.41 to $9.08, representing an 11% to 19% increase on a normalized 26% income tax rate in fiscal 2018 and 2019

We have several new brand extension plans in our development pipeline. We are launching RH Beach House with a dedicated Source Book this spring, and now plan to launch RH Ski House with a dedicated Source Book this fall. We are electing to swap the introduction of RH Ski House with RH Color which we are moving to next year in order to present the two second home concepts in a more logical progression. Additionally, we have plans to elevate and expand our assortments in key categories with the introduction of new bespoke collections as we pivot back to growth over the next several years.

We also plan to increase our investment in RH Interior Design as we continue building the leading interior design firm in North America. We believe there is a significant revenue opportunity by offering world class design and installation services as we move the brand beyond creating and selling products to conceptualizing and selling spaces.

As previously mentioned, our plan is to accelerate our real estate transformation, opening 5 to 7 new Galleries per year, up from 3 to 5 per year. In the second half of fiscal 2019, we are planning to open 5 new Galleries, including Edina, MN, Charlotte, NC, Corte Madera, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Columbus, OH, all with our integrated hospitality offering. Due to the continued construction on Gansevoort Street, we have chosen to delay the opening of the The New York Guesthouse until spring of 2020.

With the ongoing development of RH Hospitality, we are demonstrating that we can execute a profitable, high quality food and beverage experience across multiple markets while driving traffic into our Galleries that result in incremental revenues in our core business. While we still expect an approximate 50 basis point drag on our operating margins due to the initial start-up costs in fiscal 2019, we believe RH Hospitality is now a proven scalable business, and our plan is to increase the number of new Galleries with integrated restaurants, wine vaults, and barista bars going forward.

In regards to Waterworks, you’ll notice in our financial tables we took a further impairment on the business in the fourth quarter. While the acquisition has been financially disappointing, causing a 70 basis point drag to our operating margins, we plan to take aggressive steps to refocus and return the business to double digit adjusted EBITDA margins, and still believe in the potential long term synergies and value creation.

Turning to our balance sheet, our capital structure and internally-generated cash flow provides us with the flexibility to repay the outstanding principal of our $350 million June 2019 zero coupon convertible notes at maturity in cash. As a reminder, we purchased a bond hedge that is designed to protect us against dilution on the 2019 notes up to $171.98 per share.

To ensure financial flexibility and optionality, we completed a zero coupon $335 million convertible notes offering in June 2018 with a conversion price of $193.65 that matures in June 2023, with a corresponding bond hedge designed to protect against dilution up to $309.84 per share.

We also repurchased 886,700 shares in the quarter at an average price of $118.20, for a total of 2.05 million shares at an average price of $122.08 under our 2018 $700 million share repurchased authorization. Including our $1 billion 2017 repurchase of 20.2 million shares at an average price of $49.46, we have repurchased a total of 22.27 million shares at an average price of $56.13 for a total of $1.25 billion.

Reiterating Long-Term Targets

We remain confident in our long-term targets as the earnings power and capital efficiency of our new model continues to evolve and we return to our product and brand expansion strategy. In addition, we have made improvements to our real estate development model, and continue to reduce capital requirements for future Galleries by improving deal economics and lowering construction costs. While all of our new Galleries scheduled to open in fiscal 2019 are under construction, we were able to lower capital requirements for three of the five new Galleries planned for next year, and the vast majority of future projects.

As a reminder, our long-term targets are as follows:

• Net revenue growth of 8% to 12% annually
• Adjusted operating margins in the mid-to-high teens
• Adjusted earnings growth of 15% to 20% annually
• Return on invested capital (ROIC) in excess of 50%

We continue to see a clear path to $4 to $5 billion in North American revenues, and an international opportunity that could lead to RH becoming a $7 to $10 billion dollar global brand. We are currently exploring opportunities for Bespoke Design Galleries in London, Paris, and other parts of Europe, and believe there is tremendous opportunity for the RH brand to expand globally.

Building a Brand with No Peer and a Customer Experience That Cannot Be Replicated Online

We do understand that the strategies we are pursuing - opening the largest specialty retail experiences in our industry while most are shrinking the size of their retail footprint or closing stores; moving from a promotional to a membership model, while others are increasing promotions, positioning their brands around price versus product; continuing to mail inspiring Source Books, while many are eliminating catalogs; and refusing to follow the herd in self-promotion on social media, instead allowing our brand to be defined by the taste, design, and quality of the products and experiences we are creating - are all in direct conflict with conventional wisdom and the plans being pursued by many in our industry.

We believe when you step back and consider: one, we are building a brand with no peer; two, we are creating a customer experience that cannot be replicated online; and three, we have total control of our brand from concept to customer, you realize what we are building is extremely rare in today’s retail landscape, and we would argue, will also prove to be equally valuable.

We want to thank all of our people and partners whose passion and persistence bring our vision and values to life each and every day, as we pursue our quest to become one of the most admired brands in the world.

Carpe Diem,

Gary

Gary Friedman

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

¹ Return on invested capital (ROIC): We define ROIC as adjusted operating income after-tax for the most recent twelve-month period, divided by the average of beginning and ending debt and equity less cash and equivalents as well as short and long-term investments for the most recent twelve- month period. ROIC is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP, and should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for other financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our method of determining ROIC may differ from other companies’ methods and therefore may not be comparable.

Q&A CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

Accompanying this release, RH leadership will host a live question and answer conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET). Interested parties may access the call by dialing (866) 394-6658 (United States/ Canada) or (706) 679-9188 (International). A live broadcast of the question and answer session conference call will also be available online at the Company’s investor relations website, ir.rh.com. A replay of the question and answer session conference call will be available through April 11, 2019 by dialing (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406 and entering passcode 1793353, as well as on the Company’s investor relations website.

ABOUT RH

RH (NYSE: RH) is a curator of design, taste and style in the luxury lifestyle market. The Company offers its collections through its retail galleries across North America, the Company’s multiple Source Books, and online at RH.com, RHModern.com, RHBabyandChild.com, RHTeen.com and Waterworks.com.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

To supplement its condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”), the Company uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted net revenue, adjusted net income or adjusted net earnings, adjusted net income margin, adjusted diluted earnings per share, normalized adjusted net income, normalized adjusted diluted net income per share, return on invested capital, free cash flow, adjusted operating margin, adjusted gross margin, adjusted SG&A, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA (collectively, “non- GAAP financial measures”). We compute these measures by adjusting the applicable GAAP measures to remove the impact of certain recurring and non-recurring charges and gains and the tax effect of these adjustments. The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The Company believes that they provide useful information about operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making. The non-GAAP financial measures used by the Company in this press release may be different from the non-GAAP financial measures, including similarly titled measures, used by other companies.

For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Financial Measures tables in this press release. These accompanying tables include details on the GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations between these financial measures.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including without limitation, statements regarding: our expectations regarding our potential to define our industry and create new markets that drives our business; our future opportunity; our future growth plans and strategies, including our plan to sharpen our focus on elevating versus expanding, pursue quality over quantity, and prioritize innovation over duplication and our plan to create brand experiences that have physical connections and our ability to generate profits from such plan; our plans regarding managing the business; our leadership and innovation strategies; our plans for any future property sales, including the terms thereof and the timing and our ability to finalize such sales; our plans for any future strategic acquisitions or business expansions; our expectations about increases or other changes in Gallery sales; our expectations about the timing of the completion of street construction and that the empty storefronts will be filled with new luxury tenants; our expectations regarding the results of our efforts to architect a new operating platform and about our financial performance and results of operation, including any expectations about margin enhancement and cost savings; our expectations regarding net revenues, adjusted operating margins, adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per share, and our expectations about any future changes to each of the foregoing; our expectations regarding the impact of the new lease accounting on our historical financial results as well as our future financial results including our GAAP and non-GAAP results such as adjusted operating margins and adjusted net income margin; our brand extension plans and other development pipelines, including our expectations about any launch timing, any future strategic decisions and our plans to change or expand any product assortments; our plans to increase our investment in RH Interior Design, including any revenue opportunity that may result from such increase in investment; our plans to accelerate our real estate transformation, including the anticipated timing of any openings and constructions; our expectation regarding the benefits of our business strategy; and any statements or assumptions underlying any of the foregoing.

You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future events. We cannot assure you that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. Important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include, among others, risks related to our dependence on key personnel and any changes in our ability to retain key personnel; successful implementation of our growth strategy; risks related to the number of new business initiatives we are undertaking; successful implementation of our growth strategy; uncertainties in the current performance of our business including a range of risks related to our operations as well as external economic factors; general economic conditions and the impact on consumer confidence and spending; changes in customer demand for our products; our ability to anticipate consumer preferences and buying trends, and maintaining our brand promise to customers; decisions concerning the allocation of capital; factors affecting our outstanding convertible senior notes or other forms of our indebtedness; our ability to anticipate consumer preferences and buying trends, and maintain our brand promise to customers; changes in consumer spending based on weather and other conditions beyond our control; risks related to the number of new business initiatives we are undertaking; strikes and work stoppages affecting port workers and other industries involved in the transportation of our products; our ability to obtain our products in a timely fashion or in the quantities required; our ability to employ reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect personal information that we collect; our ability to support our growth with appropriate information technology systems; risks related to our sourcing and supply chain including our dependence on imported products produced by foreign manufacturers and risks related to importation of such products including risks related to tariffs and other similar issues, as well as those risks and uncertainties disclosed under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in RH’s most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and similar disclosures in subsequent reports filed with the SEC, which are available on our investor relations website at ir.rh.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release speaks only as of the date on which we make it. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward- looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable securities laws.

Beginning in fiscal 2019, RH will no longer report the retail sales per selling square foot metrics noted above, however, RH will continue to report total leased selling square footage.

Beginning in fiscal 2019, RH will use a normalized 26.0% tax rate when reporting adjusted net income and adjusted diluted net income per share.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190328005931/en/

Cammeron McLaughlin
cmclaughlin@rh.com
415-945-4998

Source: RH

Released March 28, 2019