Lands' End (LE) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Date

Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET

Call participants

• Chief Executive Officer — Andrew McLean
• Chief Financial Officer — Bernie McCracken
• Senior Director of Financial Planning and Analysis — Tom Altholz

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Takeaways

• Revenue -- $462 million, reflecting 5% growth, propelled by improvement across Outfitters, U.S. eCommerce, and third-party marketplace businesses.
• Quarterly Comparable Sales -- 5% comp growth, led by broad execution and notable acceleration in school uniforms and European operations.
• Gross Profit -- Increased by 4% year over year.
• Quarterly Gross Margin -- 45%, representing a decrease of 30 basis points from last year, attributed to tariff headwinds.
• Gross Margin Excluding IEPA Tariffs -- 47%, up approximately 140 basis points year over year, signaling improving underlying profitability.
• Full-Year Gross Margin -- 49%, up by 80 basis points; excluding unmitigated IEPA tariffs, gross margin increased by 180 basis points to 50%.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $102 million for the year, up 10%; Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $47 million, up 9% compared to the prior year.
• Adjusted Net Income -- $27 million for the year, more than doubling year over year; Q4 adjusted net income of $24 million, or $0.76 per share.
• U.S. eCommerce New Customer Acquisition -- Q4 new-to-brand household acquisition rose 20%, marking the highest achievement since the pandemic.
• Third-Party Marketplace Revenue -- Increased 4%, fueled by double-digit growth at Amazon and strong results at Nordstrom.
• European eCommerce Sales -- Rose 9% in Q4 following several challenging quarters.
• SG&A Expenses -- Rose by $12 million year over year, representing a 90-basis-point increase as a percentage of net revenue, tied to intensified marketing and incentive accruals.
• Inventory -- Ended the quarter at $269 million, up from $265 million; excluding IEPA tariff effects, inventory decreased by 2%.
• Debt Position -- Term loan balance at quarter end was approximately $234 million, with no borrowings on the ABL.
• WHP Global Transaction -- Pending $300 million cash proceeds for a 50% JV stake in Lands' End intellectual property; expected to eliminate all term loan debt and materially lower interest expense after close.
• WHP Tender Offer -- WHP has initiated a tender offer to purchase roughly 2,200,000 shares at $45 per share, representing a "substantial premium to the pre-transaction trading levels."
• Licensing Joint Venture Structure -- Lands' End to receive 50% of JV royalty income and proceeds after expenses, supporting balance sheet flexibility.
• Infrastructure Modernization Plan -- Plans to migrate the consumer-facing front end to Shopify and back-end ERP to SAP before the 2026 peak selling period.
• Leadership Addition -- Sarah Sylvester appointed as Chief Marketing Officer, a newly created position to intensify integrated marketing and customer outreach.
• Share Repurchase Program -- $9 million remains authorized under the current plan.
• Financial Guidance -- No forward financial guidance provided due to the pending WHP transaction; management will update after transaction closure.

Summary

Lands' End (NASDAQ:LE) announced a transformative $300 million partnership with WHP Global, positioning the company to fully repay its $234 million term loan and substantially strengthen its balance sheet. Management emphasized that the joint venture will enable accelerated licensing growth and provide long-term shareholder value, with a direct cash distribution structure tied to royalty proceeds. The company’s modernization initiatives include migrating to Shopify and SAP, which management plans to complete before the 2026 peak retail season to increase operational agility and margin potential. Lands' End will also gain increased flexibility for strategic investments due to the expected elimination of interest expense and bolstered liquidity following the WHP transaction.

• The partnership allows Lands' End to exchange its joint venture stake for WHP Global equity in the event of a WHP IPO or sale, aligning shareholder upside with higher-multiple brand/IP business models.
• Management highlighted a resurgence in European business performance after a period of decline, attributing the turnaround to franchise focus and increased personalization initiatives tested abroad.
• Customer file growth was characterized by the acquisition of younger and more diverse households, supported by record Q4 new-to-brand household gains.
• The Outfitters business delivered long-term client contracts and saw share gains from school uniforms and B2B partners, described by management as a potential “subscription business.”
• Customization infrastructure, developed through uniform and B2B channels, is being leveraged to enhance direct-to-consumer offerings and attract new customer segments.

Industry glossary

• IEPA Tariffs: Import duties impacting Lands' End’s cost structure, specifics not further defined in the call.
• GMV (Gross Merchandise Value): Total sales value processed across all operated and third-party channels, before deductions for returns or discounts.
• Outfitters: Lands' End's business segment targeting uniform and apparel programs for schools and corporate clients.
• ABL: Asset-Based Lending facility, used for working capital financing.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Tom Altholz: And thank you for joining us this morning for a discussion of our fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 results, which we released this morning and can be found on our website, landsend.com. I am Tom Altholz, Lands' End, Inc.’s Senior Director of Financial Planning and Analysis, and I am pleased to join you today with Andrew McLean, our Chief Executive Officer, and Bernie McCracken, our Chief Financial Officer. After the prepared remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Please also note that the information we are about to discuss includes forward-looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties.

The company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed on this call due to such differences including, but not limited to, those items noted and included in the company's SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-Ks and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our Solicitation/Recommendation Statement filed on Schedule 14D-9 on March 11, 2026. The forward-looking information that is provided by the company on the call represents the company's outlook as of today, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements made by us. Subsequent events and developments may cause the company's outlook to change. During this call, we will be referring to non-GAAP measures.

These non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release issued earlier today, a copy of which is posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at landsend.com. With that, I will turn the call over to Andrew.

Andrew McLean: Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. The fourth quarter was a turning point for Lands' End, Inc. as we returned to top-line growth driven by our most significant businesses and capped off the year in which we strengthened the foundation for sustainable, profitable, long-term growth. During the quarter, we also announced a transformative transaction with WHP Global, which we are confident builds on that platform and will help deliver compelling value for shareholders. More on that in a moment. We delivered 5% comp growth, driven by strong execution across our owned, licensed, and marketplace businesses. GMV grew by mid-single digits in the fourth quarter, reflecting broad-based momentum and increasing relevance of the Lands' End, Inc. brand.

Seeing that momentum show up clearly across the business, our third-party marketplace business grew mid-single digits, led by double-digit growth at Amazon where our iconic Bedford quarter-zip sweater was the number one pullover on Amazon during Black Friday weekend. Our business in Europe delivered high single-digit comps, reversing a multi-quarter trend, as we reenergized our customer file and delivered on our solutions focus. Our school uniform channel sustained double-digit growth, building on another successful back-to-school season. In our U.S. consumer business, our solutions-based products and franchises continue to resonate. Iconic products, including Christmas stockings and canvas pocket totes, were both up double digits year over year, and we saw strength across our weatherproofed assortment as well.

Increased investment in digital marketing accelerated customer acquisition, delivering measurable results by year end. We acquired 20% more new-to-brand households in Q4 versus last year, our strongest performance since the pandemic, and ended the year with positive new-to-brand growth overall. And we are not just adding customers, we are leveraging the household. Lands' End, Inc. is increasingly a multigenerational brand serving grandmother, mother, and granddaughter. We also leaned into brand building in new ways, launching our holiday shop earlier and activating experiences like our chaotically customized New York pop-up, which further helped introduce Lands' End, Inc. to new and younger customers, driving awareness and engagement across social platforms.

Our product franchises continue to differentiate Lands' End, Inc., and they are driving profitable growth. As noted, we moved quickly to spot and lead the quarter-zip trend that took off on TikTok over the holidays, and it became a number one item across multiple customer touch points. In women’s wear, our “owning the weather” strategy is working. Feather-free outerwear and Drifter sweaters delivered best-ever sales and best-ever margin fourth quarters. Turning to our adjusted EBITDA, as we closed out the year, we made a deliberate choice to prioritize growth and set the stage for long-term value creation. We delivered $102 million in adjusted EBITDA for the full year, up 10% from last year and in line with our expectations.

The key takeaway here is that we executed our strategy, delivered significant growth, maintained a disciplined approach to expenses, and strengthened our financial foundation to generate ongoing momentum. We are well positioned heading into 2026, and I could not be more confident about the opportunities ahead for Lands' End, Inc. and the value-creation potential for our investors. That is important perspective in the context of the transaction we announced with WHP Global. It is a partnership we are executing from a position of strength. This partnership with WHP Global, which includes the creation of a joint venture to monetize and build on our IP through licensing, is compelling for our shareholders and other stakeholders.

It is designed to do several things at the same time: unlock near- and long-term value, accelerate brand licensing growth, materially strengthen our balance sheet, and expand our strategic flexibility as the same operating company our customers know and love. The WHP Global team, led by Yehuda Shmidman, has a successful track record licensing and growing a number of diverse and well-recognized brands like ours. We expect their deep expertise will further expand Lands' End, Inc. into new categories, channels, and internationally, creating incremental long-term, higher-return growth opportunities for Lands' End, Inc. shareholders.

As part of this strategic transaction, Lands' End, Inc. will contribute its intellectual property to the JV and receive $300 million in cash proceeds from WHP for WHP’s controlling 50% stake in the JV. After the transaction closes, we plan to use the majority of the cash proceeds to retire our term loan in full. Let me reiterate, the transaction will leave us with zero term loan debt and markedly reduced interest expense. This immediate balance sheet reset will provide the opportunity to evaluate and execute on potential investments, including investing in our direct-to-consumer and outfitters growth and capital allocation alternatives that drive long-term shareholder value. This is not a sale of the whole company.

Under our long-duration license agreement, Lands' End, Inc. will pay royalties to the JV and, in return, receive roughly 50% of both our royalty payment and other royalty payments received by the JV net of JV expenses. Additionally, WHP has launched a tender offer to purchase approximately 2,200,000 shares at $45 per share, a substantial premium to the pre-transaction trading levels. This purchase of Lands' End, Inc. stock represents WHP’s further commitment to the success of Lands' End, Inc. as a whole, validating our belief in the strength of our business. Finally, there is significant upside potential for Lands' End, Inc. shareholders to participate in the WHP monetization event, including an IPO or sale of WHP.

Specifically, Lands' End, Inc. may exchange its 50% stake in the joint venture for shares in WHP Global itself at the same valuation multiple as WHP receives as part of its monetization event. This is notable, as IP companies like WHP Global have historically raised capital at valuation multiples in the mid to high teens, higher than typical retail apparel companies. Overall, this partnership validates both the lasting strength and the tremendous opportunity ahead for the Lands' End, Inc. brand. We believe in the company and our shareholders, and we look forward to completing the transaction in the coming weeks and continued growth of our brand thereafter.

I will now turn it over to Bernie to discuss our performance in more detail.

Bernie McCracken: Thank you, Andrew. For 2025, total revenue was $462,000,000, an increase of 5% compared to 2024. GMV grew mid-single digits driven by strong performance in our Outfitters, third-party marketplace, and U.S. e-commerce businesses. Gross profit increased by 4% compared to last year. Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 45%, a slight decrease of approximately 30 basis points year over year, driven by tariff headwinds partially offset by our solutions-focused go-to-market strategy. When excluding the impact of the unmitigated IEPA tariffs, gross margin increased by approximately 140 basis points to 47% compared to the prior year. Our U.S. e-commerce business grew 5% compared to Q4 2024, with record new-to-brand acquisition up 20% year over year.

Third-party marketplace revenue grew 4%, led by Amazon, which was up double digits year over year. Nordstrom also delivered strong outerwear results. We began to see the benefits from the transformation work in our European e-commerce business as sales grew 9% during the fourth quarter. SG&A expenses increased by $12 million year over year. As a percentage of net revenue, SG&A increased approximately 90 basis points, primarily driven by increased marketing spend to drive new customer acquisition and incentive accruals, partially offset by leverage from revenue growth and operational efficiencies. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $47 million, which represents a 9% increase compared to the prior year.

For the fourth quarter, we had adjusted net income of $24 million, or $0.76 per share. As Andrew stated, we capped off a year where we strengthened the foundation for sustainable, profitable growth across the company. For fiscal 2025, we delivered GMV growth in the low single digits, a gross margin increase of approximately 80 basis points to 49%. When excluding the impact of the unmitigated IEPA tariffs, gross margin expanded by approximately 180 basis points to 50%. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 10% to $102 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin increasing by approximately 90 basis points to 8%. The increase was primarily driven by the expansion of our licensing and Outfitters businesses and continued gross margin expansion.

Adjusted net income increased by over 100% to $27 million, with adjusted earnings per share increasing by $0.46 to $0.86. Moving to the balance sheet, inventories at the end of the fourth quarter were $269 million compared to $265 million a year ago. When excluding the impact of IEPA tariffs on our inventory position, inventory in the fourth quarter decreased 2%. In terms of our debt, at the end of the fourth quarter, our term loan balance was approximately $234 million, and we had zero borrowings on our ABL.

Turning to the pending transaction, we will use the majority of the $300 million in cash proceeds from the WHP transaction to fully repay our term loan, leaving us with no term loan debt, enhanced liquidity, and significantly reduced interest payments. As Andrew noted, this balance sheet transformation will provide more flexibility to the company as we consider and pursue opportunities to enhance shareholder value. In addition to Lands' End, Inc. paying royalties to the JV, excess cash generated by the JV will be distributed quarterly to both Lands' End, Inc. and WHP based on the ownership split, less expenses of the JV. This includes royalty income from Lands' End, Inc. and other licensees of the JV.

Finally, as a reminder, we have $9 million remaining on our existing share repurchase program. As outlined in our earnings press release, and as a result of the previously announced joint venture with WHP Global, we are not providing forward financial guidance at this time. With the closing of the transaction anticipated by the end of our first quarter, we expect to provide financial guidance with the release of our first quarter results. With that, I will turn the call back to Andrew.

Andrew McLean: Thanks, Bernie. So here is what investors should expect from us in 2026. First, we will maintain our focus on driving profitable customer growth, improving acquisition, retention, and lifetime value through smarter marketing, better personalization, and a stronger digital experience. Second, we will keep raising the bar on product and innovation, leaning into franchises and solution-oriented assortments that are clearly resonating. Third, we will stay disciplined on costs and execution, continuing to fund growth while building operating leverage. And fourth, we will expand the brand’s reach, particularly internationally, through licensing and third-party marketplaces, and with WHP’s platform and global expertise, we can move faster into new categories and geographies.

To support that growth agenda, we are also excited to welcome Sarah Sylvester as Chief Marketing Officer. This is a new role for Lands' End, Inc. and reflects our commitment to building brand awareness and accelerating growth. Sarah brings more than two decades of marketing leadership experience, most recently at Victoria’s Secret Pink, and we are confident she will make an immediate impact. As Bernie referenced, we are looking forward to discussing our strategy and outlook in more detail on our first quarter earnings call following the close of the WHP transaction. During that enhanced earnings call, we will walk through our priorities and what we believe is a clear path to long-term shareholder value creation.

Let me close with the headline. Lands' End, Inc. is well positioned in 2026 and beyond, as highlighted by our growing operational and financial strength. Our fiscal 2025 performance, together with the opportunity to deliver outstanding value through the partnership with WHP and our strengthened balance sheet, give us great confidence in the future of this iconic company. In addition to established long-term GMV growth, in 2025, we returned to revenue growth and proved the model across channels. We delivered positive performance across the business, including 5% comp growth in the most recent quarter, and we did it with momentum coming from multiple engines: Outfitters, marketplaces, and our own digital businesses.

Just as important, we strengthened the health of the business. Customer acquisition accelerated. We acquired 20% more new-to-brand households in Q4, and our product-led, solutions-based approach continued to win across multigenerational customer segments. Now we are entering fiscal 2026 with a clearer financial profile and more strategic flexibility. With the WHP transaction, we will be well positioned to drive real growth while also investing in our future. We are excited to work with the WHP team and take the Lands' End, Inc. brand to new levels. We are confident that this transaction and all that it enables will result in a better company for customers, a better company for partners, and, importantly, a better company for shareholders.

As always, we will be guided by a fierce adherence to taking actions that improve our earnings power and delivering outstanding shareholder value. Thank you to our teams and customers. And with that, we will take your questions.

Operator: Thank you. And we will take our first question from Marni Shapiro with Retail Tracker. Your line is now open.

Marni Shapiro: Hey, guys. Congratulations. This is so exciting. Congratulations on the hire of Sarah. I guess, Andrew, I have a big-picture question. I know you are going to discuss strategy once the deal closes, but the hire of Sarah is a big deal for Lands' End, Inc. From my vantage point, you guys have been very quick on marketing already online, especially, you know, St. Patrick’s Day, you were right there with the green set. It was fantastic. I guess, how should we think about it differently? Is this external reach? Is this influencers, events? Could you talk a little bit about where your head is at with that? And then just one very quick one on the WHP deal.

Will you guys be able to work with them closely to make sure that any deals that they sign align with your brand vision for Lands' End, Inc. going forward so that they do not go off and do something that is not within what works for the brand? I am assuming yes, but I just want to ask the question.

Andrew McLean: Hey, Marley. How is it going? Hey. It is nice to hear from you. Let us start with the WHP question. It is a great question, and obviously that came into how we selected our partner. We did not want to go with any partner; we wanted to go with a partner that was like-minded and saw the world in the same way as us. So that made that part of the negotiation really easy. You are not going to find the brand distributed through your local car wash kind of thing. So we feel good about it. And actually, the message really is one of amplification.

We view the partnership with WHP as being one that can really amplify and grow the licensing business that we had already successfully put in place. Actually, that sort of turns to your next question, which is what Sarah is going to be doing, and that is really about amplification. Lands' End, Inc. has not had a CMO in ten years, and marketing had been split somewhat between creative and performance. Since I have come in, we have been reuniting that and really getting more focused around the customer. We have our solutions; we are ready for life’s every journey, and that puts the customer at the center of everything we do. But underneath Sarah is some great talent.

We have brought John Caruso in, and I think you have probably seen the impacts of his work over the last few months as he has joined us. In particular, I can point to the CDK on Instagram that we did where we caught the trend and we went with it. Same with St. Patrick’s Day. And actually, that ripples all the way through our business now where we do not run in silos, we run as a company.

So if you think about what we did with the quarter-zip during the fourth quarter and hit that trend head on, you and I talked; you saw that coming through on the homepage, where we converted the homepage overnight to really reflect what was in the market. And for us, as we bring Sarah in, it is about bringing our existing customer along—they are still incredibly important to us—by adding a new and younger customer and really pulling all the strands together.

And I have said this from our own licensing business and I will say it again from the WHP transaction: when we are distributed widely, more people are seeing the brand, more people will come and see the website that we run, and I think they will be more impressed. Then, as we continue to amplify what we are doing with WHP, we will amplify what Sarah and her team are doing to really broaden that reach. And I looked at the May catalog yesterday. We were doing sign-off on that. You are going to be blown away by it. Some of the changes that we are already starting to put in place are incredible.

So it is traditional media that we have used. It is newer media. It is a broader reach. It is an amplification story. I am really excited about this year.

Marni Shapiro: Oh, well, congratulations. I wish you luck, but it looks fantastic. Fantastic. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Bonnie.

Operator: Thank you. And we will take our next question from Dana Telsey with Telsey Group. Your line is now open.

Dana Telsey: Hi, good morning, everyone. As you think—one of the interesting numbers that you mentioned there, Andrew, was the, I think it was 20% new-to-customer file, that you grew the customer base this year. Who were those customers? Is it a different demographic, the same demographic? And does this mean that your overall customer file grew? And then on just—I know you are not giving guidance, but any general themes of puts and takes on margins as we go through the year? Whether it is tariffs, whether it is what is happening with energy prices, and how you are thinking, given the solutions-based offering, how you are thinking about pricing this year?

And just lastly, Europe—big turnaround in Europe—what are you seeing there? And then the Amazon piece up double digits. You mentioned Nord—I think last quarter you mentioned Macy’s. How are those third parties doing? Thank you.

Andrew McLean: Okay. I am going to try and hit them all, Dana. I was writing like fury as you were asking those questions. Yes, the customer file started growing again, and I think that has been really important—that we have started to establish a really solid core of customers. And I think as we look at it, we have spent a lot of time segmenting this file and making sure that they get segmented messages and we can increase that reach. There was a point I made in my commentary, and it was that we are approaching the whole household, and that was not a trivial point.

That was a really important point where we want to be a broadly distributed brand with real broad reach. And we have product and solutions and franchises to do that. So that notion of hitting grandmother, mother, and granddaughter is absolutely key for us. And we test it out. We are testing it out physically. We are testing it out in our e-commerce strategies. And one of the places that you would have seen it was within our chaotically customized Christmas store—say that fast—in SoHo, where we really were able to welcome, in particular, mothers and daughters. Mother would bring in her tote bag and we would embroider that. Granddaughter would come in and pick up a new tote.

And the ability to customize, I think, is one of our secret weapons that we are really able to bring to the fore. As we have been through a process over the last year, I think everyone is aware of that. One of the things that came out of it is that we have a real competitive advantage in our ability to customize. And customization is really the future because it is a form of personalization.

So if you look at the dots that we are joining—where we brought Sarah in, we brought John Caruso in, we have upped the intensity of that marketing team, we have been working on our product franchises—and we are putting together a view of a different and a differentiated customer, approaching each segment and giving them more of what they want. You will see that continue across the year. Now this year, we will make a move to Shopify and replace our back end with SAP, and that is going to give us even more opportunity to drive that customization.

And then I think the amplification we get with WHP and the distribution we get will further open us up to a broader array of customers. So that customer that is coming in is younger. That customer that is coming in is just as wealthy in their own way, and they have significant opportunity. And we are generating them from all of our businesses. And I hope we would be remiss if we did not mention that many of them come in through our school uniforms. And you saw the school uniforms business was strong. And it is—like, that is a great customer to come to us, and that is a 40.

In terms of the year, there are lots of—we will give full guidance on it. I would say the jumping-off point for it is the $102 million that we just reported for the year 2025. We expect that we will be building on that, and I think we will look forward to discussing that in more detail. In terms of how we think about the tariffs and the war that is going on, we are not seeing any impact from the war on the business right now in the U.S.

As the notion—and we are seeing this in European media outlets—as the notion of fuel shortages, fuel rationing, airline flights being canceled, starts to take more grip in Europe, we are seeing some agitation from some of our more economically disadvantaged customer groups. We will continue to watch that. We have not seen that in the U.S. It would be, again, remiss of me not to say that we are not watching for it, and we are going to take action around it. But that is certainly a challenge to come. With regard to tariffs, we have been very aggressive with tariffs, and I think that the team has done a wonderful job.

We brought in a new Head of Sourcing, Matt Filvecchio. Matt is a very tenured, seasoned executive, joins us from, latterly, J.Crew, and I think he is going to really help us get to grips further with the tariffs so that we can mitigate those in the business. I think you asked me about Amazon being up double digits. I mean, we took a conscious decision to drive Amazon. We see a new customer there. We see a younger customer there. And they are very trend driven.

We are going to continue to follow that customer and do that in a profitable way—more excited about where the future can go with Amazon—and continue to believe in opening up to this notion of convenience. And I think if I had to pick out a couple of threads for 2026 overall, clearly, we want to stand for our franchises. Clearly, we want to reach beyond our existing customer cohort and reach a younger customer. And I think the third part of this is we want to deliver on our promise of convenience.

I think convenience is going to be incredibly important to the customer and something that they will be willing to pay for and, at the very least, expect. Now I am conscious I might have missed some of your questions, Dana, so I will give you a second to come back to me.

Dana Telsey: The only other thing I wanted to know: on the European business—well, you mentioned the European business and the strength there—anything else on any other wholesale customers to mention? And then, Bernie, just obviously debt repayment—anything we should be thinking about on the balance sheet as we go through the year? Thank you.

Bernie McCracken: Sure. I think as we have noted, as part of the WHP deal and when it closes, we will be paying off our long-term debt, which will then, of course, create flexibility for us to now pursue other opportunities to drive shareholder value through capital allocation alternatives. So we are pretty excited about the flexibility this will give us going forward. Yes. We would expect to come out of this and be—

Andrew McLean: —a growth company, Dana. I think for Lands' End, Inc., sort of unshackled from debt, there is real opportunity for our shareholders out there, and our every intention is to go get it. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Eric Beder with SCC Research. Your line is now open. Good morning.

Eric Beder: Good morning. Can you talk a little bit about what is driving the turnaround in Europe? I know you changed a lot of things there. And are pieces of that transferable to potentially the U.S. business or other international businesses?

Andrew McLean: So, Eric, and good morning. Eric, I have been clear since I came into the business about a couple of things on Europe. One is that I always wanted it to be more elevated than the U.S. to provide cachet. That we are known as a sophisticated European brand, and that carries through to our customers in the U.S. I think the second part is I always wanted to use it to test out concepts and test ideas that can be carried and transferred back to the U.S. And I think back in the fourth quarter, we achieved both of those. We got back to very much a focus on our franchises.

And actually, we led that, if you look at the business, with really the reintroduction of our tote bag and the personalization that comes with that to reach wider into the customer cohort. We also reengineered our catalogs and tested out new ideas in those, as well as the notion of a lot more dynamic content around video versus static images that we have tended to use in the U.S. So you will see transfer of that actually come back. On the flip side of that, we do have stronger franchises in the U.S. and continue to want those to grow in Europe.

And a lot of our plans really focus around taking some of those franchises and continuing to lean into them. The most obvious one being the one I have just discussed, which is the tote bag, which is so iconic here in America but has not really had the legs internationally for us. That can be incredibly powerful once we start to get behind that. So we were pleased with a get-back-to-basics in Europe, get focused around the customer in Europe, get focused around personalization in Europe, and where we took that. And the results came through really strongly for us. We had three, quite frankly, very difficult quarters followed by a really strong fourth quarter.

And I appreciate the forbearance of the team in working through that. I think they did a really nice job. And now it is for us to build on that for this year. And I think, absent more fuel shortages than anything else that is out there, all things being equal, we can take a good run at that.

Eric Beder: Great. And in terms of personalization, I know that you have leaned a lot more into Q4—the shops and other pieces. Is that one of the demographics of that customer—does that customer become—is that a younger customer? How should we be thinking about that? Because I know it has definitely continued into spring to push into that beyond just the tote into other apparel categories.

Andrew McLean: Well, I will finish up on Q4 because it is definitely not into the spring, but the Christmas stocking sales that we had were absolutely incredible. I mean, to have the Christmas stocking—a nice program for us, but it has not traditionally been a huge, huge program—be a top-five program over holiday was really incredible for us. So that is all about personalization. And in terms of who we are seeing, we are using our marketing to reach wider than we traditionally have. So this is not about just getting them for the grandkids. This is about the grandkids themselves coming in and getting more.

And actually, the way we met the younger customer is we have widened the amount of embroidery that we can do. So our one image for the fourth quarter was actually a sausage dog, and I think that was really, really cute for us. I think that there was incredible opportunity for us to just expand beyond where we have been, which was traditionally—you put “Mom,” “Dad,” “Grandpa,” whatever the kid’s name on it. We are now really starting to flex the muscle we have with personalization, and that is a real competitive advantage for us in 2026 to continue to lean into that.

And I think you will see more from us, and you will see us understand how we can really bring that to the market. So there is good news in there. Eric, go—just to finish, the tote will be ubiquitous. But if you look at the Christmas shop that we had, we embroidered cashmere. I think there are very few people doing that right now. I think that is a competitive differentiator as well. So another franchise starts to fall into line on that program with value added to be layered on top. Bernie? And then, Eric, to add to that,

Bernie McCracken: the infrastructure we have the benefit of is from our school uniform and our business-to-business that built the infrastructure of embroidery capabilities so that the rest of the business now gets the benefit in the U.S. DTC business, and the marketplace businesses eventually will all benefit from having that—on top of having that younger customer in that uniform business that also we can attract through our personalization.

Eric Beder: Great. Last one. Cannot not mention Outfitters. That was a great quarter. You picked up share from school uniforms, and obviously, you picked up some larger B2B clients. What is the potential here, and are we just scratching the surface somewhere?

Andrew McLean: And thank you. Yes, I have always been a fan of Outfitters. You and I have talked about this quite a lot. I think that Outfitters, once we got it firmly in its lane and behind the franchise where it can excel, the sky has become the limit. Our teams just got back from a sourcing trip in India with one of our major airline partners, and they could not be happier about the breadth that we are able to offer and the opportunity that we are creating for their employees.

And, you know, I will say it again because it is worth noting: the amplification that you get from having 100,000 airline employees who are somehow connected to the brand of Lands' End, Inc. is really powerful and widens the reach of where we can go. So I would continue to watch this space. I would continue to look for us to add major partners throughout the year. And you are absolutely right. I think this can power through because, you remember—and it is worth saying because we do not talk about it that much—we sign long-term contracts. So it is very sticky business.

The switching costs tend to be quite high, or the barriers to switching tend to be quite high, and so once you lock in, you can have them for many, many years. And I think there is a real power in what is almost a subscription business.

Bernie McCracken: I think it is also important to note, Eric, it being a differentiator in any industry is important, and in that industry, we tend to be the only one bringing a brand to the game. So that has proved very successful with our large consumer business and our larger partners as they want to do well for their employees, and they want to bring a brand name to that employee and make them feel proud of what they wear.

Eric Beder: Great. Thank you, and good luck for 2026. It will be a fun year.

Andrew McLean: Thanks. Take care. Thanks, Eric.

Operator: Our final question comes from Steve Silver with Argus Research.

Steve Silver: Thanks, operator. Thanks for taking my questions, and congratulations on all the recent events. Guys, you talked about recently the goal of the company to modernize its infrastructure and its software platforms, and suggested that maybe some of those decisions might have been on hold while you were under the strategic review last year. I am just curious as to whether any of those activities have now started since the deal was announced, or if they are just waiting until the deal closes, and really what the timeline for implementation might look like just to really get updated with these systems.

Andrew McLean: We will have replaced our existing back-end infrastructure with SAP before we go into peak later this year, and we will have moved our front end of the consumer business onto Shopify. So, again, that is going to happen before peak. During the process that we went through over the last year, we stopped, pending the outcome of that. But we did not stop—well, we stopped across the company; we did not refrain from continuing the desktop work that was key to making sure that we stayed on time. And then as we announced the transaction with WHP, we restarted the heavier lifting to make sure that we could be timely, to be in place before we get to peak.

We feel good about where we are at. There is always risk associated with it in these really big projects, but I think they are really important for the company. We are well along, feel good about it. I think the opportunity to further leverage our infrastructure that they provide is not just an SG&A game; it is also a revenue and margin game for us as well.

Steve Silver: That is helpful. Great. And one more, if I may—it is probably very little you can say about it at this point—but given the prospect of eliminating the term loan and really giving the company a flexibility that it has not had in quite some time, is there any low-hanging fruit in terms of strategic opportunities for growth? Andrew, you mentioned that you are going to be looking at Lands' End, Inc. now as being more of a growth company. Is there anything, even just category-wise, that you are thinking, just in terms of what some of those opportunities might be to invest in growth?

Andrew McLean: I do not blame you for asking, Steve, but we are going to have an extended—we are going to have an extended Q1 call, and we will look forward to sharing with you then. It is the obvious question. You are right to ask it. And we will look forward to our next call.

Steve Silver: Fair enough. Thanks again, and congratulations.

Andrew McLean: Thank you. Thank you.

Operator: This does bring us to the end of our question and answer session, as well as Lands' End, Inc.’s fourth quarter and fiscal year-end 2025 earnings call. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.

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