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Vince Holding Corp. (VNCE) reported a surprisingly strong fourth quarter for fiscal 2025, posting an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.18, compared to a forecasted loss of $0.13. This significant beat, alongside revenue surpassing expectations at $83.71 million, drove an 11.44% surge in premarket trading, with shares reaching $3.131.
Key Takeaways
- Vince’s EPS exceeded expectations by 238.46%, reflecting effective cost management.
- Revenue growth was driven by a 10.4% increase in the Direct-to-Consumer segment.
- The company faced a $2 million headwind from Saks Global disruptions but managed to offset it through strategic initiatives.
- Vince’s stock rose 11.44% in premarket trading, highlighting strong investor confidence.
Company Performance
Vince Holding Corp. demonstrated resilience in Q4 FY2025, achieving a 4.7% increase in net sales year-over-year, despite challenges such as the Saks Global reorganization. The company’s strategic focus on Direct-to-Consumer sales and pricing adjustments proved effective, contributing to its robust financial performance.
Financial Highlights
- Revenue: $83.71 million, up 4.7% from the previous year.
- Earnings per share: $0.18, a significant improvement from the previous quarter’s loss.
- Gross profit: $41.1 million, representing 49.1% of net sales.
Earnings vs. Forecast
Vince’s actual EPS of $0.18 surpassed the forecasted -$0.13, marking a 238.46% surprise. Revenue also exceeded expectations, with a 0.71% positive deviation from forecasts. This performance underscores the company’s successful navigation of operational challenges.
Market Reaction
Following the earnings release, Vince’s stock experienced an 11.44% increase in premarket trading. This surge reflects investor optimism driven by the company’s strong financial results and strategic initiatives aimed at boosting growth. The stock has delivered a remarkable 67% return over the past year, and according to InvestingPro analysis, shares remain undervalued at current levels relative to the platform’s Fair Value assessment. This positions VNCE among opportunities on the most undervalued stocks list, with analysts setting price targets between $5 and $5.50—representing potential upside of approximately 87%.
Outlook & Guidance
Looking ahead, Vince has set ambitious targets for fiscal 2026, with a focus on expanding its product lines and enhancing its Direct-to-Consumer operations. The company projects continued growth in key segments, supported by strategic partnerships and international expansion plans. InvestingPro data shows analysts forecasting EPS of $0.23 for fiscal 2026, which would mark a return to profitability after recent challenges. The platform offers deeper insights through its comprehensive Pro Research Report on VNCE—one of 1,400+ US equities covered—transforming complex Wall Street data into clear, actionable intelligence. With 8 additional ProTips available, investors can access the full picture of Vince’s financial health and growth trajectory.
Executive Commentary
CEO Brendan Hoffman stated, "Our strategic initiatives have positioned us well to capitalize on growth opportunities, despite the challenges posed by the Saks Global situation." He emphasized the importance of the Direct-to-Consumer segment as a key driver of future performance.
Risks and Challenges
- Continued supply chain disruptions and tariff impacts could affect profitability.
- The Saks Global reorganization remains a potential risk to wholesale performance.
- Rising SG&A expenses, particularly related to bad debt, could pressure margins.
Q&A
During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the impact of the Saks Global situation and the company’s strategy to mitigate related risks. Executives reassured stakeholders of ongoing efforts to strengthen wholesale partnerships and explore new growth avenues.
Full transcript - Vince Holding Corp (VNCE) Q4 2026:
Operator: Hello and welcome to the Vince Holding Corp. fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2025 results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the conference over to Akiko Okuma, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. You may begin.
Akiko Okuma, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, Vince Holding Corp.: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Vince Holding Corp. fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2025 results conference call. Hosting the call today is Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, and Yuji Okumura, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain statements made on this call may constitute forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those that the company expects. Those risks and uncertainties are described in today’s press release and in the company’s SEC filings, which are available on the company’s website. Investors should not assume that statements made during the call will remain operative at a later time, and the company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on the call. In addition, in today’s discussion, the company is presenting its financial results in conformity with GAAP and on an adjusted basis.
The adjusted results that the company presents today are non-GAAP measures. Discussions of these non-GAAP measures and information on reconciliations of them to their most comparable GAAP measures are included in today’s press release and related schedules, which are available in the Investors section of the company’s website at investors.vince.com. Now I’ll turn the call over to Brendan.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I’m incredibly proud of the strong operating results we are announcing today, highlighting the exceptional momentum we delivered at the end of the year that has continued into the start of fiscal 2026. As we announced earlier this year, we saw incredible strength in our direct-to-consumer business over the holiday period, and that remained the case throughout the full quarter. For the fourth quarter, sales in our direct-to-consumer business increased about 10% compared to last year, supported by our ongoing efforts in improving the customer experience and by the strategic pricing actions taken earlier in the fall. For the overall quarter, sales were up nearly 5% compared to last year, and profitability outpacing the high end of our prior guidance range.
We are especially proud of this performance given the disruption we experienced with developments from Saks Global, which presented a headwind to sales of approximately $2 million in the quarter. With the recent reorganization of Saks Global, we now have more clarity into the situation and are working with our partners there as they move forward in their plans. As a reminder, Saks Global recently represented less than 7% of our total sales. We remain supportive and confident in the new leadership team’s ability to stabilize the business. We believe any change in penetration from this one partner going forward will be offset by strength elsewhere in the channel, given our diversified base and strong relationships across our wholesale business. This is a credit to not only our strong partnerships, but to the great product that is resonating across both men’s and women’s.
We’re also really pleased as we continue to elevate the product offering appealing to our broad customer base. This strong performance, supported by our fiscal 2025 results, which delivered sales growth of over 2% and adjusted EBITDA growth of about 8%, despite contending with approximately $8 million of incremental tariff costs. As we have discussed, our teams have done a tremendous job in mitigating the tariff pressures we face. We acted swiftly, diversifying our sourcing across Asia and globally while working closely with manufacturing partners to maintain the quality standard that define Vince. We also implemented strategic pricing increases while maintaining unit sales, validating the strength and quality of our product. As we enter fiscal 2026, I am encouraged by the growth we are continuing to drive, and I’m more confident than ever in the trajectory ahead of for Vince Holding Corp.
Given this, we are exploring opportunities to continue to invest in the customer experience within our full-price direct-to-consumer business. We are looking at areas like special events, people, and store operations, including remodels and new store openings, while also continuing to leverage our digital platform and expand drop ship to additional categories. In Spring 2026, these categories will include handbags, tailored clothing, belts, and accessories, creating revenue opportunity with minimal inventory risk for the business. In addition, we are continuing to scale our men’s business. We ended the year with men’s representing approximately 24% of total sales and continue to see opportunity to expand this to 30% penetration, driven by growth in wholesale partnerships and expanded assortments in our own stores and online. With respect to our international business, our second London store in Marylebone exceeded expectations this year and validated our thoughts on further international expansion.
This success gives us confidence to explore additional flagship opportunities in gateway cities like Paris in the next two years. Finally, the strategy I believe will really help to accelerate our growth is our focus on maximizing Vince Holding Corp. as a platform. While we do not have anything yet to report, we are continuing to look for opportunities to leverage our platform, our world-class team, and capabilities to support additional brands. This will create a new revenue stream for Vince Holding Corp. We could not be more enthused by our partnership with ABG, which not only opens channels for us, but also provides great opportunities with respect to marketing and engaging customers.
We were thrilled to partner with the ABG team with a recent event at the Masters last week, and we are looking forward to doing similar types of interactive activations with the team for future high-profile events. This is in addition to the elevated outreach that we are also doing in partnership with our wholesale partners. Following the successful brand events at the end of last year with Nordstrom and celebrating our holiday campaign at our Madison Avenue, New York City flagship, we have continued the storytelling around the Vince brand. We recently celebrated an exclusive capsule collection for Spring 2026 as part of Bloomingdale’s California Love campaign and hosted an influencer and editor event to showcase the capsule and preview of our Spring 2026 collection, with over 100 editors and influencers in attendance.
As part of the event, we also co-hosted a private VIC dinner with Bloomingdale’s VICs, complete with a fashion show and model presentation to great success. Fiscal 2026 is off to a strong start on all accounts. As Yuji will review and as seen in our outlook in today’s press release, the momentum we ended fiscal 2025 with has continued across all channels. Our full-price business has never been stronger, reflecting the customer’s continued love for the product and value they see for the brand. We believe, macro events aside, we are positioned well to continue to deliver healthy, profitable growth. A little over a year ago, I returned to Vince as CEO. I cannot emphasize enough the pride that I have in our team, our business, and the results we have delivered to date.
I want to thank our incredible associates for their dedication and execution throughout fiscal 2025. Their ability to evolve the product, maintain quality, and execute against our strategic priorities gives me tremendous confidence in the future. We are operating from a position of strength with disciplined execution and a clear roadmap for growth. I look forward to updating you on our progress as we move through the year. Now I’ll turn it over to Yuji to discuss our financial results and outlook in more detail.
Yuji Okumura, Chief Financial Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thank you, Brendan, and good morning, everyone. As Brendan reviewed, our fourth quarter performance reflected ongoing strong momentum in our direct-to-consumer segment that we are pleased to see continuing to the start of the new year. Before I discuss our first quarter and fiscal 2026 outlook, let me review our fourth quarter results in more detail. Total company net sales for the fourth quarter increased 4.7% to $83.7 million, compared to $80 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. With respect to channel performance, our direct-to-consumer segment increased 10.4%, driven by strong performances across both our e-commerce business and stores. This performance offset the 1.2% decline in our wholesale channel, largely driven by the decision to pause shipments to Saks Global. Gross profit in the fourth quarter was $41.1 million or 49.1% of net sales.
This compares to $40.1 million or 50.1% of net sales in the fourth quarter of last year. The decrease in gross margin rate was primarily driven by approximately 300 basis points due to the unfavorable impact of higher tariffs, 160 basis points due to the success of our promotional Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, and approximately 125 basis points due to increased freight costs. These factors were partially offset by a favorable impact of approximately 380 basis points, primarily due to higher pricing. Selling, general, and administrative expenses in the quarter were $44 million or 52.6% of net sales as compared to $37.8 million or 47.2% of net sales for the fourth quarter of last year. The increase in SG&A dollars was primarily driven by $6 million of bad debt expense related to Saks’ reorganization.
Loss from operation for the fourth quarter was $2.9 million compared to loss from operations of $29.7 million in the same period last year. Adjusted operating income, which excludes the $6 million related to the Saks reorganization, was $3.1 million. This is compared to adjusted operating income of $2.5 million in the same period last year, excluding the impact of goodwill impairment charges and P180 transaction expenses incurred in the period. Net interest expense for the quarter decreased to $0.7 million compared to $1.6 million in the prior year. The decrease was primarily due to paydown of the third lien facility, which occurred during January 2025. At the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, our long-term debt balance was $19.5 million. Income tax expense was $0.5 million compared to $2 million income tax benefit in the same period last year.
The year-over-year change is primarily driven by tax benefit taken in the prior comparative quarter due to the reversal of the non-cash deferred tax liability associated with the goodwill impairment, which previously could not be used as a source of income to support the realization of certain deferred tax assets related to company’s net operating losses. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $3.6 million, or loss per share of $0.28, compared to net loss of $28.3 million or a loss per share of $2.24 in the fourth quarter of last year. Adjusted net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, which excludes the bad debt expense previously reviewed, was $2.4 million or $0.18 per share.
This is compared to the prior year period adjusted net income of $0.8 million or $0.06 per share, which excludes the impact of the goodwill impairment charge and its associated tax impact and the transaction expenses incurred during that period. Adjusted EBITDA was $4.5 million for the fourth quarter, compared to $5.4 million in the prior year. This performance capped off a solid year overall, despite navigating a highly dynamic environment, resulting in a net sales growth of 2.2%, reported net income of $6.4 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $15.1 million. Please refer to our press release for more details on our full year performance and reconciliation of non-GAAP measures. Moving to the balance sheet, net inventory was $66.2 million at the end of fourth quarter as compared to $59.1 million at the end of fourth quarter last year.
The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by approximately $4.8 million higher inventory carrying value due to tariffs. Turning to our outlook, as discussed, we have seen the momentum experienced in the fourth quarter continue into the start of fiscal 2026. In addition, our outlook assumes a reduced reciprocal tariff rate of 15%, which we expect any benefit to be largely offset by the increase in supply chain costs driven by the rise in fuel and shipping costs. We are also not assuming any benefit with respect to potential tariff refunds. For the first quarter, we expect total net sales growth of approximately 8.5%-10.5%, adjusted operating loss as a percentage of net sales of approximately -3.5% to -4.5%, and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales to be approximately -1.5% to -2.5%, reflecting year-over-year expansion compared to -5.2% in the prior year period.
For the full year fiscal 2026, we expect net sales growth to be approximately 3%-6%, adjusted operating income as a percentage of net sales to be approximately 3.5%-4%, and for adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales to be approximately 5%-5.5% compared to the 5% in the prior year. In summary, we are very pleased with our strong end of fiscal 2025 and the momentum we’re driving to start fiscal 2026, underscoring our team’s disciplined approach and our commitment to executing on our objectives. This concludes our remarks, and I’ll now turn it over to the operator to open the call for questions.
Operator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Please ensure that your phone is not on mute when called upon. Thank you. Your first question comes from Eric Beder with SCC Research. Your line is open.
Eric Beder, Analyst, SCC Research: Good morning. Congratulations on a great year.
Yuji Okumura, Chief Financial Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thank you, Eric.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thank you.
Eric Beder, Analyst, SCC Research: I want to talk a little bit about some of the changes you’re doing in terms of the stores. In our store visit, we saw a continued emphasis on showing more color and a growing emphasis on some of the newer categories like drop shipping and suiting and handbags. What should we be seeing as we move through 2026 in terms of how the stores are going to be tweaked for these changes to maximize further growth?
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Yeah, I think we’re continuing to experiment with some of our store setups, especially as we do some renovations. We pull out some legacy cash wraps, which opens up the stores, allows us to better showcase the way Caroline and the team envision the way people are outfitting, mixing and matching, and some doing group sets with our product. I think in terms of the other categories you mentioned, drop ship is a tool we are able to use online to take advantage of our licensed partners’ inventory. We started with shoes with Caleres, and we’ll add in handbags, suitings, accessories in Q2. To your point about being able to showcase some of these categories in the stores, I’ve always felt and was taught by our founders that it’s important to have some more texture in the store that can only be given by having additional categories beyond just apparel.
I think we are strategically utilizing those categories like handbags and accessories and cold weather and some others to provide more interest when the consumer’s shopping. To the extent they become real revenue drivers, I mean, that’s a bonus. I think we have that potential, but more so online because of the drop ship. It also allows us to story tell better, both in store and with some of our social media and digital marketing. We’re really pleased with the way we’ve been able to expand categories and the partnership with Authentic Brands to drive that.
Eric Beder, Analyst, SCC Research: Great. When we look at that, what’s the word here? The tariffs was a little bit of shock in terms of this. How should we be thinking about for this year and going forward in terms of the potential for both domestic and international stores? I know you mentioned Paris and London stores have done really well. How should we be thinking about the potential here in the U.S. now that we’re, I guess, brave to say it’s somewhat more normalized than we were last year?
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Yeah. I think in terms of domestic stores, we’re going to open some, we’re going to close some. We obviously are very enthusiastic about the performance we had in Q4 with our stores. As we mentioned in our remarks, that’s continued in Q1, probably the best performance I’ve seen over the course of six months in our stores in my six years here on and off. I’m more bullish than ever on our ability to really drive productivity in our stores. That gives me more confidence and the team more confidence to go out there and look for new locations. I don’t think at the end of the day you will see a huge increase in our store count. I think it’ll be, hopefully incrementally we’ll be able to add a few.
I think in large part, we’re in most of the markets we want to be in, and it’s more about rationalizing some of the stores and driving more productivity through the existing boxes. I think internationally, as you mentioned, Paris would be probably first on our wish list in terms of the next international gateway. We’ve had such great success with our Marylebone store in London, and I visited about six weeks ago. Truly, it’s as good a store as we have in our fleet in terms of representing the Vince brand, where it’s located amongst our peers. I think if anything, it’s just raised the bar for us in Paris because to the extent we are able to find something in Paris, it really needs to be a flagship store.
We don’t really have much representation in Paris, so we want to put our best foot forward, which just makes it a little bit more difficult to find the right location as opposed to finding a secondary store. I think it’s all for the right reasons, and so we’ll continue to assess and update you as we have more information.
Eric Beder, Analyst, SCC Research: Last question on wholesale. Nordstrom, you’ve expanded now to all Nordstrom stores, both men and women. They’re a significant part of your business. When you look at the whole wholesale piece, is it adding new partners, becoming deeper into the partners you have? How are you actually thinking about how wholesale can continue to evolve? Thank you.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thanks, Eric. Yeah, I think it’s continuing to become more important with the partners we have, only because we’re in most of the partners that are appropriate for Vince, whether it be department stores or specialty stores. We clearly have a lot more growth in Bloomingdale’s based on the fact that we’ve only been back with them for about 4 or 5 years, just going men’s all doors and you see their results. We have a great relationship with Olivia and Denise and the team there. We just did an event with them out in L.A. that was terrific. We just did an event with the Nordstrom team, Jamie Nordstrom in Dallas. Continuing to push that relationship and then cautiously optimistic that Saks Global, Saks and Neiman’s and Bergdorf’s are moving in the right direction.
We obviously went through the trials and tribulations last year and took a hit in Q4. With the old team, new team back with Jeff Waugh and Lana, and then of course, Tracy at Bergdorf’s, we know all of them well, and Darcy. We’re hopeful that we can get that business back on track. Currently, clearly Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdale’s are what’s driving our wholesale business.
Eric Beder, Analyst, SCC Research: Great. Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from Michael Kupinski with Noble Capital. Please go ahead.
Michael Kupinski, Analyst, Noble Capital: Thank you. I offer my congratulations on a great quarter and a great year as well.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thanks, Michael.
Michael Kupinski, Analyst, Noble Capital: I was just wondering, there’s been some reports that there has been renewed amount of traffic in malls and stores as well. I was just wondering if overall, are you seeing that trend or is that just some headline news that it’s just not really translating into what is actual and out there?
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Yeah, I can’t speak to the macro environment. Certainly us as an example is consistent with that. Again, we’ve had a great six-month run with our store business, driven by traffic, driven by conversion, driven by the increased prices that have been so well absorbed. We have some malls, but then we have a lot of lifestyle and street front centers, and just couldn’t be more pleased with some of the outsized performance we’re seeing. I think some of it has to do with the centers themselves and how they’ve expanded and reinvented themselves. We have a great lifestyle store in Chestnut Hill. I hadn’t been there in five-six years since I’ve been gone from Vince. I went and visited and the center is double what it once was. That just brings more traffic and we’re advantaged there.
Some of these malls are investing in themselves and adding in new tenants or expanding, and that’s all really positive for bringing qualified traffic that then we can take advantage of.
Michael Kupinski, Analyst, Noble Capital: Great. Where have you seen more of the pressure from competitors recently? I was just wondering if you can just give us the lay of the land on the competition in your lane.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Again, I think we’re taking market share in our lane, so we certainly respect the peer brands we sit with, and a lot of them are all navigating the same issues we are, and some doing it well and some struggling. I don’t think our peer group has shifted all that much in the last few years. As I just implied with the retail locations, the centers, we actually do better when we’re surrounded by our peer group and some luxury players to provide some context because I think we show up so well, especially with the product doing so well right now when people can compare and contrast us to some of the others that we’re neighbors with.
Michael Kupinski, Analyst, Noble Capital: I know that you tapped on this with a couple of Eric’s good questions. I was just wondering, where do you see the most operating leverage that you have untapped right now, and what are some of the more internal bottlenecks that you might be actively working on to remove?
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Yeah, well, I think, prior to me returning, the team did a great job with their transformation process and really improved margin through IMU. Thankfully we did that because obviously there were, and are, challenges now with some of the input costs, depending on what happens with tariffs, and as Yuji mentioned, with some of the disruption around fuel. As those things start to play out, and hopefully normalize, I think we’ll have an opportunity longer term to recapture gross margin accretion. I think also as we start to grow the business, and you saw our forecast for this year, that would really be a breakout for us to get out of that 300 million-dollar collar we’ve been in.
We should start to get some SG&A leverage, and be able to make some investments back in the business to sustain this growth or be more of a catalyst for this growth. As I’ve mentioned in the past, we’re actively looking at other ways we can utilize our platform and in partnerships. We think we have a lot of different levers to pull and we’re hoping that some of the macro issues start to subside, but really proud of the way we got through the last 12 months and couldn’t be more confident with how we’re situated for success.
Michael Kupinski, Analyst, Noble Capital: That sounds great. Congratulations again.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Thanks, Michael.
Operator: This concludes the question and answer session. I’ll turn the call to Brendan for closing remarks.
Brendan Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, Vince Holding Corp.: Great. Thank you, everyone. We appreciate your continued interest in Vince, and we look forward to updating you on our Q1 results in June. Have a good day.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.
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