ABERCROMBIE & FITCH CO /DE/

Business summary

The Company is a global, digitally-led, omnichannel retailer. The Company offers a broad assortment of apparel, personal care products and accessories for men, women and kids, which are sold primarily through its Company-owned stores and digital channels, as well as through various third-party arrangements.

The Company manages its business on a geographic basis, consisting of three reportable segments: Americas; EMEA; and APAC. Corporate functions and other income and expenses are evaluated on a consolidated basis and are not allocated to the Company’s segments and therefore are included as a reconciling item between segment and total operating income.

The Company’s brand families include Abercrombie brands and Hollister brands. These brands share a commitment to offering unique products of enduring quality and exceptional comfort that allow customers around the world to express their own individuality and style.

The Company’s fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to January 31. This typically results in a fifty-two-week year, but occasionally gives rise to an additional week, resulting in a fifty-three-week year, as was the case in Fiscal 2023. All references herein to the Company’s fiscal years are as follows:

Seasonality

Historically, the Company’s operations have been seasonal in nature and consist of two principal selling seasons: the spring season, which includes the first and second fiscal quarters (“Spring”) and the fall season, which includes the third and fourth fiscal quarters (“Fall”). Due to the seasonal nature of the retail apparel industry, the results of operations for any current period are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the full fiscal year, and the Company could have significant fluctuations in certain asset and liability accounts. The Company historically experiences its greatest sales activity during the Fall season due to back-to-school and holiday sales periods, respectively.

Key Performance Indicators

The following measurements are among the key performance indicators reviewed by the Company’s management in assessing the Company’s results:

•Net sales and comparable sales by region and brand;

•Cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization, as a percentage of net sales;

•Gross profit and gross profit rate;

•Selling expense as a percentage of net sales;

•General and administrative expense as a percentage of net sales;

•Operating income, including by segment, and operating income as a percentage of net sales (“operating margin”);

•Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”)

•Net income and net income attributable to A&F;

•Net income per diluted share attributable to A&F;

•Cash flow and liquidity measures, such as the Company’s working capital, operating cash flow, and free cash flow;

•Inventory metrics, such as inventory turnover;

•Return on invested capital and return on equity;

•Transactional metrics, such as traffic and conversion, performance across key product categories, AUR, average unit cost (“AUC”), average units per transaction and average transaction values, return rates, shrink; and

•Customer-centric metrics such as customer retention and acquisition, and certain metrics related to the loyalty programs.

While not all of these metrics are disclosed publicly by the Company due to the proprietary nature of the information, the Company discusses many of these metrics within this MD&A.