NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kirkland's, Inc. (Nasdaq: KIRK) ("Kirkland's" or the "Company"), a specialty retailer of home décor and furnishings, announced financial results for the 13 and 39-week periods ended October 30, 2021.

Third Quarter 2021 Financial Summary vs. Prior Year Quarter

• Net sales decreased 2.0% to $143.6 million, with 3.1% fewer stores
• Comparable sales decreased 0.7%, including an e-commerce increase of 7.3%
• Gross profit margin decreased 140 basis points to 34.7%
• Earnings per diluted share was $0.51 compared to $0.82
• Adjusted earnings per diluted share was $0.51 compared to $0.66
• EBITDA was $14.1 million compared to $18.9 million
• Adjusted EBITDA was $14.8 million compared to $18.7 million
• Operating income was $9.0 million compared to $13.1 million
• Cash balance of $26.5 million with no outstanding debt; total liquidity of $100.9 million
• Share repurchases of $16.5 million in the quarter
• Store count at quarter end of 369

Management Commentary

"While the third quarter had its challenges, we remain confident in our overall position as we continue executing upon our long-term transformation strategy," said Steve "Woody" Woodward, president and CEO of Kirkland's. "We experienced softer than expected sales in the final weeks of the quarter but ended with an 8.4% two-year comparable sales increase. We continue to navigate the broader macro issues related to supply chain and labor constraints, which affected year-over-year profitability. Stripping away the incremental freight costs in our supply chain, we continued to achieve gross margin expansion.

"Looking at our results through the end of November, we were impacted by inconsistent traffic patterns and broader supply chain constraints. During Black Friday, we saw in-store traffic remain relatively flat on a year-over-year basis, but there was a meaningful decline in e-commerce traffic, which led to a total sales comp decline for the first month of the fiscal fourth quarter. Given our third quarter results, along with continued supply chain headwinds and choppy sales patterns, we are revising our outlook for the remainder of the year.

"Despite these headwinds, we are excited about the progress we've been making as we enter 2022. We've started a brand awareness campaign ahead of our rebranding launch to Kirkland's Home, which we expect to take place in the first quarter of 2022. Additionally, we are working to strengthen our digital capabilities within the e-commerce site to further enhance the omnichannel experience for our customers. We are also prioritizing our in-store floor layouts for new furniture and outdoor product assortments that we are rolling out in the first half of the year. We believe having a strong furniture and outdoor merchandise mix will help mitigate our seasonal reliance on holiday shopping and help drive new customer growth going forward.

"Overall, we remain on track to achieve our long-term financial targets and are firmly committed to the strategic initiatives we've set forth. Our commitment to optimizing our merchandising assortment, stabilizing margins and driving profitable growth has not wavered, and we firmly believe we are on track to become a high-performance specialty home furnishing retailer with quality products at affordable price points. Although we don't have a clear indication of when supply chain constraints will subside, we are experiencing strong sell-through with the new product assortments that we are able to get to our floor, which gives us further confidence that our merchandise transformation is working and resonating with consumers. We believe we have the necessary infrastructure and team in place to continue executing upon our strategy, ultimately driving long-term shareholder value."

Revised Fourth Quarter 2021 Outlook

The Company now expects a mid-to-high-single-digit same-store sales decrease for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 and a mid-single digit same-store sales increase for fiscal 2021. With the expected sales decline and freight impact, the Company anticipates earnings in the fourth quarter to be lower than the prior-year period, while still expecting year-over-year earnings growth of approximately 50% for fiscal 2021.

Strategic Initiatives and Financial Targets

Kirkland's key strategic initiatives include:

• Accelerating product development to reinforce quality and relevancy as the Company continues its transformation into a specialty retailer where customers are able to furnish their entire home on a budget;
• Bolstering its omni-channel strategy via website enhancements, more focused marketing spend, an expanded online assortment, and an improved in-store experience;
• Improving the customer experience with the Company's re-launched loyalty program, extended credit options and broadened delivery options; and
• Utilizing its leaner infrastructure to be nimbler to changes in consumer preference and buying behaviors.

Kirkland's annual financial targets include:

• Comparable sales growth, driven by e-commerce, merchandise improvements and brick-and-mortar store productivity. The Company expects e-commerce to continue to grow as a percent of its total business to over 50% of sales. The Company also intends to focus on improving the contribution of its remaining store base, which is an integral part of its omni-channel strategy and supports improved profitability of its e-commerce sales.
• Increasing gross margin by continuing with the Company's current discipline of limited promotional offers, expanding direct sourcing, improving supply chain efficiency and reducing occupancy costs. With improved merchandise quality and to support a better customer experience, the Company will continue to move towards more targeted promotions. Direct sourcing is expected to increase from approximately 20% of purchases in 2020 to 70% by 2025. With these improvements, continued efficiencies in the Company's supply chain and lower occupancy costs, Kirkland's goal is to improve its annual gross profit margin to a mid-to-high 30% range over the next one-to-two years.
• Improving profitability by leveraging the leaner infrastructure with comparable sales growth. The Company believes its ideal store count should be approximately 350 stores with additional opportunities for more favorable rent terms during ongoing lease renewals. With approximately $45 million in annualized operating expenses eliminated from the business in 2020, the Company expects annual EBITDA as a percent of sales to be in the low-to-mid double-digit range in the next one-to-two years and annual operating income as a percentage of sales to be in the high-single-digit range in the next one-to-two years.
• Maintaining adequate liquidity and generating free cash flow while continuing to invest in key strategic initiatives and returning excess cash to Kirkland's shareholders.

The key strategic initiatives and financial targets are based on current information as of December 2, 2021, and are dependent on, among other things, consumer preferences, economic conditions and Kirkland's own successful execution of these initiatives. The information on which these initiatives and financial targets is based is subject to change, and investors are cautioned that the Company may update the initiatives and targets, or any portion thereof, at any time for any reason.

Investor Conference Call and Web Simulcast

Kirkland's management will host a conference call to discuss its financial results for the third quarter ended October 30, 2021, followed by a question and answer period with Steve Woodward, president and CEO, and Nicole Strain, CFO.

Date: Thursday, December 2, 2021
Time: 9:00 a.m. Eastern time
Toll-free dial-in number: (855) 560-2577
International dial-in number: (412) 542-4163
Conference ID: 10162053

Please call the conference telephone number 10-15 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact Gateway Investor Relations at (949) 574-3860.

The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay here and via the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.kirklands.com. The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for one year.

A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available after the conference call through December 9, 2021.

Toll-free replay number: (877) 344-7529
International replay number: (412) 317-0088
Replay ID: 10162053

About Kirkland's, Inc.

Kirkland's, Inc. is a specialty retailer of home décor in the United States, currently operating 369 stores in 35 states as well as an e-commerce website, www.kirklands.com. The Company's stores present a curated selection of distinctive merchandise, including holiday décor, furniture, textiles, wall décor, decorative accessories, art, mirrors, fragrances, and other home decorating items. The Company's stores offer an extensive assortment of holiday merchandise during seasonal periods. The Company provides its customers an engaging shopping experience characterized by affordable home décor and inspirational design ideas. This combination of quality and stylish merchandise, value pricing and a stimulating online and store experience allows customers to furnish their home on a budget. More information can be found at www.kirklands.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this release, including all statements related to future initiatives, financial goals and expectations or beliefs regarding any future period, are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to the finalization of the Company's quarterly financial and accounting procedures. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Kirkland's actual results to differ materially from forecasted results. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, risks associated with the Company's progress and anticipated progress towards its long-term objective and the success of its plans in response to the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic, the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on the Company's revenues and supply chain, risks associated with COVID-19 and the governments responses to it, the impact of store closures, the effectiveness of the Company's marketing campaigns, risks related to changes in U.S. policy related to imported merchandise, particularly with regard to the impact of tariffs on goods imported from China and strategies undertaken to mitigate such impact, the Company's ability to retain its senior management team, continued volatility in the price of the Company's common stock, the competitive environment in the home décor industry in general and in Kirkland's specific market areas, inflation, fluctuations in cost and availability of inventory, interruptions in supply chain and distribution systems, including our e-commerce systems and channels, the ability to control employment and other operating costs, availability of suitable retail locations and other growth opportunities, disruptions in information technology systems including the potential for security breaches of Kirkland's or its customers' information, seasonal fluctuations in consumer spending, and economic conditions in general. Those and other risks are more fully described in Kirkland's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 26, 2021 and subsequent reports. Forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date of this release. Any changes in assumptions or factors on which such statements are based could produce materially different results. Kirkland's disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future events or developments.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our unaudited consolidated condensed financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), this earnings release and the related earnings conference call contain certain non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share. These measures are not in accordance with, and are not intended as alternatives to, GAAP financial measures. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing our financial results and believes that they provide useful information to analysts and investors, as a supplement to GAAP financial measures, in evaluating our operational performance.

The Company defines EBITDA as net income or loss before interest, provision for income tax, and depreciation and amortization, adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA with non-GAAP adjustments and adjusted operating income (loss) as operating income (loss) with non-GAAP adjustments. The Company defines adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share by adjusting the applicable GAAP financial measures for non-GAAP adjustments.

Non-GAAP financial measures are intended to provide additional information only and do not have any standard meanings prescribed by GAAP. Use of these terms may differ from similar measures reported by other companies. Each non-GAAP financial measure has its limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company's results as reported under GAAP.

The following table shows a reconciliation of operating income (loss) to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted operating income (loss) for the 13 week and 39 week periods ended October 30, 2021 and October 31, 2020 and a reconciliation of net income (loss) and diluted earnings (loss) per share to adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share for the 13 week and 39 week periods ended October 30, 2021 and October 31, 2020:

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SOURCE Kirkland's, Inc.