Day: September 20, 2024

Quarter highlighted by 3.5% comparable sales growth and 21.9% adjusted EBITDA growth.

MONTREAL, Sept. 19, 2024 /CNW/ – Reitmans (Canada) Limited (“RCL” or the “Company”) RET RET, one of Canada’s leading specialty apparel retailers, today reported its financial results for its fiscal 2025 second quarter. Unless otherwise indicated, all comparisons of results for the 13 weeks ended August 3, 2024 (“second quarter of 2025”) are against results for the 13 weeks ended July 29, 2023 (“second quarter of 2024”) and all comparisons of results for the 26 weeks ended August 3, 2024 (“year to date fiscal 2025”) are against results for the 26 weeks ended July 29, 2023 (“year to date fiscal 2024”). All dollar amounts are in Canadian currency.

Second Quarter Highlights

• Comparable sales increased 3.5%; net revenues increased 0.4% to $215.5 million
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 21.9% to $23.4 million
• Gross profit margin increased 330 basis points to 59.1%
• Results from operating activities (“ROA”) increased 13.8% to $21.5 million
• Net earnings improved 17.2% to $15.7 million

“We had an excellent second quarter and one of our best quarters of the past ten years,” said Andrea Limbardi, President and CEO of RCL. “Despite operating 16 fewer stores compared to the same period last year, our net revenues were up slightly, underscoring how strongly our product offering resonated with our customers. Our teams successfully navigated supply chain challenges and avoided late deliveries, which ensured our stores had the right inventory at the right time. We read summer trends well, benefited from favourable weather, and successfully drove higher sales dollars and units per transaction. All of that, in addition to being less promotional during the quarter, contributed to improved gross margins and higher profitability.”

“This is an exciting time for our business. We see a lot of opportunity for continued growth, selectively and strategically expanding our footprint in all three retail brands and doubling down on our menswear business. The ongoing modernization of our distribution facility remains on track and will ultimately help support our long-term vision. While the overall retail environment continues to be affected by economic uncertainty and logistics issues, we are well-positioned to drive profitable growth,” said Ms. Limbardi.

Select Financial Information

Second Quarter Overview

Net revenues increased by $0.9 million, or 0.4%, to $215.5 million despite operating 16 less stores than in the second quarter a year earlier. Although Canadian consumers continued to tighten discretionary spending, net revenues were maintained mainly through improved sales dollar and units per transaction. Comparable sales¹, which include e-commerce net revenues, increased 3.5% primarily due to increased sales per transaction.

Gross profit grew by $7.6 million to $127.3 million and gross profit as a percentage of net revenues improved 330 basis points to 59.1%. The increase in gross profit and in gross profit as a percentage of net revenues is primarily attributable to lower promotional activity compared to the second quarter of last year.

ROA increased by $2.6 million, or 13.8%, to $21.5 million with the increase being primarily attributable to the increase in gross profit, partially offset by an increase in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Net earnings grew by $2.3 million, or 17.2%, to $15.7 million ($0.32 basic and diluted earnings per share). The increase in net earnings was primarily attributable to the increase in ROA.   

Adjusted EBITDA¹ increased by $4.2 million, or 21.9%, to $23.4 million. The improvement was due to the increase in gross profit, partially offset by the increase in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Conference Call

The Company will conduct a conference call to discuss information included in this news release, company performance, and related matters at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on September 20, 2024. All interested parties may join the conference call by dialing 1-844-763-8274 or 647-484-8814 approximately 15 minutes prior to the call to secure a line.

A live audio webcast of the call will be available at https://www.reitmanscanadalimited.com/events-presentations.aspx?lang=en and will be available for replay at this website for 12 months.

Granting of Options to Management

On September 19, 2024, the Company granted an aggregate of 75,000 options to purchase Class A non-voting shares of the Company (the “Options”) to a member of management pursuant to its second amended and restated share option plan dated April 19, 2021, as amended. The Options have an exercise price of $2.40 and are subject to time-based vesting terms and have an expiry date of October 19, 2027. The grant of the Options is made pursuant to the Company’s Long-Term Incentive Plan which is designed to incentivize members of management in the achievement of long-term financial targets.

About Reitmans (Canada) Limited

Reitmans (Canada) Limited (“RCL”) is one of Canada’s leading specialty apparel retailers for women and men, with retail outlets throughout the country. The Company operates 389 stores under three distinct banners consisting of 224 Reitmans, 85 PENN. Penningtons, and 80 RW&CO.

For more information, visit www.reitmanscanadalimited.com.

For further information, please contact:

¹NON-GAAP Financial Measures & Supplementary Financial Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-GAAP measures. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. They are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the Company’s results of operations from management’s perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for the Company’s analysis of its financial information reported under IFRS.

NON-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release discusses the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”). This press release also indicates Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net revenues and is considered a non-GAAP financial ratio. Net revenues represent the sale of merchandise less discounts and returns (“net sales”) and include shipping fees charged to customers on e-commerce orders. The intent of presenting Adjusted EBITDA is to provide additional useful information to investors and analysts. Adjusted EBITDA is currently defined as net earnings before income tax expense/recovery, interest income, interest expense, pension curtailment gain, loss on foreign currency translation differences reclassified to net earnings, depreciation, amortization, net impairment of non-financial assets, adjusted for the impact of certain items, including a deduction of interest expense and depreciation relating to leases accounted for under IFRS 16, Leases. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is an important indicator of the Company’s ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund working capital needs and fund capital expenditures and uses this metric for this purpose. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net revenues indicates how much liquidity is generated for each dollar of net revenues. The exclusion of interest income and expenses, other than interest expense related to lease liabilities as explained hereafter, eliminates the impact on earnings derived from non-operational activities. The exclusion of depreciation, amortization and net impairment charges, other than depreciation related to right-of-use assets as explained hereafter, eliminates the non-cash impact, and the exclusion of the loss on foreign currency translation differences reclassified to net earnings/loss presents the results of the on-going business. Under IFRS 16, Leases, the characteristics of some leases result in lease payments being recognized in net earnings in the period in which the performance or use occurs while other leases are recorded as right-of-use assets with a corresponding lease liability recognized, which results in depreciation of those assets and interest expense from those liabilities. Management is presenting its Adjusted EBITDA to reflect the payments of its store and equipment lease obligations on a consistent basis. As such, the initial add-back of depreciation of right-of-use assets and interest on lease obligations are removed from the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA, as this better reflects the operational cash flow impact of its leases.

Reconciliation of NON-IFRS Measures

The tables below provide a reconciliation of net earnings to Adjusted EBITDA:

Supplementary Financial Measures

The Company uses a key performance indicator (“KPI”), comparable sales, to assess store performance and sales growth. The Company engages in an omnichannel approach in connecting with its customers by appealing to their shopping habits through either online or store channels.  This approach allows customers to shop online for home delivery or to pick up in store, purchase in any of our store locations or ship to home from another store when the products are unavailable in a particular store.  Due to customer cross-channel behavior, the Company reports a single comparable sales metric, inclusive of store and e-commerce channels. Comparable sales are defined as net sales generated by stores that have been continuously open during both of the periods being compared and include e-commerce net sales. The comparable sales metric compares the same calendar days for each period. Although this KPI is expressed as a ratio, it is a supplementary financial measure that does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. Management uses comparable sales in evaluating the performance of stores and online net sales and considers it useful in helping to determine what portion of new net sales has come from sales growth and what portion can be attributed to the opening of new stores. Comparable sales is a measure widely used amongst retailers and is considered useful information for both investors and analysts. Comparable sales should not be considered in isolation or used in substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Forward-Looking Statements

All of the statements contained herein, other than statements of fact that are independently verifiable at the date hereof, are forward-looking statements. Such statements, based as they are on the current expectations of management, inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, including statements on the Company’s financial position and operations, and are based on several assumptions which give rise to the possibility that actual results could differ materially from the Company’s expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements and that the objectives, plans, strategic priorities and business outlook may not be achieved.  Consequently, the Company cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize, or if any of them do, what benefits the Company will derive from them. Forward-looking statements are provided in this press release for the purpose of giving information about management’s current expectations and plans as of the date of this press release and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of the Company’s operating environment. However, readers are cautioned that it may not be appropriate to use such forward-looking statements for any other purpose. Forward-looking statements are based upon the Company’s current estimates, beliefs and assumptions, which are based on management’s perception of historical trends, current conditions and currently expected future developments, as well as other factors it believes, are appropriate in the circumstances.

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company’s objectives, plans, goals, expectations, aspirations, strategies, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, performance, and prospects. Specific forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company’s belief in its strategies and its brands and their capacity to generate long-term profitable growth, future liquidity, planned capital expenditures, amount of pension plan contributions, status and impact of systems implementation, the ability of the Company to successfully implement its strategic initiatives and cost reduction and productivity improvement initiatives as well as the impact of such initiatives.  These specific forward-looking statements are contained throughout the Company’s Management Discussion & Analysis (“MD&A”) including those listed in the “Operating and Financial Risk Management” section of the MD&A. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “expect”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “foresee”, “could”, “estimate”, “goal”, “intend”, “plan”, “seek”, “strive”, “will”, “may” and “should” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company and its management.

Numerous risks and uncertainties could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed, implied or projected in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the “Forward-Looking Statements” section of the Company’s MD&A for the second quarter of 2025.

This is not an exhaustive list of the factors that may affect the Company’s forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company or that the Company presently believes are not material could also cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in its forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company’s materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time. The reader should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements included herein. These statements speak only as of the date made and the Company is under no obligation and disavows any intention to update or revise such statements as a result of any event, circumstances or otherwise, except to the extent required under applicable securities law.

The Company’s complete financial statements including notes and Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 are available online at www.sedarplus.ca.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Reitmans (Canada) Ltd

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Third Quarter 2024 Highlights – comparisons to the prior year quarter

• Net earnings per diluted share increased 10% to $4.26
  • $3.90, excluding mark-to-market gains on technology investments and one-time items in the Company’s Multifamily segment
• Net earnings increased 5% to $1.2 billion
• New orders increased 5% to 20,587 homes
• Backlog of 16,944 homes with a dollar value of $7.7 billion
• Deliveries increased 16% to 21,516 homes
• Total revenues of $9.4 billion
• Homebuilding operating earnings of $1.5 billion
  • Gross margin on home sales of 22.5%
  • S,G&A expenses as a % of revenues from home sales of 6.7%
  • Net margin on home sales of 15.8%
• Financial Services operating earnings of $144 million
• Multifamily operating earnings of $79 million
• Lennar Other operating earnings of $20 million
• Homebuilding cash and cash equivalents of $4.0 billion
• Years supply of owned homesites of 1.1 years and controlled homesites of 81%
• No outstanding borrowings under the Company’s $2.2 billion revolving credit facility
• Homebuilding debt to total capital of 7.6%
• Repurchased 3.4 million shares of Lennar common stock for $519 million

MIAMI, Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Lennar Corporation LEN, one of the nation’s leading homebuilders, today reported results for its third quarter ended August 31, 2024. Third quarter net earnings attributable to Lennar in 2024 were $1.2 billion, or $4.26 per diluted share, compared to third quarter net earnings attributable to Lennar in 2023 of $1.1 billion, or $3.87 per diluted share. Excluding mark-to-market gains of $39 million on technology investments and one-time items of $89 million in the Company’s Multifamily segment, third quarter net earnings attributable to Lennar in 2024 were $1.1 billion, or $3.90 per diluted share. Excluding mark-to-market losses of $16 million on technology investments, third quarter net earnings attributable to Lennar in 2023 were $1.1 billion or $3.91 per diluted share.

Stuart Miller, Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Lennar, said, “We are pleased to report another solid quarter backed by an economic environment that remains very constructive for homebuilders. Employment was strong, housing supply remained chronically short due to production deficits of over a decade, and demand was solid driven by strong household formation. Although affordability continued to be tested during the quarter, purchasers remained responsive to increased sales incentives, resulting in a 16% increase in our deliveries and a 5% increase in our new orders year over year.” 

“This week, the Fed decreased interest rates which should start to enhance affordability and accelerate the already strong demand for both new and existing homes. While strong demand, enabled by incentives and mortgage rate buydowns, has driven the new home market over the past two years, we fully expect an even stronger, and more broad-based demand cycle, as rates move lower. Lower rates and controlled inflation will likely boost confidence.”

“Against this backdrop, earnings were $1.2 billion, or $4.26 per diluted share. We delivered 21,516 homes in our third quarter and our new orders were 20,587. Our average sales price, net of incentives, per home delivered was $422,000 in the third quarter, slightly down from last year, and our homebuilding gross margin in the third quarter was 22.5%, mildly lower than expectations, and offset by SG&A expenses of 6.7%, which were better than expectations, resulting in a 15.8% net margin.”

“Driven by this quarter’s strong operating performance, we constructively allocated capital while we continued to strengthen and fortify our balance sheet. During the quarter, we repurchased $519 million of our common stock, had no outstanding borrowings on our $2.2 billion revolver and cash of $4.0 billion, ending the quarter with homebuilding debt to total capital of 7.6%. With cash on hand exceeding our debt, and with overall liquidity of $6.2 billion, our balance sheet remains extremely strong. Against that backdrop, we remain focused on our ‘land strategies’ initiatives in order to intensify our land light focus and assure consistency of execution now and in the future as we embrace an ever-more focused manufacturing model for Lennar.”

Jon Jaffe, Co-Chief Executive Officer and President of Lennar, said, “Operationally, our starts pace and sales pace were 5.4 homes and 5.5 homes per community in the third quarter, respectively, as we continue to move closer to an even flow operating model. Our cycle time was down to 140 days, or 23% lower year over year, as our production first focus has positively impacted our production times, while our inventory turn improved to 1.6 times reflecting broader efficiencies. Concurrently, the Lennar Machine continued to carefully match our sales pace to our production pace using our digital marketing and dynamic pricing models.”

“During the quarter, we continued the migration to our land light strategy. This was evidenced by our years supply of owned homesites improving to 1.1 years from 1.5 years last year and our controlled homesite percentage increasing to 81% from 73% year over year. These results drove our return on inventory to 31.3%, a year-over-year improvement of 320 basis points.”

Mr. Miller concluded, “We continue to remain enthusiastic about our current execution and our future. We have remained focused on our operating strategies, while at the same time being observant of current economic and market trends. As we look ahead to our fourth quarter, we expect to deliver between 22,500 and 23,000 homes with a gross margin flat with our third quarter. We will continue to fortify our balance sheet with significant liquidity and operate from a position of strength, thus enabling us to continue to execute on our core strategies to drive strong cash flow and higher returns.”

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
THREE MONTHS ENDED AUGUST 31, 2024 COMPARED TO
THREE MONTHS ENDED AUGUST 31, 2023

Homebuilding

Revenues from home sales increased 9% in the third quarter of 2024 to $9.0 billion from $8.3 billion in the third quarter of 2023. Revenues were higher primarily due to a 16% increase in the number of home deliveries, partially offset by a 6% decrease in the average sales price of homes delivered. New home deliveries increased to 21,516 homes in the third quarter of 2024 from 18,559 homes in the third quarter of 2023. The average sales price of homes delivered was $422,000 in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $448,000 in the third quarter of 2023. The decrease in average sales price of homes delivered in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year was primarily due to pricing to market through an increased use of incentives and product mix.

Gross margins on home sales were $2.0 billion, or 22.5%, in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $2.0 billion, or 24.4%, in the third quarter of 2023. During the third quarter of 2024, gross margins decreased primarily because revenues per square foot decreased while land costs increased year over year, which was partially offset by a decrease in costs per square foot due to lower material costs as the Company continued to focus on construction cost savings.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $601 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $583 million in the third quarter of 2023. As a percentage of revenues from home sales, selling, general and administrative expenses decreased to 6.7% in the third quarter of 2024, from 7.0% in the third quarter of 2023, primarily due to a decrease in broker commissions and benefits of the Company’s technology efforts.

Financial Services

Operating earnings for the Financial Services segment were $144 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $148 million in the third quarter of 2023. The decrease in operating earnings was primarily due to lower lock volume and margin in the mortgage business, partially offset by higher volume in the title business as a result of increased deliveries year over year.

Ancillary Businesses

Operating earnings for the Multifamily segment were $79 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to an operating loss of $9 million in the third quarter of 2023. The increase in operating earnings was due to a $179 million one-time net gain from the sale of assets in the Company’s LMV Fund I, partially offset by a one-time $90 million write-down of non-core assets as the Company focuses on immediately monetizing these assets. Operating earnings for the Lennar Other segment were $20 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to an operating loss of $26 million in the third quarter of 2023. The Lennar Other operating earnings for the third quarter of 2024 were due to mark-to-market gains on the Company’s publicly traded technology investments.

Tax Rate

In the third quarter of 2024 and 2023, the Company had tax provisions of $348 million and $358 million, respectively, which resulted in an overall effective income tax rate of 23.0% and 24.4%, respectively. For both periods, the Company’s effective income tax rate included state income tax expense and non-deductible executive compensation, partially offset by energy efficient home and solar tax credits.

Share Repurchases

In the third quarter of 2024, the Company repurchased 3.4 million shares of its common stock for $519 million at an average share price of $154.77.

Liquidity

At August 31, 2024, the Company had $4.0 billion of Homebuilding cash and cash equivalents and no outstanding borrowings under its $2.2 billion revolving credit facility, thereby providing approximately $6.2 billion of available capacity.

Guidance

The following are the Company’s expected results of its homebuilding and financial services activities for the fourth quarter of 2024:

About Lennar

Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation’s leading builders of quality homes for all generations. Lennar builds affordable, move-up and active adult homes primarily under the Lennar brand name. Lennar’s Financial Services segment provides mortgage financing, title and closing services primarily for buyers of Lennar’s homes and, through LMF Commercial, originates mortgage loans secured primarily by commercial real estate properties throughout the United States. Lennar’s Multifamily segment is a nationwide developer of high-quality multifamily rental properties. LEN^X drives Lennar’s technology, innovation and strategic investments. For more information about Lennar, please visit www.lennar.com. 

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Some of the statements in this press release are “forward-looking statements,” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements relating to the homebuilding market and other markets in which we participate, as well as our expected results and guidance. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results. Accordingly, these forward-looking statements should be evaluated with consideration given to the many risks and uncertainties inherent in our business that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. We wish to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and speak only as of the date made. Important factors that could cause differences between anticipated and actual results include slowdowns in real estate markets in regions where we have significant Homebuilding or Multifamily development activities or own a substantial number of single-family homes for rent; decreased demand for our homes, either for sale or for rent, or Multifamily rental apartments; the potential impact of inflation; the impact of increased cost of mortgage financing for homebuyers, increased interest rates or increased competition in the mortgage industry; supply shortages and increased costs related to construction materials, including lumber, and labor; cost increases related to real estate taxes and insurance; the effect of increased interest rates with regard to our funds’ borrowings on the willingness of the funds to invest in new projects; reductions in the market value of our investments in public companies; natural disasters or catastrophic events for which our insurance may not provide adequate coverage; our inability to successfully execute our strategies, including our land light strategy, and our planned spin-off; a decline in the value of the land and home inventories we maintain and resulting possible future writedowns of the carrying value of our real estate assets; the forfeiture of deposits related to land purchase options we decide not to exercise; the effects of public health issues such as a major epidemic or pandemic that could have a negative impact on the economy and on our businesses; possible unfavorable results in legal proceedings; conditions in the capital, credit and financial markets; changes in laws, regulations or the regulatory environment affecting our business, and the other risks and uncertainties described in our filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on January 26, 2024, as amended by our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A filed on April 25, 2024 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

A conference call to discuss the Company’s third quarter earnings will be held at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, September 20, 2024. The call will be broadcast live on the Internet and can be accessed through the Company’s website at investors.lennar.com. If you are unable to participate in the conference call, the call will be archived at investors.lennar.com for 90 days. A replay of the conference call will also be available later that day by calling 203-369-3829 and entering 5723593 as the confirmation number.

Contact:
Ian Frazer
Investor Relations
Lennar Corporation
(305) 485-4129

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SOURCE Lennar Corporation