Gildan Activewear - Q4 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Gildan Activewear's 2025 Q4 earnings conference call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Jessy Hayem, the Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations and Global Communications. Please go ahead.

Jessy Hayem (SVP, Head of Investor Relations and Global Communications)

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our results for the 4th quarter and full year 2025 and initiated guidance for 2026. The company's management discussion and analysis and consolidated financial statements are expected to be filed with the Canadian Securities Regulatory Authorities and the U.S. Securities Commission today and will also be available on our corporate website. Joining me on the call today are Glenn Chamandy, President and CEO of Gildan; Luca Barile, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer; and Chester Ward, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer. This morning, we'll take you through the results for the quarter and additional updates, and then a question and answer session will follow.

Before we begin, please take note that certain statements included in this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements, which involve unknown and known risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We refer you to the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian Securities Regulatory Authorities. During this call, we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable IFRS measures are provided in today's earnings release as well as our MD&A. Before I turn it over to Glenn, as you know, on December 1, 2025, the company completed the acquisition of HanesBrands. As such, the fourth quarter and full year 2025 results include HanesBrands' contribution from December 1, 2025 to December 28, 2025.

Moreover, as announced this morning, the HanesBrands Australian business, which we refer to as HAA, has been classified as held for sale and reported as discontinued operations as of December 1, 2025, the date of closing of the HanesBrands acquisition. Unless otherwise indicated, the figures we will be discussing today are from continuing operations and therefore exclude the results of the HAA business. Now I'll turn it over to Glenn.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

Thank you, Jessy, and good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us today. I'd like to start the call by taking a moment and thanking our employees, both Gildan and Hanes, for their dedication and commitment and outstanding execution through the year. I'd also like to acknowledge the loyalty of our customers and the ongoing support of our shareholders. As we highlighted in this morning's press release, 2025 was another important year for Gildan, and we concluded on a high note with record revenues from continuing operations of about $3.6 billion, strong adjusted operating margins of 21.5%, and a year-over-year adjusted diluted EPS growth of 17%, or adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations of $3.51, which includes the contribution of Hanes since December 1st, the date of the closing of the acquisition.

As we look ahead to 2026, we are very excited about the Hanes acquisition, which doubles our scale, combines iconic brands with our world-class, low-cost, vertically integrated platform, and unlocks a powerful engine for innovation and growth. Our global team's focus is now fully capturing the value of our expanded platform. In fact, the integration is well underway and progressing ahead of plan. Let me give you a few highlights about the progress we have made so far. Since the transaction closed, our teams have moved quickly and decisively, with a strong focus on unlocking the significant value that we targeted, leveraging the scale and capabilities of the combined organizations. We've already begun our manufacturing footprint optimization. We made the decision to close the two Hanes textile factories in early 2026.

Production volumes from these facilities will be relocated across our consolidated network in early 2026, leveraging Gildan's low-cost structure and further accelerating our synergies. Our capacity is tight in the short term. We are therefore proactively undertaking a temporary reduction of inventory levels across customer channels. We will continue to optimize and increase our production levels through 2026 to support the growth going forward into 2027. We are optimizing our distribution capacity and work is underway to standardize IT platforms and harmonize key manufacturing supply chain processes to drive further efficiencies and unlock the full benefits of the operating as one integrated business. We have put in place a new organizational structure to support the combined operations. with leadership presence in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Chester Ward has been appointed to a newly created role of EVP, the Chief Commercial Officer.

In this role, he will lead the company's commercial strategy for retail and wholesale channels. Given the pace and the quality of the progress so far, we are raising our synergy expectations. We now anticipate approximately $250 million in run rate cost synergies over the next 3 years, an increase from the original $200 million target. We now expect approximately $100 million per year in 2026 and 2027, and at least $50 million in 2028. We will continue to pursue additional synergies beyond our revised 3-year synergies target. The associated one-time restructuring costs are expected to stay within a 1-to-1 ratio to the cost of synergies generated. Just touching on Bangladesh. Today, we are pleased to announce that we are moving forward with phase two of our Bangladesh complex.

Over the next 18 months, we will begin construction of our second large-scale textile facility, with initial production expected to come online in the later part of 2027, supporting growth plans for 2028. As previously communicated, the supporting infrastructure is already in place, and the required investment remains within our CapEx guidance. Expanding our Bangladesh footprints is central to reinforcing our cost leadership in ring spin and in innerwear. The addition of a second facility strengthens our ability to support key sale drivers, enhances our flexibility, and position us well for the long-term demand. Today, we are also announcing that following a comprehensive evaluation and strategic alternatives, we have determined that pursuing a sale of the HanesBrands Australia business, or HAA, is in the best interest of Gildan stakeholders. As a result, Gildan has initiated a formal process for HAA.

Finally, with a strong foundation and a further strengthened competitive position across product lines, channels, and geographies, we remain confident in our ability to unlock targeted run rate synergies. Achieve these synergies objectives for the 2026-2028 period outlined in our August 2025, including compounded annual sales growth of 3%-5% versus pro forma net sales from continuing operations of $6.089 billion for the Gildan and Hanes combined businesses for fiscal 2025, and adjusted diluted EPS growth in the low 20% range compared to the fiscal 2025 adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations. In conclusion, we believe this is an exciting and pivotal moment for Gildan, and we're enthusiastic about the next phase of our growth journey.

We have a solid foundation that allows us to execute from a position of strength, with scale both in wholesale and retail, and setting us distinctly apart and underpinning our strong competitive positioning, and putting us in a greater position to continue driving sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value. I look forward to answering your questions after our formal remarks, and now I will turn it over for Luca for a financial review.

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Thank you, Glenn. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year results. Let me start with the specifics of the quarter, then turn to our 2026 outlook and guidance. First, the quarterly results. As a reminder, HAA operations have been classified as held for sale and are therefore reported as discontinued operations as of the fourth quarter of 2025. We reported fourth quarter sales from continuing operations of $1.078 billion, up 31.3% year-over-year. Excluding Hanes's contribution of $217 million for the period from December 1 to December 28, 2025, organic growth was up 4.9%.

Activewear sales grew 10.3% to $788 million, once again reflecting the Hanes acquisition and complemented by favorable mix and higher net selling prices. We saw solid sales to North American distributors and continued growth with national account customers, driven by our strong overall competitive positioning, new programs contribution, and market share gains in key growth categories. We continued to see robust demand for Comfort Colors, and our innovative pipeline continues to drive excitement with our new soft cotton technology and new brands such as Champion and ALLPRO. For the innerwear category, which now includes hosiery, underwear, and intimates, sales were up about 171% versus last year, primarily reflecting HanesBrands' contribution in December, offset by slightly lower volumes owing to continued broader market weakness.

Turning to international markets, sales were $68 million, up 5.1% year-over-year, primarily reflecting the acquisition, which was partially offset by demand softness across markets and more specifically in the UK. On a full year 2025 basis, excluding HanesBrands' contribution of $217 million for the period from December 1st to December 28th, 2025, net sales were up 4% year-over-year and in line with guidance. Excluding the impact of the exit of the Under Armour business in 2024, net sales would have been up approximately 4.7% year-over-year. Shifting to margins for the quarter, we generated gross profit of $312 million, or 28.9% of net sales, versus $253 million or 30.8% of net sales in the prior year.

Adjusting for an inventory fair value step-up charge of $35.4 million, recorded as part of the HanesBrands acquisition, adjusted gross profit was $347 million, or 32.2% of net sales, compared to 30.8% in the prior year. The 140 basis point increase was primarily driven by favorable pricing implemented to offset the impact from tariffs, lower manufacturing and raw material costs, and to a lesser extent, the favorable HanesBrands contribution. SG&A expenses were $125 million, compared to $78 million in the prior year, primarily reflecting the combination with HanesBrands.

Adjusting for charges related to the proxy contest and leadership changes and related matters, adjusted SG&A expenses were $124 million or 11.5% of net sales, compared to $78 million or 9.5% of net sales for the same period last year. The increase in adjusted SG&A in the quarter reflects primarily the combination with HanesBrands, as well as purchase accounting impact, including amortization of intangible assets recorded in connection with the acquisition. We bring all these elements together and adjusting for restructuring and acquisition-related costs, as well as the inventory fair value step-up charge recorded as part of the acquisition and costs related to the proxy contest, leadership changes and related matters.

Adjusted operating income was $223 million, up $48 million or 20.7% of net sales, compared to 21.3% in the prior year, mainly a reflection of HanesBrands' lower adjusted operating margin. A brief comment on the full year adjusted operating margin. It reached 21.5% of net sales, up 20 basis points compared to the prior year. Excluding HanesBrands, adjusted operating margin was roughly in line with the guidance provided, which called for an increase of approximately 70 basis points year-over-year. Net financial expenses for the quarter were $43 million, up $16 million year-over-year, primarily due to higher borrowing levels related to the HanesBrands acquisition.

Taking into account all these factors and a higher outstanding share base as a result of the acquisition in the fourth quarter, we generated GAAP diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.32 versus $0.86 the prior year, while adjusted diluted EPS were $0.96, up 16% from $0.83 in the prior year. For the full fiscal year 2025, GAAP diluted EPS from continuing operations were $2.57, compared to $2.46 in the prior year, while adjusted diluted EPS increased by 17% to $3.51 from $3.00 in the prior year. Excluding HanesBrands' contribution, adjusted diluted EPS came in toward the low end of the guidance range provided. Turning to cash flow and balance sheet items for the year.

Operating cash flow, which includes discontinued operations, totaled $606 million, compared to $501 million in the prior year, primarily reflecting lower working capital investment. After accounting for CapEx totaling $114 million, the company generated approximately $493 million of free cash flow, which includes discontinued operations. During 2025, we returned $319 million to shareholders, including dividends paid, and by repurchasing about 3.8 million shares under our NCIB program. We ended the year with net debt of $4.417 billion and a leverage ratio of 3 times net debt to trailing 12 months pro forma adjusted EBITDA. As Glenn detailed, Gildan has determined that pursuing a sale of HAA is in the best interest of Gildan and its stakeholders....

We will only proceed with the potential transaction if value and terms are attractive and determined to be in the best interest of the company. The proceeds from the potential divestment will be used to pay down a portion of the company's outstanding debt and further accelerate Gildan's objective to return to a leverage framework of 1.5x-2.5x net debt to pro forma adjusted EBITDA ratio, while largely offsetting the expected earnings dilution from the HAA sale. Turning to the outlook. Looking ahead to 2026, we expect to build on the progress made across our key strategic initiatives under our Gildan sustainable growth strategy, driving continued market share gains in key product categories in a dynamic macroeconomic environment.

We have a strong foundation, and now, with the Hanes acquisition, an even further strengthened competitive position across product lines, channels, and geographies. For 2026, with respect to our continuing operations, meaning excluding HAA, we expect the following: revenue of $6 billion-$6.2 billion, full year adjusted operating margin to be approximately 20%, CapEx to come in at approximately 3% of net sales. Adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $4.20-$4.40. Free cash flow to be above $850 million. There are various assumptions underpinning this outlook. They are: firstly, our full-year guidance reflects continuing operations and excludes the contribution from HAA operations, which are reported as discontinued operations.

Net sales and diluted earnings per share for HAA for 2026 are expected to be approximately $675 million and $0.21, respectively. Also, our outlook takes into account the expiry of a transition service agreement at HanesBrands related to its divestiture of Champion, representing slightly over $100 million in sales in 2025. Our outlook continues to reflect growth in key product categories, driven by recently introduced innovation, the favorable impact from new program launches and market share gains, and the various incentives from jurisdictions where we operate. Furthermore, and as previously detailed, our outlook reflects the temporary reduction of inventory across our combined customer channels, which we are proactively undertaking. Our outlook reflects continued disciplined adjustments to our operating footprint and commercial mix with a focus on margin accretive growth.

Our outlook reflects our currently expected impact of tariffs, including the expected positive impact of the February 20, 2026, US Supreme Court decision invalidating certain tariffs and the subsequent related announcements by the U.S. administration, together with mitigation initiatives, including pricing actions and our ability to leverage our flexible business model as a low-cost, vertically integrated manufacturer. Higher tariff costs incurred prior to these developments remain embedded in our inventory costs. Given the dynamic and rapidly evolving tariff environment, the level and structure of tariffs and their effects remain uncertain and difficult to predict. In addition, our outlook does not reflect potential rights, if any, to refunds, which remain subject to, among other, applicable procedural requirements and further guidance from US Customs and Border Protection.

As previously communicated, there will be no share repurchases until our net debt leverage ratio approximates the midpoint of our target leverage framework of 1.5x-2.5x net debt to trailing 12 months pro forma adjusted EBITDA. The adjusted effective income tax rate for 2026 is expected to be around 19%. Our outlook assumes continued successful execution of the HanesBrands integration plan, including the realization of the anticipated benefits from actions already undertaken, as well as future integration actions. Finally, we have assumed no meaningful deterioration from current market conditions, including the pricing and inflationary environment and the absence of a significant shift in labor conditions or the competitive environment.

As Glenn laid out earlier, we are reiterating our three-year objectives for 2026-2028 period, including compound annual net sales growth of 3%-5% versus pro forma net sales from continuing operations of $6.089 billion for the Gildan and HanesBrands combined businesses for fiscal 2025. Adjusted diluted EPS growth in the low 20% range compared to our fiscal 2025 adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations. Turning to the guidance for our first quarter of 2026. We expect net sales from continuing operations to be approximately $1.15 billion.

As detailed earlier, given our ongoing consolidation of manufacturing facilities, and in order to accelerate and increase synergy capture and support our new operating model, we are proactively undertaking a temporary reduction of inventory levels across customer channels, which will have an impact on the net sales in the quarter. Our adjusted operating margin is expected to be approximately 12.9%. reflecting the higher SG&A levels, which will be impacted by higher amortization of intangible assets and depreciation of property, plant, and equipment, resulting from the fair value purchase accounting impacts of the HanesBrands acquisition, in addition to a timing differential between some integration-related costs incurred and the flow through of their benefit in subsequent quarters. Finally, the company's adjusted effective income tax rate in Q1 is expected to be slightly higher than the expected full year 2026 adjusted effective income tax rate.

Lastly, the company has implemented a reorganization of its internal sales teams to more closely align with its go-to-market strategy. This organizational realignment is intended to enhance strategic focus and operational execution by reflecting the distinct customer engagement models and growth drivers of each channel. As a result, effective the first quarter of 2026, we will transition from disclosing net sales for activewear and innerwear, which was previously hosiery and underwear, to providing the same information on a retail and wholesale basis. We believe these changes will improve transparency and better align the company's reporting with its go-to-market structure. We expect to provide supplemental 2025 pro forma disaggregation of revenue disclosure when we report our first quarter results for 2026.

In summary, we are pleased with the quarter, and we're excited to continue to provide you with the updates on our integration progress and our major 2026 initiatives in the spring, when we release our first quarter results. Thank you. Now I'll turn it over to Jessy.

Jessy Hayem (SVP, Head of Investor Relations and Global Communications)

Thank you, Luca. This concludes our prepared remarks. Now we'll be taking your questions. As usual, before moving to the Q&A session, I'd like to remind you to limit your questions to two. Then we'll circle back for a second round if time permits. Sarah, you may begin the Q&A session, please.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Please ensure your phone is not on mute when called upon. Thank you. Your first question comes from Paul Lejuez with Citigroup. Your line is open.

Brandon Cheatham (VP of Equity Research)

Hey, everyone, this is Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about the destocking that you're planning for the year. You know, what is the cadence of that? Does it primarily hit, you know, 1Q? Should we see that kind of rebound as the year progresses? I just want to confirm, it sounds like this is driven by your capacity changes by shutting down those two facilities. It's not something that you're seeing in customer orders. Are some orders just going unfulfilled, or are you kind of working hand in hand with your customers on that? I have one follow-up.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

I'll start with the first part of the question. What we're doing is, look, we communicated last year that we are increasing our internal capacity in Bangladesh and in Central America, obviously in anticipation to support the Hanes integration. You know, there's a disconnect between what our ultimate capacity is and what our run rate is. Currently, we have all the capacity in place to support the closure of the two Hanes facilities. They only had two facilities, it's basically closing both of their textile facilities. What we're currently doing, is we're, you know, bringing that product into our Gildan network. Obviously, you know, we're ramping the volumes up to support the capacity that's in place.

The disconnect for us right now is that we're short on available inventory, but we have a little bit available. We have tightness of inventory as we move into 2026 that needs to be managed, so we're proactively reducing inventory in the channels to reflect that, which would ultimately should allow us to bring that inventory back up as we move into the later part of this year into 2027. I'll maybe let Luca talk about the timing.

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, thanks for your question. I think that, you know, in order to articulate the timing and really understand how this is impacting our guide, it's really important to understand the composition of the top line. Let me start by saying that as we understand the top line, the starting point is really our pro forma results for 2025, okay? In other words, the pro forma results simulate as if the Hanes acquisition would have occurred the first day of 2025. Our pro forma net sales are $6.089 billion.

That excludes both the sales contribution of HanesBrands Australia, which is now classified as an asset held for sale and as a discontinued operation, and the expiry of that, of the transition service agreement at HanesBrands, which related to its divestiture of Champion, which was slightly over $100 million. That's the starting point. From that point, effectively, both wholesale and retail are fundamentally growing, and they're growing off of that pro forma base in line with the expectations of our growth over the next three years of 3%-5%. The wholesale growth vectors, they include growth in key categories, fleece, ring spin, Comfort Colors, brands like Champion, ALLPRO, the continuation of strong growth from national accounts, which includes some of our, you know, our private label programs in fleece and tee.

Items that contributed to our 75% of our organic growth in 25, that continues as we move into 2026. Continue to take share, despite fluid macroeconomic environment, from our product innovation, and some positive mix is also contributing to that accretion. On the retail side, growth is expected across all categories. It's primarily supported by sales, you know, share gains and expansion across key retail customers and channels, and it's complemented by the impact of some price that we took to work through the impact of tariff costs and inventory. That underlying growth I just described is offset really by two factors. The first is our proactive decision to temporarily reduce inventories across the customer channels, as Glenn was alluding to.

That inventory reduction, driven by the accelerated integration of production volumes from the closure of the two Hanes facilities into our network, that's a trade-off of short-term capacity tightness for accelerated synergy capture. As a reminder, you know, we're expected to yield run rate synergies now of $250 million over the next three years, versus the $200 million was previously communicated, and that cadence is now realized with $100 million in 2026, $100 million in 2027, and $50 million in 2028. The second factor is, remember that we're continuing to optimize our operating footprint and commercial mix with a clear focus on margin accretive growth. Effectively, the $6 billion-$6.2 billion top-line guide from continuing operations, it excludes $675 million of expected contribution from HAA.

It's rooted in the foundational growth, and it's offset by the actions that we are, you know, taking for the long term. In terms of the cadence, when you take a look at our Q1 net sales guidance, it's approximately $1.15 billion. Again, to appreciate what's happening in Q1, we needed the understanding of the full year, and our Q1 guidance reflects our proactive decision to temporarily reduce the inventories across channels. Q1 also has, in terms of the addition to that, where we're comping higher sales in the first quarter of 2025 related to customers across channels, where there was some pre-buying in anticipation of potential tariffs coming through. It's impacting our Q1 guidance, and some of that may trickle into the beginning of the second quarter.

Brandon Cheatham (VP of Equity Research)

Got it. That's very helpful. Then just to follow up, after you close those two Hanes facilities, you know, what sales can you achieve with your current manufacturing capacity? Then when Bangladesh phase two comes online, should we think about that as an incremental $500 million in sales capacity, or has anything changed there? Thank you.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

We have enough sales capacity today to support the guide of the 3%-5% over the 3-year period. Once we bring Bangladesh 2 online, obviously we'll be able to support 2028 and 2029 at least with the level of capacity. It's a little bit different mix associated because depending on what product and what mix goes into that textile facility. I would say that we definitely have visibility on enough capacity to support 2028 and 2029 with the development of the second phase of Bangladesh, and we can support 2026 and 2027 going into 2028 with what we have available to us right now.

That's the part that's important to understand, is that we did already put it in our bed into our guidance of CapEx guidance in 2025. You know, we did a expansion and throughout our network, we're expanding again in DR in 26, which is embedded into our, you know, our 3% CapEx number that we outlined, as well as the development of our Bangladeshi facility. That's all embedded in our 3%, 3%-4% CapEx number. The important thing to understand is that if everything is in place, it's now the disconnect. You know, we couldn't start ramping up production in 2025 in anticipation for the Hanes closure. We had to wait for the closure to happen, otherwise we would have been, you know, consuming more working capital, et cetera.

The way you have to look at it is that all this capacity is in place. We're running at a certain run rate today. You know, we're closing the two Hanes facilities. That product, amongst our product, has to be sort of manufactured, and there's a disconnect between the time it takes us to sort of, you know, develop and grow the volumes within the capacity that's already there. That's sort of why we're, you know, managing these inventories in the channel, in the short term. That's really a short-term situation, and it will work itself through as we move through this year.

The other important point is that, you know, when we looked at synergies, you know, obviously the synergy from Hanes' cost structure to the Gildan cost structure, you know, that's a synergy which is quantifiable, but scale is also a huge synergy for us right now. As we continue to optimize and grow the Gildan footprint, we're continuing to lower our cost structure, and be better positioned, I think, as we continue to go forward. You know, we're very excited about where we are.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Jay Sole with UBS. Your line is open.

Jay Sole (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you so much. Maybe, Glenn, I wanna just follow up on that. You know, I think you mentioned the prepared remarks that you see $100 million in synergies this year, $100 million next year, and at least $50 million in 2028. Can you just talk about what you're seeing that allowed you to raise the guidance and sort of, you know, do you see opportunities even beyond in 2028 versus, you know, kind of what was stated in the press release today? Thank you.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

Well, look, I mean, there's definitely an ongoing, you know, opportunity for us to continue, you know, reducing and increasing the synergy levels. I mean, you know, as we, you know, go into this, obviously, you know, when we called out in the beginning, we said it was 200, potentially up to 300. You know, what we do is we just want to make sure that we articulate what we really have clear line of sight of. Right now, we have clear line of sight of, you know, the 200. You know, we're continuing to move forward and see if we can bring that 200, you know, to, you know, up. As far as the, you know, the opportunity above and beyond the 3-year period, you know, there's things like, you know, Bangladesh, for example.

There's still a lot of fabric that is being sourced outside, you know, and that will be internalized as we go forward and bring on Bangladesh. We know that, you know, Bangladesh will bring us additional savings and synergies as we move past the three-year period. We're, you know, we're really comfortable on, you know, the $250, and, you know, potentially taking that up from there if, as we move forward, and we'll communicate that as we move along. Every quarter, we'll give you an update, but, you know, we're effectively looking to, you know, get all these synergies. You know, this is not, you know, really a back-to-basics story.

This is basically just us hunting and tackling and going through, things. I mean, you know, there was a lot of complexity in the business, and we're streamlining. You know, that's part of, you know, what we've taken into consideration even a little bit this year, as we look at it. You know, there's some businesses that, and segments that they shouldn't really be in, and these are all areas that we're looking to, you know, streamline and reduce, SG&A complexity. Overall, we're very excited. One thing I'd like to really point out about the synergies, it's not just about the synergies.

Look, we have line of sight on synergies, but I also like to maybe just add, I think that the most important point about the whole thing is that we're also investing, and we're investing in the innovation of the product. Just the fact that we're actually looking at the synergies, but we are not just, you know, reducing the cost structure of the businesses, but we're investing in the future. You know, one of the things that we're doing right now is we're also reinvigorating the product offerings of the Hanes in all segments, and enhancing what we think is the go-to-market strategy of the quality of these products by leveraging our vertically integrated, low-cost manufacturing, the innovation that we've been able to develop.

You know, that, in a way, is a dis-synergy because we're putting more value in the garments that, you know, that they're gonna be going to market with. You know, we're in a very good position right now. This is one of the reasons why we're moving quickly, because we wanna not just capture the synergies, but we believe that the quicker that we can innovate and elevate the Hanes product category and their lines and offer better quality products to the consumer, the faster we're gonna go on a trajectory of sales growth with this brand, because we think the brand has a lot of legs, and we're very excited about our positioning so far.

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Maybe, Glenn, I'd just like to add, I think, you know, Jay, from an earnings profile, right, in terms of our guidance, that we're really encouraged, right, with the $4.20-$4.40 of adjusted EPS, which includes $100 million synergies for 2026. You know, the actions we're taking, accelerating and increasing our synergies to $250 million, with $100 in 2026, $100 in 2027, and $50 in 2028, we're very encouraged by that.

Jay Sole (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Well, you know, if I can just follow up on that, because, you know, there's a lot of important points there, Glenn. The investment in the product, I think, I'm glad you brought that up. I think there's a thought out there, you know, HanesBrands hadn't had a lot of sales growth, you know, looking backwards over the last few years of their history. I mean, do you see it, the Hanes, the portfolio of brands that you're acquiring, you know, with HanesBrands? Do you see that as a portfolio that you can grow over time? Because not everybody has that, you know, is aware of that.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

Right, exactly. You know, one of the things I think is important is that, first of all, we're gonna hold an investor conference sometime in the fall. Jessy and Luca and myself are gonna, you know, nail down that date because, you know, when we can explain to investors, shareholders, really our strategy, the opportunity at hand, I mean, the opportunity is, you know, we think is quite large. You know, Hanes has had declines, but the declines have been in certain categories. I mean, the intimates has not performed, but that's a category which is, you know, sort of in decline because of the consumer. It's department store driven. Department stores have obviously declined over the years. It's also a consumer that's basically changing their purchase habits from going to structured to unstructured product offerings.

There's different elements of why and where the, you know, the sales have dissipated. You know, the innerwear business is still taking share. I mean, HanesBrands as a company is gaining market share. They gained market share in 2025. So far this year, at the beginning of the year, they're continuing to gain share. They're doing that, I think, without really the type of investment that was required for the long term. I mean, that was sort of, I would say, the challenges that the company did have. They weren't able to invest the capital in innovation that Gildan or manufacturing capacity. When you take an iconic brand like Hanes, and you combine that with the vertical integrated low-cost manufacturing, it's an exciting proposition.

We're really gonna change the way underwear is being sold in the United States, I can tell you that. With the development of our plan, we're gonna explain all this to the market, but we are gonna be investing in technology, innovation, ESG, all the things that are fundamental to our Gildan sustainable growth strategy. We're gonna put that into, you know, what we think is an underinvested brand in Hanes. Despite the underinvestment, the thing is doing well, and we think with the investment we're making, you know, innerwear as a category is gonna continue to grow. Also, don't forget, is that, you know, Hanes used to have a very large activewear business.

That's another growth opportunity for Gildan, is because, look, if we can leverage our platform, our products, our innovation, everything that we have from an activewear perspective as well, to help grow it. I mean, back in, when Hanes was spun off from Sara Lee, half of their business was activewear, and half their business was innerwear. Today, you know, activewear is a very small part of their business. You know, we're excited. We think we have a lot to offer. We have a great team of people. Chester is on the forefront of making sure that and has now taken over the both divisions and spending his time in Winston-Salem, where we're consolidating our retail groups together.

We're well positioned to continue to grow, and, you know, we're excited.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Brian Morrison with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Brian Morrison (Analyst)

Thank you. Glenn, you mentioned the Q1 de-stock recovery later in this year and next. Why no change to the 2028 EPS CAGR guide with the increase in aggregate synergies to $250 million. That would be another $0.20-$0.25. Is this a rounding error? Are you providing some cushion in that guidance? Maybe it's more appropriate for Luca.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

As you understand, there's obviously, Luca, you wanna do it?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Sure. Thanks for your question. As we articulated in the press release, we're maintaining our view on the three-year guide, right? 3%-5% on the top line in terms of a CAGR, low 20% range adjusted EPS, and 3%-4% of net sales from a CapEx perspective, and so on. Effectively, we've maintained that. You're right, we've increased the synergies to 250, 100 in 2026, 100 in 2027, and 50 in 2028. Our three-year guidance was put out really ahead of the increased synergy number. There's puts and takes, but the ultimate takeaway is that we're very comfortable with what we put out.

We're continuing you know, to chase the performance and push for it. As Glenn articulated, we're not stopping there, right? We're going after more if it can come. Today, what we're saying is we're comfortable with that top line CAGR. We're comfortable with that adjusted EPS growth over the three years, and we're encouraged by the synergies that we're estimating today.

Brian Morrison (Analyst)

Okay, maybe just from a high-level basis, maybe just update us with how far down the road the Australian process is. You announced this back in August. You had closure of the HBI transaction in December. Is it well underway, or is it really just commencing?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Again, on the HAA process, first of all, the takeaways. Look, we're only gonna proceed with something that if there's value, the terms are attractive for us, it's in the best interest of the company and our stakeholders. That's the headline. The other thing is that we've engaged, you know, our bankers. We're within a process. The process is unfolding as planned, but we don't intend to provide any further updates on that regarding the sale of, or transaction, until it's either approved by the board or the process is concluded. It's underway. It's progressing as planned, and that's what I can share at this time.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Ian Liu with Scotiabank. Your line is open.

Ian Liu (Equity Research Associate)

Hi, good morning. Thank you. My first question is on all three underwear or innerwear segment. I was wondering if you could help us unpack the performance this quarter. Like, organically, how did Gildan and Hanes innerwear business perform? How much did the timing shipment from Q3 into Q4 help? Maybe what other factors that drove the result? Just trying to understand the underlying business performance during the holiday season as well.

Chester Ward (President, Sales, Marketing and Distribution)

Okay, thanks for the question, Ian. you know, I think the good thing is, as we said back in Q3 of last year, we said that the innerwear business would improve in Q4, and it did improve as we suspected quarter-over-quarter. Organically, we were effectively flat in innerwear for Q4. Again, great improvement over Q3, just as we had expected. One thing Glenn pointed out is, you know, both our legacy and organic business, as well as the HanesBrands business, has continued to gain share in innerwear and is performing quite well, not only through Q4, but as we've entered into, you know, Q1. We feel good about where we're positioned in the category and our outlook on 2026, which Luca had mentioned in his comments.

Again, I think we feel good about where we are. We're gonna continue to drive share there. We're gonna continue, as Glenn mentioned, to look at product. Where can we innovate? Where can we make changes? Where can we improve our customers' experience? We think that's gonna bode well for us going forward.

Ian Liu (Equity Research Associate)

Thank you. That's helpful. Then my second question is on the sales growth outlook. Thanks for all the color so far, but could you maybe provide a bit more color on, like, the composition of the drivers of your organic growth expectations outside of the temporary inventory reduction? Maybe break it down by your expectations on activewear and innerwear or retail and wholesale and volume and pricing. Thank you.

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, thanks for your question. The revenue guide for 2026, right between $6 billion-$6.2 billion. As we spoke about earlier, fundamentally, from a wholesale and retail perspective, there's growth that's in the plan. That's offset by the initiative, the proactive initiatives we're taking with reduction of inventories, as well as, you know, as we continue to look at the business and try to optimize the commercial mix and just really focusing on margin accretive growth. When you kind of peel back the onion and you say, well, where's that growth coming from for wholesale and retail? They don't come as a surprise. We've got growth in key categories, right? Fleece, ring spun products, Comfort Colors, the Champion brand, ALLPRO, the basics driven by innovation, strong national account growth, right?

Our GLB customers. We have the wraparound of programs that contributed to 75% of our growth in 2025, that are coming in to, you know, to 2026, and we have that visibility on the same type of composition as we move forward. Those really underpin the growth. When you take a look at retailers, really the retail growth across the categories that make up, you know, the innerwear, right? In terms of underwear, hosiery, and so forth, it's across our key customers and channels. Where is that coming from? It's through share gains, expansion of space, and so forth, and the wraparound of programs. You know, that should give you a little bit of color on that front.

We're pleased with the $6 billion-$6.2 billion of the top line guide for 2026. Ultimately, with all of, you know, that contribution and the contribution of the synergy capture, you know, we're gonna see sequential improvement as we go through the year in terms of our operating margin, and effectively expect to deliver that adjusted EPS of $4.20-$4.40, which is up 20%-25% versus our reported 2025 results of $3.51. We're encouraged by the growth profile.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Martin Landry with Stifel. Your line is open.

Martin Landry (Managing Director, Consumer and Retail Analyst)

Hi, good morning. Glenn, I'm just trying to understand mechanically, how the integration will happen. You're talking about closing the two facilities that Hanes was operating. Hanes had similar revenue levels as you did. So, you know, help me understand, how are you gonna cram two big facilities into what you had? Like, I think you said in excess of 10% capacity, you that you mentioned last fall. So, like, how's this gonna work? Are you gonna use third-party providers as well?

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

No, we, all this will be internal, internalized in our own facilities. What we said last year is that we went through an expansion in our Bangladesh facility. We expanded it by 50% to be able to support the volumes of Hanes. We had about 10% excess capacity in our system, and we said we added another about 10% in Central America. That's what we communicated to, during 2025. We're also gonna be adding additional capacity in our facility in DR in 2026 by moving some of their equipment into our facility. Overall, we have enough ample capacity to support Hanes. You have to understand, there's a big difference between underwear and activewear. Obviously, in terms of the amount of fabric and material it takes.

It takes, you know, 1 pound to make an undergarment. It takes 7 pounds to make an average mix, 15 pounds to make a sweatshirt, 1 pound to make an undergarment. In terms of poundage, when we look at capacity, you have to understand the mix associated, you know, with that type of product offering. Overall, we're very excited. We have the capacity in place. We just have to get the volumes within those facilities running at the right capacity, and that's sort of the point of reflection here, is that the capacity was installed and running at a certain rate, and now what we're doing is we're closing their facilities, their 2 facilities, which will be shuttered sometime at the end of, you know, Q1.

That product, amongst our product, will be in our facilities, and then, therefore, you know, we'll be a little tight as we continue to ramp up to the level of production run rate that's supported the capacity that's installed. That's the whole important thing here. You know, we'll manage inventories in the channel. We feel very comfortable that we could, you know, we can do that without affecting our POS. And, you know, as we go through the end of the year, some of that may come back in, some of it may not, we're not sure. That we always have the ability to put those goods back in the channel as we move into 2027. You know, I think this is a good plan, and you have to understand things is that, you know...

The reason why we're accelerating this is just because this is not just about our manufacturing, COG side of it, but it's also the SG&A side. We're looking at IT systems, for example. The time it takes to do an implementation on a textile factory from an IT perspective is nine months. The lesser facilities that we have to, you know, integrate, the quicker that we can get the other parts of our, you know, SG&A-associated expenses. You know, Hanes was spending a greater amount on IT systems than Gildan was, just because of their complexity and other things that go with it. You know, we're looking at a comprehensive, cohesive view of how we're gonna be able to attack these synergies and complexity, simplification. All the things that we do are gonna be instrumental to achieving it.

That's why we're so confident in our ability to execute and achieve these synergies.

Martin Landry (Managing Director, Consumer and Retail Analyst)

Okay, thank you. That's helpful. Thanks for the color. Then, Luca, I don't know if you quantified it, but in your $6 billion-$6.2 billion revenue guide, what's the impact of that inventory reduction?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

As we went through the guide for the $6 billion-$6.2 billion, again, the takeaway is that fundamentally, there's growth in the range that's consistent with what we're expecting over the 3 years of 3%-5% across both wholesale and retail. As that comes into play, there's 2 factors that are effectively offsetting, which is, 1, the proactive reduction of the inventories, and 2, to a lesser extent, as we continue to optimize the operating footprint on the commercial mix. I would say, you know, it's closer to two-thirds on the first item and one-third on the second item.

So that's what yields a guidance of 6 to 6.2, against a pro forma of 2025, which is 6.089.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Vishal Shreedhar with National Bank. Your line is open.

Vishal Shreedhar (Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Luca, I was just hoping to, you know, obviously, when you do a deal like this, things shift and things change. At closing, My understanding was that management previously articulated leverage of about in the mid-2s, and you're currently at 3. Maybe you can help me understand that.

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Absolutely. When we did close the first of all, we closed the transaction earlier than expected, right? We were saying that, it was, you know, end of the year, but really more in the first quarter. We closed it earlier than expected, which we're really pleased, because now we have the keys, and we can get going with our integration plan. That's number one. Number two, the elements that contributed to a leverage of around 3 times or 3 times at the end of the year, it was effectively slightly higher debt levels at closing. And also in terms of the EBITDA contribution or the EBITDA's pro forma.

At the time, you know, there was adjustments for differences between IFRS and US GAAP and so forth, that came into play, so we just shored up the number. The takeaway here is we're at 3 times leverage today. In the guide, we're going to generate over $850 million of free cash flow. That is a big number. With that, we are putting that towards ensuring that we can delever this transaction as quickly as possible. We did come out in the original announcement saying that we would delever between 12-18 months. We are trying to delever as quickly as we can, maintain our strong balance sheet. We're an investment-grade balance sheet, which is valuable to us and also valuable to our customers. The focus is on delevering.

When we get to around the midpoint of our targeted range of one and a half to two and a half times, we'll then return to buying back stock. We put that on pause. We feel very comfortable with where the balance sheet is today, with the cash flow generation that's within the guide. To complement all of that is also our HAA sale process, which would also further accelerate that delevering. We're comfortable with where the leverage is, and we're attacking it.

Vishal Shreedhar (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. With respect to the the EPS CAGR, we took up, you took up the synergies, you chatted about that. But my understanding was previously management had indicated it'd be 20% CAGR, with something materially exceeding 20% in the first year. At the time that was given, HBI's consideration for Australia was understood. Just wondering how that's changed and what the thinking around that has changed?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, sure, Vishal. It's a good question. I think here, nothing has changed, really is the way to think about it. We're at, you know, $4.20-$4.40 off of our $3.51, so we're, you know, growing between 20%-25%. At the time, the discussion was around the consolidated entity. Now we've concluded our strategic review of HAA. HAA is now reported as a discontinued operation, and you'll see, as it gets reported, HAA is projected to contribute $0.21 of discontinued operations. That $0.21 is not in our guide of $4.20-$4.40. If you would aggregate the two, we would be exactly in line with what we had communicated. The differential is simply HAA being recorded as an asset held for sale and a discontinued operation.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Stephen MacLeod with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Stephen MacLeod (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Thank you. Good morning. I just had a couple of follow-up questions. The first one is with respect to the Q1 inventory reduction. You know, how do you balance that with potential sell-through challenges? Like, do you expect that lower inventory will lead to stock outs in some situations or not?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

No, we feel comfortable that, and we're very prudent about our approach. And, you know, the inventory is gonna be dispersed, like we said, through channels, so it's not particularly in one place. And, you know, we have good inventory levels in the channel, 'cause that's what's one of the things that have been allowing us to generate share. We think we can optimize those levels. We have the capability of doing it, and really not affect the POS at all. We're very comfortable. We have very good in-stock levels. Our percentages, when you look in stock, it's not just the sheer volume we have in stock, but we really manage it by the percentage of the quality of that in stock.

Our quality of our in-stock today is very, very high. You can sometimes you have, you know, good inventories, but your quality is not good because you're missing something. Like, for example, we've been chasing Comfort Colors now for the last 3 years because it's been growing by 40% a year. You know, during 2025, you know, we brought those inventories to a appropriate level to support the revenue of that as we increased our capacity. Overall, we think that we're in a very good position, and we don't see any negative impact from POS. You know, that answers your question?

Stephen MacLeod (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Okay, that's great. Thank you. Just my second one would be, I don't know if you disclosed it in the notes. I haven't seen it, but can you give a little bit of color as to what Hanes Australia adjusted EBITDA would have been in Q4?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

What we've provided is in terms of for 2026, we know the sales is $675, and the contribution is expected to be $0.21 of earnings. With respect to the fourth quarter, in the disclosures, you can see the sales that it contributed to the fourth quarter, which was around $70 million, and it contributed $0.04 of earnings to discontinued operations.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Chris Li with Desjardins Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Chris Li (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Thanks for squeezing me in. My first question is just that, did you see any sequential improvement in terms of industry demand for both the wholesale and retail channel in Q4? What is your outlook that underpins your guidance for 2026 in terms of industry demand? Thank you.

Chester Ward (President, Sales, Marketing and Distribution)

Thanks, Chris. I mean, I think overall, the market was okay in Q4, on the dollar, from a dollar perspective. But units were down slightly, but we're continuing to see higher value products that we've talked about, for example, Comfort Colors, Champion, ALLPRO. So we're continuing to see where the market's been driven by those higher value products, and we're continuing to grow those and take share. And, you know, overall, the wholesale retail markets were a little bit softer than we expected, but we gained share in key categories, and we continued to go and grow on that. You know, as we look at 2026, you know, we think we're gonna be, you know, flat to up low single digits, plus our new program.

The way we get the growth we've talked about is we have that, plus, you know, we have new programs. Not only do we have the wraparound from some of the programs that we've talked about in 2025, but also new programs in 2026, from everything from Champion and ALLPRO to some GLB programs, as well as some new products and categories. You probably saw that, we've talked about accessories, we've talked about scrubs, and then again, new retail programs, not only in activewear, but innerwear, and not only in Hanes, but also some private label programs as well. We feel really good about where we are as we go into 2026, with those new programs and what we think the market assumption is.

Chris Li (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Thank you for that. My follow-up question is for Glenn. You mentioned earlier, you know, the Hanes, the US intimate business has been underperforming because of structural factors. Is that potentially something you would consider divesting at some point as you continue to integrate the business within the Gildan platform? Thanks.

Glenn Chamandy (President and CEO)

No, at this point in time, look, we think that, you know, it's sort of gone to a trough. I mean, there's, you know, one brand which has really been underperforming the most of the brands that they do offer. I think they have a plan to stabilize that and revigorate it. Look at, you know, time will tell, but we think that it's definitely not gonna be a growth driver for the company, but we think that we can elevate it, improve margins, and stabilize the business, basically. That's where we are today, and we'll see how that goes as we go forward.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Ryland Conrad with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Ryland Conrad (Equity Research Analyst)

Yeah, good morning. Thanks for squeezing me in. Just on the operating margin guidance, could you speak a bit to the assumed underlying margin expansion for the standalone Gildan business and just what the puts and takes are there for 2026?

Luca Barile (EVP and CFO)

Thanks for your question. For 2026, the adjusted operating margin guidance, right, approximately 20%. Gildan's base profile was obviously higher than Hanes's base profile. You have the two coming together, sequential improvement as you go through the year, given the synergies are coming in and so forth. The growth drivers to the strong operating margin at the end of the day, remain unchanged. If you take a look at what's been driving the operating margin performance at Gildan, we've had the optimization of our Central American capacity, our yarn optimization, the Bangladesh cost advantage, that's really bolstered the gross margin, discipline around SG&A.

That's really the base. You tack on the Hanes profile, and then you tack on the synergies that are coming in in 2026, and that's effectively what's going to drive the 20%. With that strong 20%, you know, delivering the earnings of $4.20 to $4.40, I do want to reiterate again that the quality of those earnings are strong because of the cash flow generation that we have in the plan, which is over $850 million. I would say it's the usual suspects that were driving Gildan's margin that will continue, plus the synergies.

Ryland Conrad (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, thanks. Just on Comfort Colors expanding into new categories this year, is there anything you could share maybe on initial conversations with your customers there? With respect to your net sales guidance for this year, like, are there any assumptions baked into that around the contribution from those categories?

Chester Ward (President, Sales, Marketing and Distribution)

Ryland. I think first on the expansions of Comfort Colors, one, the brand has continued to have a consumer that really seeks the brand as an emotional emotional connection to the brand, and it's gonna open up our opportunity to go into category, other categories and things like the accessories. We did have our show out in Long Beach earlier in the year, where we launched hats and bags. What I can tell you from the reception perspective, is from the minute the show opened to the minute the show closed, there was a long line waiting at the booth to get a chance to win one and to see them. And the feedback, I was there on the floor with the customers.

The feedback of the product was great. I think that customer gives us leeway to go into other categories, and we think we can continue to do that. We'll continue to grow that brand. Yes, there's contribution in our, in our forecast for that. I would say it's muted in the, in the first part of, you know, of the year. Or I'm sorry, throughout the year, 'cause we're introducing the new category as well. But yes, there is contribution. The other brand that we're spending a lot of time with is ALLPRO. ALLPRO, we've talked about that brand as well. It's growing, it's from a low base, but it, great reception from the brand.

It allows us to play more in performance and corporate wear, you know, and go into different categories that way. Champion, you know, we talked about our license with Champion. It opens up other areas as well, and fan wear, sports wear, kind of from the sports heritage brand that it is. Really, what we're trying to do as we look out at the market overall, is how do we continue to expand that addressable market for us and so that we can reach into other areas?

Operator (participant)

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call to Jessy Hayem for closing remarks.

Jessy Hayem (SVP, Head of Investor Relations and Global Communications)

Thank you. Once again, we'd like to thank everyone for joining us and attending our call today, and we look forward to speaking with you soon. Have a great day.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.