La-Z-Boy - Q3 2026

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mark Becks, Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development at La-Z-Boy. Mark, the floor is yours.

Mark Becks (Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development)

Thank you, Jenny. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us to discuss our fiscal 2026 third quarter. Joining me on today's call are Melinda Whittington, La-Z-Boy Incorporated's Board Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Taylor Luebke, SVP and CFO. Melinda will open and close the call, and Taylor will speak to segment performance and the financials midway through. After our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. Slides will accompany this presentation, and you may view them through our webcast link, which will be available for one year, and a telephone replay of the call will be available for one week, beginning this afternoon. I would like to remind you that some statements made in today's call include forward-looking statements about La-Z-Boy's future performance and other matters. Although we believe these statements to be reasonable, our actual results could differ materially.

The most significant risk factors that could affect our future results are described in our annual report on Form 10-K. We encourage you to review those risk factors as well as other key information detailed in our SEC filings. Also, our earnings release is available under the News and Events tab on the Investor Relations page of our website, and includes reconciliations of certain adjusted measures, which are also included as an appendix at the end of our conference call slide deck. With that, I will now turn the call over to Melinda.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Thanks, Mark. Good morning, everyone. Yesterday, following the close of market, we reported our strong January-ended third quarter results. These results are proof that we continue to strengthen our enterprise and increase the agility of our business. Highlights for our third quarter included total delivered sales of $542 million, up 4% versus prior year. In our retail segment, both written and delivered sales increased 11% versus prior year, and we opened four new company-owned stores during the quarter, bringing us to 16 new company-owned stores in the last twelve months and four closed. In our wholesale segment, delivered sales grew 1% versus prior year, and we made continued progress on our distribution and home delivery transformation project with the completion of our Western U.S. phase of the network.

Our GAAP operating margin was 5.5%, and adjusted operating margin was 6.1%, coming in toward the high end of our guidance range. We again generated strong operating cash flow of $89 million for the quarter, increasing 57% versus last year's comparable period. Amid the ongoing challenging consumer environment, we continue to create our own momentum, led by retail expansion. As I noted, total written sales for our company-owned retail segment increased 11% versus last year's third quarter, driven by new and acquired stores. Written same-store sales, which exclude the benefit of new and acquired stores, decreased 4% for the quarter. Continued challenging traffic, consistent with our industry, was partially offset by strong in-store execution, including higher conversion rates, average ticket, and design sales.

Within the quarter, same-store sales trends were strongest in January, turning positive versus a year ago, until widespread adverse weather slowed traffic in late January and continuing into early February across much of the United States. While we don't believe these weather events will impact overall furniture demand, we do expect some timing effects carrying into our fourth quarter deliveries as consumers reengage on planned purchases. Separately, for Joybird, total written sales for our third quarter decreased 13% compared to a year ago, as this consumer segment continues to be particularly volatile against the current macroeconomic backdrop. During the quarter, we also progressed our strategic initiatives. We successfully integrated our 15-store acquisition in the Southeast region of the United States. We formally announced the planned closure of our U.K. manufacturing facility, where production will cease by the end of the fiscal year.

We completed the sale of our Kincaid Upholstery business just after the close of our third quarter, and we signed a letter of intent for the sale of our non-core wholesale casegoods businesses, American Drew and Kincaid, targeted to be complete by this fiscal year-end. Stepping back, I'd like to spend a few more minutes highlighting some of the structural improvements our team has achieved through these current initiatives and highlight the progress made as we advance our Century Vision strategy for our next hundred years. We are pleased to have successfully integrated our acquisition of the 15-store network in the Southeast region. This transaction was our largest single retail acquisition in the company's history, adding $80 million in annualized retail sales and $40 million net to the total enterprise.

The seamless integration into our company-owned network reflects the collective efforts of many internal stakeholders, and the stores are performing well. Independent store acquisitions are an important part of our Century Vision strategy, as they are immediately sales and profit accretive and provide ownership of a new market with potential white space opportunities. We will continue to pursue these types of acquisitions as they become available. Opening new La-Z-Boy stores is also a key lever to growing our retail business and expanding our brand reach. In addition to completing our largest ever acquisition this quarter, we also are achieving the most significant period of new store expansion in our company's history. We opened four new company-owned stores in the quarter, and in the last 12 months, we opened 16 new stores while closing four. In total, we've added 29 net company-owned stores over the past year.

Our total network of stores, including independently owned, has expanded to 374, and our current proportion of company-owned stores is now at an all-time high of 60% of the total network. We see opportunity to grow the La-Z-Boy store network to over 400 stores as we broaden our brand reach and delight and inspire even more consumers. We expect to open 16 new stores in total for this fiscal and continue at a pace of opening roughly 10 stores a year for the next several years. Momentum in our wholesale segment also remains solid as we delivered our seventh consecutive quarter of sales growth in our core North American La-Z-Boy wholesale business, and we continue to grow our strategic compatible distribution with key partners like Slumberland and Rooms To Go.

Wholesale customers value the strength of the La-Z-Boy brand, the enduring quality, and the differentiated product functionality offered by our North American manufacturing capabilities. Our vertically integrated model, with approximately 90% of upholstered products produced in the United States, remains a key competitive advantage as we navigate the current challenging macroeconomic environment and has served as our foundation throughout our 99-year history. We're making meaningful progress on building an even more agile supply chain through our multi-year distribution and home delivery transformation project. During the third quarter, we completed the Western U.S. third of this project, serviced by our new Arizona centralized hub. We recently broke ground on our new Dayton, Tennessee, centralized hub, which will serve our eastern region. This transformation will improve an already strong consumer experience, ensure faster speed of delivery, and enable an expanded delivery reach.

In aggregate, we expect this project to deliver between 50-75 basis points of wholesale margin improvement, up to 50 basis points to the entire enterprise once completed. As part of our strategic roadmap to expand brand reach, leveraging our iconic brand, we are creating integrated strategies for our retail and marketing teams. These strategies have enabled more cohesive and focused plans for our store network, improving execution and reducing redundancy. As a result, we are better positioned to capture consumer demand, improve responsiveness, and navigate the volatile environment with greater discipline and agility. Our new brand identity continues to receive positive media attention. In December, La-Z-Boy was cited by Ad Age as one of the top five rebrands of 2025.

The mention went on to say, "La-Z-Boy's brand refresh felt like a full-bodied exhale, designed to make comfort feel as intentional as its famously cushy chairs." We plan to continue building off this success and expanding brand relevance with new and innovative ways to delight and inspire our consumers. Lastly, during our third quarter, we drove further progress in optimizing our portfolio and enabling focus on our core, vertically integrated North American upholstery business. We formally announced the planned closure of our U.K. manufacturing facility, where we expect production will cease by the end of our fiscal 2026. And we have solidified alternative sourcing for this business, leveraging our global supply chain network to ensure we are well-positioned to grow with our new customer base. We also completed the sale of our Kincaid Upholstery business just subsequent to our fiscal third quarter end.

We were pleased to transition this business in full to its new owners, who are former employees of the company. And finally, we signed a letter of intent for the sale of our non-core wholesale casegoods businesses, American Drew and Kincaid. Importantly, these changes will not impact our ability to offer casegoods as part of beautiful whole home solutions for consumers in our La-Z-Boy stores, Comfort Studios, and branded spaces. In fact, these changes will enhance our offerings in the future, opening up broader sourcing and driving efficiency in the process. We expect these final casegoods initiatives to be substantially complete by our fiscal year-end in April. And now, let me turn the call over to Taylor to review the financial results in more detail. Taylor?

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

Thank you, Melinda, and good morning, everyone. As a reminder, we present our results on both a GAAP and adjusted basis. We believe the adjusted presentation better reflects underlying operating trends and performance of the business. Adjusted results exclude items which are detailed in our press release and in the tables in the appendix section of our conference call slides. On a consolidated basis, fiscal 2026 third quarter sales increased 4% from prior year to $542 million, as growth in our retail and wholesale business were partially offset by lower delivered volume in our Joybird business. Consolidated GAAP operating income was $30 million, and adjusted operating income was $33 million. Consolidated GAAP operating margin was 5.5%, and adjusted operating margin was 6.1%. The change was largely driven by investments in our distribution and home delivery transformation project.

Diluted earnings per share totaled $0.52 on a GAAP basis, and adjusted diluted EPS was $0.61. As I move to the segment discussion, my comments from here will focus on our adjusted reporting, unless specifically stated otherwise. Starting with the retail segment, for the third quarter, delivered sales increased 11% to $252 million, driven by acquired and new stores. Retail adjusted operating margin was flat versus year ago at 10.7%, as accretion from acquisitions was offset by investment in new stores and fixed cost deleverage from lower delivered same-store sales. For our wholesale segment, delivered sales increased 1% to $367 million versus last year, driven by modest growth across the majority of our businesses, including our core North America La-Z-Boy wholesale business.

Adjusted operating margin for the wholesale segment was 6% in the third quarter versus 6.5% last year, driven primarily by investments in our distribution and home delivery transformation project and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. For Joybird, reported in corporate and other, delivered sales were $36 million, down 3% on lower delivered sales volume. Joybird operating loss increased versus the prior year, primarily due to fixed cost deleverage on lower Joybird delivered sales. Moving on to our consolidated adjusted gross margin and SG&A performance for fiscal 2026 third quarter. Consolidated adjusted gross margin for the entire company increased 10 basis points versus the prior year third quarter.

The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by the shift in consolidated mix towards our retail segment, which has a higher gross margin rate than our wholesale segment, partially offset by investments in our distribution and home delivery transformation project. Adjusted SG&A, as a percent of sales for the quarter, increased by 80 basis points compared with last year, also due to the shift in consolidated mix towards our retail segment, which carries a higher fixed cost structure relative to wholesale, as well as fixed cost deleverage on lower delivered same-store sales. Our effective tax rate on a GAAP basis for the third quarter was 31.3% versus 25.1% in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to nondeductible operating losses and one-time charges related to our supply chain optimization action in our U.K. business.

We expect our tax rate to normalize in fiscal 2027. Turning to liquidity, we ended the quarter with $306 million in cash and no externally funded debt. Our balance sheet remains strong, supported by the consistent cash generation of our operating model, even as we absorbed a significant acquisition in the quarter. We generated a strong $89 million in cash from operating activities in the third quarter, increasing 57% versus last year's comparable period, with improved working capital and an increase in customer deposits. We invested $18 million in capital expenditures during the quarter, primarily related to investment in new La-Z-Boy stores, as well as remodels, manufacturing-related investments, and spending related to our distribution and home delivery transformation. We also completed our 15-store acquisition in the Southeast region at the beginning of the quarter for a total of $86 million.

We continue to believe that the best use of our cash and the highest return on investment is prudently reinvesting back into the business. As such, we remain committed to disciplined investments in new stores, acquisitions, and our distribution and home delivery transformation project to profitably grow our core business. Regarding cash return to shareholders, year to date, we returned $55 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, including $28 million paid in dividend and $27 million in share repurchases. Also, in the quarter, we resumed more normalized share buybacks of $14 million, which leaves 3 million shares available under our existing share repurchase authorization. We expect consistent share repurchases ongoing, assuming ordinary business and economic conditions. We continue to view share repurchases and our dividend as an attractive use of our cash and positive return to shareholders.

Capital allocation in fiscal 2026 has tilted more toward the business through investments in the recent 15-store acquisition and our distribution and home delivery transformation project. Longer term, our capital allocation target remains consistent: to reinvest 50% of operating cash flow back into the business and return 50% to shareholders in share repurchases and dividends. Before turning the call back to Melinda, let me highlight several important items for fiscal 2026 in our fourth quarter. We expect fiscal fourth quarter sales to be in the range of $560 million-$580 million, and adjusted operating margin to be in the range of 7.5%-9%, reflecting a continued cautious view on the macroeconomic backdrop, as well as the short-term impact of recent adverse weather events.

We expect to open five new company-owned stores in the fourth quarter, bringing us to 16 for our full fiscal year. We expect capital expenditures to be in the range of $80-$90 million. This includes investments for new stores and remodels, our distribution and home delivery transformation project, and continued manufacturing-related investments. As a reminder, we expect the financial benefits of our strategic initiatives to have an annualized impact of approximately a $30 million net sales decrease and an adjusted operating margin improvement of 75-100 basis points to the entire enterprise. This represents the combined impacts of our 15-store acquisition, our casegoods exit, our planned closure of the U.K. plant, and our management reorganization. We expect the benefit of all of these initiatives when they are substantially completed by the end of this fiscal year.

These impacts do not include the additional long-term margin improvement we expect from our distribution and home delivery transformation project. Note, at this time, we do not expect these strategic initiatives to have a material one-time gain or loss to the enterprise. Lastly, we expect our tax rate for the full year to be in the range of 27%-29%. And with that, I will turn the call back to Melinda.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Thanks, Taylor. The furniture industry and broader macroeconomic environment continue to be challenging. What has not changed is our iconic brand and the ability to delight and inspire millions of consumers. As a testament to our enduring impact and cultural relevance, La-Z-Boy Incorporated has been recognized by Time Magazine as one of America's most iconic companies for 2026. This unsolicited award reflects the lasting connection generations of families have built with our beloved brand over our 99-year history. As we look ahead, we'll continue to honor our heritage of comfort, customization, and quality while evolving to succeed in any environment. We will continue to leverage our vertically integrated model with approximately 90% of upholstered products produced in the United States, create our own momentum, and position ourselves to disproportionately benefit when the industry does rebound.

This, combined with our mission of delivering the transformational power of comfort, will enable us to drive value for all stakeholders. I'd like to thank our dedicated employees for their continued commitment to bringing our beloved products into more homes, and I wish everyone the best in the year ahead. Now I'll turn the call back to Mark.

Mark Becks (Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development)

Thank you, Melinda. We will begin the question and answer period now. Jenny, please review the instructions for getting into the queue to ask questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, Mark. We are now conducting our question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your phone keypad now. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the queue. You can press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For anyone using speaker equipment, it might be necessary to pick up your handset before you press the keys. Please wait a moment while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is coming from Bobby Griffin of Raymond James. Bobby, your line is live.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first, Taylor or Melinda, I want to dive in kind of on some of the strategic kind of actions you guys have taken so far. And, you know, congrats on the speed of getting a lot of those underway. Taylor, can you maybe level set us, that margin improvement that you're referencing, what base year should we use? Because, you know, when you look back in fiscal year 2025, we were about a 7.6% EBIT margin, then it started to slide, given you started to do some of the distribution changes. So, like, level set us on where we should think about the improvement off of what base, and then I got some follow-up questions on that.

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

Yeah, Bobby. So when we announced these strategic initiatives, and you're right, we're really pleased with the progress we've made over a very short period of time with selling our upholstery business, as well as, you know, solidifying our plan for the U.K. supply. That 75-100 basis points that we put out there was based on, call it, the trailing twelve months of the enterprise results at the point of quarter two. So you can think of that as the right basis on which we expect to deliver that.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Okay, and is there any—like, when we think about, you know, completing that by the end of FY 2026, and then we can do the simple math on adding that to the trailing twelve, is there any offsets that would keep all that savings from flowing through? Like, is there an investment piece that you would need to use for advertising or anything like that? Or is that really gonna be dropped down to, call it, the bottom line?

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

You know, Bobby, we put it out there because we expect to realize it, again, against a pretty, you know, a generally consistent kind of macro consumer backdrop is how we look ahead. So our intent is it flows through 10, all else being equal.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Very good. Okay, that's, that's helpful. And then, Melinda, I want to maybe dive in on the comments you made about, you know, developing more agile business post some of these changes. What do you think that gives La-Z-Boy, as you think about kind of navigating the next three to five years in today's kind of consumer environment? Is it quicker product development? You know, you can move faster on stores. Like, just anything there to kind of help us think about how that could change the business and how you go to market.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Yeah, thanks for the question, Bobby. I guess at a couple of levels, I'll start with some of the transformation work on our supply chain. 99 years of building product in the United States for the North American consumer, we're quite good at it. But the consumer preferences change, where it makes the most sense to position your supply chain, the way that people want to be compensated and are motivated, those are all things that we constantly look at and have evolved over time. And so I think the distribution transformation project is just one of those examples where we had a fairly organic network to support our stores, but as the store's footprint has changed so dramatically, we had a huge opportunity to just rethink that process.

In the end, not only is that going to deliver bottom-line savings to the company and to the shareholder, but it's going to be an even more enhanced consumer experience. Broader delivery ranges is one example, and a better employee experience as well, because it'll be efficient. On the consumer side, as I think about our store network and then our in-home consumer insights, we are constantly evaluating how to have the right product, the right messaging, and the right shopping experience for the consumer. All things must begin with the consumer, and our broader retail ownership and omni-channel experience give us more control of that. It's staying in touch with kind of where the puck is heading, making sure we're predicting that, and then being responsive to that.

So, I guess I'd say kind of building the machine to constantly evolve over the future.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Very good. I'll turn it back over and jump in, back in the queue. Thank you, and best of luck here, on the next quarter.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Thanks, Bobby.

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

Thanks, Bobby.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. Our next question is coming from Taylor Zick of KeyBanc Capital. Taylor, your line is live.

Taylor Zick (Analyst in the Research Division)

Hey, good morning, everyone. Melinda, Melinda, maybe just to start here, kind of wanted to ask about the cadence of trends during the quarter. You provided some good commentary already, but just kind of knowing that there was, you know, improved trends in the prior year, post-election, and then you noted some January impacts as well. But, you know, any color you can provide on maybe what the underlying trends were in your third quarter versus your second quarter?

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Yeah, I would start by saying, you know, the consumer remains choppy, right? So we've talked about that for a while, that and the consumers are broadly we have, you know, a bifurcated consumer, that we have some that are really... It's aspirational to step into our brand and invest in quality, and so we sharpen price points. At the same time, we still have a very strong consumer interested in whole room solutions and upgrades and, you know, and really investing in their home with us. So with that said, you know, if I look back over Q3, to your point, over two years, Q3, you know, was actually positive.

And looking across the three months in our quarter, January was our strongest, was our strongest, actually turned positive on a same-store sales basis, until... And then was impacted by weather right here at the very end. I'll step into sort of the President's Day that began our fourth quarter. We were actually quite pleased with how President's Day came out. Our results, our trends were positive versus year ago, so I think that speaks well. But at the same time, we continue to manage prudently, just knowing that we believe the consumer is still pinched and probably will be for a while. And ultimately, you know, the product is discretionary. So we feel good about the momentum we're making, but we continue to be prudent in how we go forward.

Taylor Zick (Analyst in the Research Division)

Great. Yeah, that's super helpful. And you answered my second question already, so thank you. Maybe, Taylor, I can squeeze one in for you. Maybe on the 4Q guidance here, your 7.5%-9% operating margin puts margins down a little over 100 basis points, despite a higher mix of retail and some of your strategic actions within the portfolio. Can you kind of just help us understand the puts and takes there? I know some of the pressures from the short-term headwinds from the distribution and home delivery redesign coming through, but is there anything else we should keep in mind for fourth quarter?

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

Taylor, thanks for the question. No, actually, you know, we still feel really good about the growth potential as well as margin potential of the business. And as Melinda had mentioned, in prepared remarks and otherwise, we continue to, you know, manage through the near-term challenges in the choppy consumer, but also build for the future with our retail expansion, our distribution project, as well as our, call it, strategic initiatives. Overall, on margin, you know, we, we've had good momentum on our wholesale. Retail continues to hold at a strong double digit, which incredibly pleased about. There is just the near-term headwinds of traffic continues to be challenged, which adds, you know, deleveraging impacts on our larger fixed cost basis.

So, we continue to hone our operations and manage in the near term, but also deliver some of these bigger transformative things for the long term and deliver margin improvements ongoing, behind the likes of, you know, the strategic initiatives we mentioned that Bobby asked, the 75-100 basis points as we enter into our fiscal 2027, as well as the 50 basis points to the enterprise, which is the longer term benefit of our distribution and home transformation project.

Taylor Zick (Analyst in the Research Division)

Got it. Yeah, that, that makes sense. Thanks, Taylor. I'll leave it there. Thanks so much.

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

Thanks, Taylor.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. Just a reminder, if there are any remaining questions, you can join the queue by pressing star one on your phone keypad. Our next question is coming from Anthony Lebiedzinski of Sidoti & Company. Anthony, your line is live.

Anthony Lebiedzinski (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. So, Melinda and Taylor, you both mentioned that the consumer environment is choppy, certainly, you know, nothing terribly new there. But as we look at the guidance for 4Q, can you perhaps try to separate how much of the guidance is tied to weather issues versus the macro environment?

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Good morning, Anthony. I think how I'd broadly look at it is we're not expecting any big change in sort of the consumer environment in Q4 relative to what we've seen throughout most of this fiscal year. And, you know, the only piece, a little bit of conservatism in there, you know, versus just a continued trend on the consumer, is just this weather impact that hit sort of right at the end of our Q3 and into our Q4, and you saw that in the impacts in the written. And so by the time that consumer reengages... Again, we saw some of that with strong President's Day.

But by the time that consumer reengages, both in our stores and then with our wholesale customers, and that turns into orders and restocks and deliveries, I think that puts a little bit more pressure on Q4 than we otherwise would have.

Anthony Lebiedzinski (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got you. Okay, I think-

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

... Mm-hmm. If I could just chime in, Anthony, we don't believe we've lost, us or the industry, lost furniture sales other than it's a timing impact on some may phase out into quarter one. Based on when that consumer decides to reengage in their shopping journey, we're ready to meet demand and delight and inspire them when they come in our store.

Anthony Lebiedzinski (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Yeah, so thanks for that, great color. So, on the wholesale side, you guys highlighted Slumberland and Rooms To Go. You know, as you look forward here, I mean, do you see further opportunities to expand your brand reach on the wholesale side? Would love to get your thoughts on that. How are you thinking about the opportunities there?

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Yeah. Strategic partnerships are a very important part of our business and our growth plan going forward as well. While we certainly disproportionately focus on our own retail, because we can own that entire consumer experience, and obviously own more of the financial benefits as well, we also recognize that strategic partners are a way of reaching consumers that we otherwise are never gonna reach in a very fragmented market. We happen to call out Slumberland and Rooms To Go, just because they're great examples of Slumberland we've done business with for decades and continue to partner and grow with them in strategic ways that are good for our brand and compatible distribution across multiple outlets.

And similarly, Rooms To Go is a vibrant, growing operation that reaches a lot of consumers, particularly in the Southeast, and is a newer partner that we've added just over the last couple of years. If I look at, and even just call it the last 12 months, we have continued to add some big strategic partners. I think we've called out Farmers down in the Southeast, which reaches a consumer that's not serviced today by our furniture galleries, and that was, you know, these are hundreds of store kind of networks. We opened up Living Spaces, which is a very sophisticated retailer out west, so we have seen those opportunities. And so I think there are still opportunity.

That said, I think our bigger growth potential in the next several years is to continue expanding with those strategic partners as opposed to adding a ton of strategic partners. It's important to us to work with folks that are really gonna appreciate the brand and not create too much conflict out there that just doesn't end up making sense. Instead, we want to make sure we're reaching consumers where they want to shop and continuing to expand our brand.

Anthony Lebiedzinski (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

That's very helpful. My last question is regards to Joybird. So, you know, sales there have continued to trend below the rest of the business. How are you guys thinking about the Joybird? Not just for the next couple of quarters, but maybe longer term. Any updated thoughts on Joybird that you may have?

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Yeah, Joybird is tough. We really- we've done the work to believe in it. It resonates with the consumer. You know, it fits well into our portfolio as, as a, you know, in our aspiration to be a vertically integrated, branded retailer. It's a, it's a good strategic green shoot. While it's small, it's mining. But we are continuing to see a particularly volatile consumer there. That consumer is younger, you know, more urban-focused and just disproportionately impacted by some of the macroeconomic challenges. So we continue to take actions towards, getting that business right sized to grow profitably, and we'll continue to work through and monitor that.

Anthony Lebiedzinski (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Understood. Thank you very much, and best of luck.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Thanks, Anthony.

Taylor Luebke (SVP and CFO)

Thanks, Anthony.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. And we have another question in from Bobby Griffin of Raymond James. Bobby, your line is live.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Hey, Melinda. I just want to maybe circle back on the U.K. You called out you have an alternate source of product there lined up. Just maybe, like, now, what kind of the changes there, do you still look at the opportunity there, the same that was historically as when it was the prior account, a pretty big single customer for you guys, and I understand there's been some retail transition there, but, you know, the new retail partner is actually larger. So how does that set up look going forward, and what is ultimately the potential there? Could that get back to the same level as before and, you know, with maybe even better margins, given the new setup or structure?

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Yeah, thanks for that question, Bobby. You're right. It's been, gosh, a little over two years ago now, where ScS, which was a publicly traded company and our biggest customer globally, which is kind of crazy given the relative size of our international business, but was actually bought out by a private company that chose not to work with brands anymore. And so, we pretty quickly pivoted. We'd had long-time discussions with DFS, which, as you astutely noted, is, you know, three, four times bigger than ScS, and probably a better fit for our brand and our customer base. But between ScS and DFS, they'd always required exclusivity. So we are well underway with DFS. They continue to be super pleased.

We've had some introductions where they've called out that we've been one of their fastest growing, if not the fastest growing introduction they've had. But at the same time, it just—it's taking a while. It's taking longer, frankly, than we probably forecasted, to just get up to the kind of run rates of where we were with ScS, particularly given that U.K. economy and the macroeconomic environment is also quite challenged. So, we are super pleased with DFS. They are pleased with us. We are continuing to grow that business, and we want to serve that consumer. That said, at the kind of volume levels that we're seeing through this, you know, multi-year transition, it just didn't make sense to have a fully dedicated plant there in the U.K.

So as we leverage our overall global network, we think we're getting that right-sized. We think we get that cost structure right as well. So it makes sense for us, it makes sense for DFS, and it makes sense for the consumer to grow that business. And we actually think, to your point, it will accelerate that growth. And then, you know, historically, our U.K. business margins were fairly consistent with other wholesale that we would see, like in our core North America, and we anticipate being able to get back to those kind of ranges over time.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Very good. And then, does the new setup from the manufacturing side of things or the sourcing side, does that allow other international type growth opportunities any different than before? Just anything there.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

No change.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Okay.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Yeah, no change. We still have... Yeah, we still have the opportunity there. Again, international expansion, less of a focus area for us right now...

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Yep.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Just because that core North America business has so much opportunity. No, we're not losing any optionality more broadly.

Bobby Griffin (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Okay, understand. Thank you for the additional details, and yeah, good luck here on the quarter.

Melinda Whittington (Board Chair, President, and CEO)

Thanks.

Mark Becks (Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Okay, thank you very much. We have now reached the end of our question and answer session. I will now hand back over to Mark for any closing comments.

Mark Becks (Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development)

Thanks, Jenny. We'll be in our offices for the rest of the day to handle any follow-up calls. Thanks, and have a great day.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.