Solo Brands, Inc. (SBDS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Solo Brands Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] please note this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Mark Anderson, Senior Director, Treasury and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your joining us for the Solo Brands conference call to review the second quarter 2025 results. Joining on the call today are the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, John Larson; and Chief Financial Officer, Laura Coffey. This call is being webcast and can be accessed through the Investors portion of our website at investors.solobrands.com. Today's conference call will be recorded. Please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of any replay or transcript reading date. I would also like to remind you that the statements in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements about expectations, future events, financial performance, liquidity, turnaround efforts, strategic transformation goals and future growth are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Please refer to today's earnings press release for our disclosures on forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the SEC. Solo Brands assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Management will refer to non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures are included at the end of our earnings release. Finally, the earnings release has been furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K. Now I would like to turn the call over to the company's CEO, John Larson.

Thank you, Mark, and good morning, all. Thank you for your interest in Solo Brands. Today, we will provide updates on significant milestones, cover the second quarter results and share the continued progress on our strategic initiatives before opening the call for questions from institutional investors or analysts. Starting with our executive leadership updates, I am very excited to eliminate the interim tag and take on the role as President and CEO, as previously announced in June and to lead this great team as we write the next chapter for Solo Brands. We also named Liz Vanzura to the permanent role of Solo's Chief Marketing Officer, with Liz focusing her initial efforts on Solo Stove's significant marketing spend. Given marketing is our #1 P&L spend category, maximizing the efficiency of this spend is a key component of our profit-focused transformation plan. In the recent quarter, we achieved several significant milestones worth highlighting. These include the completion of our debt refinancing, removal of the going concern disclaimer and the New York Stock Exchange's reinstatement of active trading on our Class A stock. On a related note, we also opted to change our New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol to SBDS, which we believe better communicates today's strategy as Solo Brands. Turning to the second quarter. In our Chubbies segment, the team delivered another excellent quarter with sales up 13% and segment EBITDA up 48% in the quarter due to efficiency gains and improved operating leverage. Under our Solo Stove segment, although sales improved sequentially from Q1, our second quarter sales declined significantly from a year ago, as expected, reflecting the continued hangover as our retail partners work through their excessive year-end inventory, and we better aligned our promotional strategies with our key retail partners. We have made a concerted effort to move away from the heavy promotional approach in our direct-to-consumer channel with MAP integrity playing a key role as we set up Solo Stove for long-term success. If you are not familiar with MAP, it stands for minimum advertised price, which Laura and I will refer to today. Despite our overall sales decline, Solo Brands generated over $10 million of adjusted EBITDA and margins over 11% for the quarter. We are also very pleased to report positive operating cash flow of nearly $11 million in the second quarter. We are making meaningful strides in our transformation toward a more disciplined, structurally smaller, profit-driven business model. Our teams are excited and driven to win. Our leadership transition in early 2025 for Solo Brands ushered in fresh new perspectives on products, marketing and how to restructure our business for profitability and cash flow. We are focused on 4 core tenets that we believe will position us well for the future. Number one, we are fixated on driving bottom line profitability. We are looking at every dollar spent and its effectiveness, rightsizing the company as appropriate. And given our growing portfolio of lifestyle products, we are creating strong customer connections through relevant product experiences rather than relying so heavily on discounts. We have developed a well-coordinated promotional calendar that is expected to offer exclusive product opportunities to key retailers, which are designed to create excitement and further drive customer traffic at retail. We are also measuring the effectiveness of marketing investments utilizing a profit-based return on spend ad metric, which drives discipline in our marketing campaigns. Number two, cash remains king. During the second quarter, we are heartened that our initiatives generated significant operational cash that aligned with our second quarter adjusted EBITDA. Watching every dollar spent and every dollar invested in products, people, marketing and distribution against competing priorities is challenging. Trust, we are working hard to institutionalize financial and analytic rigor in our decision-making. Number three, investing in new products and what works. We recognize that investing in product innovation is a strategic imperative. Don't leave today thinking we are not investing in innovation. We are. Chubbies continues to innovate with new products and product lines, including the launch of our new NFL by Chubbies line as we speak. ISLE within our Water Sports division has some exciting new products planned for Q4 and Solo Stove after recently launching the Windchill 47 cooler and the Steelfire 30 Griddle, which, by the way, are receiving very positive reviews, as 2 more notable products planned for launch later this year with our aggressive new product rollout plan continuing in 2026. And number four, keep it simple. In my experience, great companies emphasize and structure themselves with uncomplicated processes and protocols. For us at Solo Brands, it all starts with the customer. Our mission is to provide the best product in every category that we compete in and to delight our customers with both our innovative products and exceptional customer service. Loyal enthusiasts of our brands trust us to delight them with new, innovative, relevant products, and that is exactly what we are focused on delivering. With that, I will hand the call over to Laura to cover our detailed financials.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Before diving into our second quarter results, I want to take a moment to address the broader environment in which we are operating. The consumer landscape remains challenging. We've seen clear evidence this year that discretionary spending remains under pressure with consumers showing heightened sensitivity to price and value, especially as the macro uncertainty persists. As John stated earlier, we made the conscious decision to pull back on promotional activity and better align our promotional strategy with our retail partners. Tariff impacts were delayed due to expected lower Solo Stove sales after we adjusted the pricing and promotional strategies, allowing our retail partners to work through their inventory. Although tariffs will have some effect in the second half of 2025, the delays allowed us to adjust our cost structure ahead of these changes to mitigate the impact. As shared in our last earnings call, we anticipate the challenges of implementing the MAP pricing strategy. We took early decisive actions, implementing performance improvement initiatives intended to drive efficiency, reduce costs and strengthen our financial foundation. I'm encouraged to report that we are starting to see tangible benefits from our efforts. We believe that this ongoing work of executing our transformational profit-focused business model will position us to drive long-term shareholder value. The second quarter's consolidated net sales were $92.3 million, down 29.9% from prior year, however, up sequentially by 19.4% compared to the first quarter. As John mentioned, the Chubbies segment sales were $44.5 million, up 13.1% through a combination of expansion at retail and an increase in the direct-to-consumer or DTC channel sales. As expected, Solo Stove segment sales were down $32.4 million, primarily driven by a decline in the DTC channel sales as a result of the prioritization of MAP pricing instead of significant promotional activities in 2024. Also, we have reduced our marketing expenses to optimize our spend in line with our DTC sales. Since the second and fourth quarter are seasonally higher DTC periods, we fully expect them to be impacted the most as we work through optimizing our marketing and promotional strategy. Once we move beyond 2025, we anticipate a more stable and predictable revenue cadence, especially as we accelerate new product launches. As John mentioned, we have also launched the Solo Stove 47 cooler and the Steelfire 30 Griddle, but we are still in the early days of our planned ramp-up for the holiday with these products and other new product launches. Consolidated retail channel sales were stable compared to the same period in 2024, primarily due to an increased retail demand for Chubbies, offset by less replenishment as discussed for the Solo Stove segment. During the second quarter, we generated adjusted gross profit of $56.9 million or 61.7% of net sales compared to 63.6% for the prior year quarter. Consolidated gross margin was impacted by channel mix shifting to more retail this quarter compared to last year. Having said that, individual product margin and channel margins have improved year-over-year. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $47.7 million in the quarter, down $23.1 million or 33% compared to last year's second quarter. The execution of our cost-cutting initiatives decreased SG&A, which primarily consisted of more efficient marketing spend, a reduction in payroll costs and lower variable costs associated with DTC sales. We also recorded a $10.3 million in onetime restructuring, contract termination and impairment charges in the quarter as we made further progress on the strategic resizing of our operating structure, including exiting an underperforming licensing agreement. In addition, other operating expenses were down overall, primarily due to a reduction in severance-related costs. Our cost initiatives are in full swing and notwithstanding nonrecurring restructuring charges as we significantly reduced operating costs compared to the prior year quarter, which is a combination of headcount and related cuts terminating the switch campaign and rightsizing our facilities and distribution footprint. Implementing these initiatives positions us to accelerate and simplify our business, which allows us to continue our disciplined and prudent focus on profits and cash flow. The second quarter GAAP net loss was $20.8 million. We are pleased to report that adjusted non-GAAP net income was essentially breakeven with adjusted net income of $1 million. This adjusted net income excludes nonrecurring after-tax restructuring, refinancing and business optimization costs as well as noncash items such as share-based compensation and value allowance adjustments. We are pleased to report adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of $10.5 million with margin of 11.4% of net sales compared to last year's second quarter of $15.4 million or 11.7% of net sales. Despite a nearly 30% decrease in top line sales, our adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.4% in the 2025 second quarter was roughly comparable with last year's margin due to favorable operating leverage as we expected from the execution of our extensive cost reduction initiatives during this year. Please refer to our earnings release for reconciliation tables to the most comparable GAAP measures. Turning to the company's financial position and balance sheet. In June, we finalized the debt refinancing with amendments to the term loan with an aggregate principal amount of $240 million. We also committed to a revolving credit facility with an initial committed amount of $90 million. And as of June 30, outstanding borrowings on the revolver were $10 million. The full details of the 2025 refinancing amendment are detailed in our second quarter Form 10-Q. We continue to monitor working capital closely and ended the quarter with inventories at $84.1 million, down $24.5 million from year-end. As of June 30, cash and cash equivalents were $18 million, and total outstanding debt was $238.4 million, of which $600,000 was classified as current. As of June 30, we fully complied with financial covenants under the newly amended agreement. Consequently, our 10-Q no longer includes a going concern disclaimer. With a solid balance sheet and available liquidity, we believe we are in good financial standing to build structurally smaller, profitable company with the flexibility to innovate and grow over the next several years. John and I intend to allocate capital conservatively with judicious cash management as we continue the execution of the company's strategic transformation plan with no current planned acquisitions. That said, we remain prepared to invest selectively where we see clear high-return opportunities that align with our long-term priorities. With that, I would like to turn it back to John.

Thank you, Laura. As the incoming CEO with just a few months on the job, I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside these great people and brands. I'm also proud of our accomplishments, having tackled major obstacles in the short time frame with determination and persistence. We did what we said we would do, which is essential. Accomplishing the refinancing, which provides us runway to execute our plan, removing the going concern disclaimer and being reinstated for the trading on the New York Stock Exchange has put us on the right path. The reality is that the uncertainty earlier this year around our ability to continue as a going concern hurt us. It impacted relationships with both suppliers and retail partners, as you would expect, and at our Solo Stove division in particular. Although there is hard work ahead for sure, our strategic transformational flywheel is beginning to turn, and you can feel it inside the organization. People are moving with speed and confidence toward our goals, and we are executing with more purpose and excellence. We are confident that the pain in these early innings lays the groundwork for a structurally smaller, more profitable company moving forward, which is our goal. We plan to continue accelerating communications, investing in growth through product innovation, optimizing marketing spend by focusing on effectiveness and leaning into the highest return investments while refining strategies based on measured performance. This is a multiyear transformational journey. Similar to this quarter, we plan to share evidence of progress each quarter. If we don't have progress to share, we will own that and explain what we intend to change. As we continue to reshape Solo Brands into a more resilient and focused company, we intend to invest in our future to drive growth and generate long-term shareholder value. We remain confident that our lifestyle brands are well positioned to continue to resonate with consumers who value authentic outdoor lifestyle experiences and [community]. Finally, investor outreach is important, and we plan to participate in a couple of conferences and non-deal roadshows this year, starting with the IDEAS Conference on August 27 in Chicago. If you'd like to see us in person, please reach out to our IR team after today's call. With that, operator, I would like to open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Steve Cole with Mangrove.

I guess I would open up by saying it has not been an easy road for you all. So we certainly appreciate all the effort in putting the company on more solid footing. I guess I'd like to touch on a couple of things. One is looking at -- really, I'm curious on the evolution of the Solo Stove customer. And what I mean is during the epidemic, Solo Stove essentially was a trailblazer creating a whole new category. And now as we've seen some other folks not surprisingly come into that market. And obviously, we're dealing with spending issues on the macro side. I'm just curious what you've learned about that customer. So in terms of their brand loyalty and willingness to purchase product line extensions that we might be coming out with that you guys have mentioned here today and kind of what I call the YETI effect, right, where I'm sure we've all heard, it's just becoming an awesome brand and people going for quality and almost buying anything that has a YETI name on it. So just curious if you could address that, and I've got a follow-up.

Steve, this is John Larson. Nice to meet you and appreciate your question and interest. It's a great question, right? The Solo Stove took off during COVID, obviously filled the market as the lead player, and we do have a lot of competition coming. But to your point, we really believe, and we did some market research on this last year, an extensive amount of research on where the customer and the evolution of the Solo Stove customer could move for us. And that's really highlighted by the new products we're coming out with. So if you look at the success we've had in the pizza oven market, which is a great product. I was just making pizzas last weekend and it's a spectacular product that we do have. The new Griddle we've launched, which we're very excited about. And quite frankly, we're now sold out and we're on back order. So we like -- really like the success so far that we've had on Griddle and the cooler space that we've moved into. So we believe our customer, higher end loves a great product, but we have to be a premium brand in our products will move with us. And so a big part of our strategy is moving in those adjacent categories. And right now, we feel really comfortable with the reviews we've had and the success we've had with customers moving out of just the core fire pit markets into some broader adjacencies.

And when you look -- I'm just curious, John, when you look at those surveys, so the people that are buying these products, can you tell if it's an existing Solo Stove customer? If it's something new, can you bifurcate that? Or what have you seen on that on your work?

Yes. Yes, we have all that information available to us. A significant amount of our purchases are from new customers, but our core customers have certainly stepped up in the categories with our new products and make a significant part of our sales. It's really a core strength that we have, Steve. Our customer is very high end, very demographically very strong. And we have a database of customers because we're largely DTC through our growth. So we have close to 2.5 million to 3 million people in our CRM database, and that's a huge asset for us to market to.

And let me -- if I could, just a quick follow-up. So again, I've seen you guys pop up in a number of places like Costco and DICK'S and others. What's happened as we've looked at the change in pricing and inventory, what's happened? Are you still targeting those players? You're looking at new players? And how do we cycle through the inventory in terms of the improvement there?

Yes. There's a couple of questions there. Steve, I have a definite opinion on premium brands and how you go to market, and you need to be very selective with your retailers. But you need to have a handful of key retailers that really provide you what you need in terms of exposure and how your product is displayed. So we're moving that direction. That's why we moved to MAP integrity and promotional calendars that are aligned with key retailers. And quite frankly, now our conversation with the retailers are you're now acting like a brand we would like to work with versus before, we were heavily promotional on our DTC website and quite frankly, undercutting other prices in the marketplace with our retailers that had heavy levels of inventory. The second part of your question is how we're working through those inventories. We came into the year with excessively high inventories across our largest retailers without a doubt. And so that's been the pain we've really been working through this year. So as we've agreed to align in terms of minimum advertised pricing and promotional calendar timing and those kind of things, we've allowed our retailers to sell through their heavy amounts of inventory. And that's going to continue through the quarters going ahead, but there's been significant sell-through of that inventory, and we feel much better about the position we're in now. But quite frankly, that's the pain we've seen at Solo Stove, and it's been a hangover we've had to work through.

[Operator Instructions] We have no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to John Larson for any closing remarks.

Thank you for continuing to follow our company, and we look forward to providing third quarter results and updates on our strategic transformation in a couple of months. Have a great day, everyone.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.