Solo Brands, Inc. ($SBDS)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Solo Brands Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Mark Anderson, Senior Director, Treasury and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for the Solo Brands conference call to review the 2025 fourth quarter and full year results. Joining me 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 future financial and operating performance, liquidity and cash flows, covenant compliance and strategic transformation goals 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 Securities and Exchange Commission. 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. We expect to file our Form 10-K in the coming days, which will include additional details on our financial results. 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, everyone. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued interest in Solo Brands. Laura and I will begin by reviewing progress on the 2025 initiatives and provide some initial commentary on 2026 before opening the call to analyst questions. Since stepping into the CEO role in 2025, first on an interim basis in February and permanently in June, we have focused on executing a product-led turnaround while building a structurally leaner, profit-driven business. While this transformation is still in its early stages, I'm encouraged by our progress simplifying the business, significantly reducing our cost structure and generating positive operating cash flow for the third consecutive quarter. We believe that 2025 was a revolution and not a renovation, one defined by meaningful enterprise-level actions that position the company for the future. First, we reset the company's capital structure through a comprehensive refinancing. Next, our New York Stock Exchange listing was reinstated and our ticker symbol was changed to SBDS. Building a durable platform for growth required a comprehensive reset of the business at the Solo Stove division. We started by repairing relationships with retail partners by introducing greater discipline in marketing, pricing and promotional activity while prioritizing cash flow and bottom line profitability. At the same time, we accelerated and in some cases, added new innovative products to Solo Stove's product portfolio. Across Solo Brands, we consolidated operations during the year and reduced our run rate SG&A by more than 30% with further actions planned for 2026. But this is not just a cost exercise. We are reengineering how the company operates, elevating discipline, accountability and decision-making across critical processes. In parallel work streams, we made strategic investments for the future across all of Solo Brands, building a strong pipeline of new product launches scheduled in 2025 that continues into 2026. Together, I believe these actions have repositioned the business with greater discipline, clarity and a clear line of sight to profitable growth. In 2025, we delivered $317 million in net sales, introduced 5 new products and maintained stable gross margins. While sales declined in the Solo Stove segment, Chubbies delivered more than 9% year-over-year growth, driven by solid online demand and growth in our strategic partnerships. We continue to build and scale omnichannel brands supported by a product pipeline with strong momentum and durability. Reflecting the strength of that innovation, one of our Solo Stoves, the all-new Summit 24 Smokeless Fire Pit was recently reviewed by Forbes and named its best choice in the category for the year. The recognition underscores our team's dedication to innovative design, functionality and high quality. If you recall, we reset our balance sheet in early 2025, which drove roughly $75 million of operational cash flows, primarily settling legacy accounts payable balances. Beyond the first quarter, we generated nearly $30 million in operating cash flow, delivering 3 consecutive quarters of positive cash generation. We believe this is clear evidence of a significantly improved operating model anchored in a disciplined cost management and enhanced working capital management. We intentionally realigned pricing and promotional activity at Solo Stove to reinforce pricing integrity and reset retail partnerships. While this significantly impacted near-term sales results, it established a more disciplined foundation to support current and future retail partnerships. We generated roughly $19 million of adjusted EBITDA for the year and delivered a 52% increase in fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA, underscoring the operating leverage in our model as these changes take hold. We are clearly product-led, but disciplined in how we grow. Every launch must be margin accretive, supported by pricing integrity and coordinated promotions with partners to drive long-term value to our customers. In February, we launched a new women's swim brand that we believe is a natural extension of Chubbies. Over the years, many of the women who bought Chubbies for the men in their lives began asking for swimwear built with the same confidence, personality and attention to fit, but explicitly designed for women. Cheekies is now sold through both direct-to-consumer channels and select retail partners. We believe it is important to keep the model intentionally simple with a relentless focus on customer and partners and the launch of products that matter, measured by profitability and cash generation. With that, I'll hand it to Laura for the financials.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Let me start with a quick discussion of our previously announced corporate transaction. In December, we simplified our organizational structure by eliminating the Up-C structure, generally limiting the cash impact of the tax receivable agreement and moving to a single class common stock effective January 1, 2026. We believe this streamlined structure is more attractive to investors and enhances good corporate governance. Before turning to the fourth quarter results, I want to provide some additional context for our ongoing transformation. Fiscal 2025 was a year of significant transformation across our organization, changes to our sales, marketing and retail partner strategy as well as meaningful improvement to our internal operations. Under John's leadership, we significantly improved our ability to generate cash while working to build a sustainable business for the long term. We started by fundamentally reshaping our go-to-market strategy, changing how we reach customers, engage with partners and generate sales. Given the magnitude of the transformation over the past year, we continue to focus on year-over-year performance while also monitoring sequential progress. With that perspective in mind, let me walk you through our fourth quarter results. Consolidated sales were $94 million, down 34.5% versus the prior year quarter, driven by declines in direct-to-consumer or DTC and retail sales channels, particularly within the Solo Stove segment. While fourth quarter sales were seasonally higher than quarter 3 in absolute dollars, we narrowed the year-over-year percentage decline by nearly 10 percentage points compared to the third quarter, reflecting meaningful progress. Adjusted gross margin for the fourth quarter was 61%, flat versus a year ago and up by 40 basis points from quarter 3. With more disciplined, predictable pricing and promotional cadence, we expect further margin stability in 2026. As a result of our transformation initiative, we reduced fourth quarter SG&A expenses by 38.8% year-over-year, reflecting meaningful structural cost reductions across the organization. We lowered marketing and distribution costs and tightened overall expense management. Distribution expenses decreased in line with lower sales volumes, while marketing and other operating expenses declined through more disciplined efficiency-focused spending. Restructuring and impairment charges totaled $75.5 million in the fourth quarter, of which $74.1 million was a noncash impairment charge. In 2024, restructuring and other onetime charges were $52.5 million, the majority of which represented noncash impairment charges in that quarter. Net interest expense for the quarter was $7.4 million, reflecting interest paid in kind on the term loan. We utilized the revolver during the fourth quarter and ended the year with no outstanding balance. We reported a net loss of $83.2 million in the fourth quarter, driven primarily by the noncash impairment charges and restructuring costs previously discussed. Our non-GAAP adjusted net income was $2.3 million for the period, flat compared to a year ago, but a significant sequential improvement from an adjusted net loss of $11.9 million in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was positive $9.6 million or 10.2% of sales. This represented a significant 52% year-over-year improvement and a reversal of the negative EBITDA reported in the third quarter. Importantly, we generated positive operating cash flows for the third consecutive quarter, demonstrating the improved discipline in cash conversion of our operating model. During the last 3 quarters of 2025, we generated positive operating cash flow aggregating $28.6 million. These results are encouraging and reflect the progress in repositioning Solo Brands as a structurally leaner, profit-focused organization. Full year sales were challenged in 2025 due to the transformation initiatives at Solo Stove, resulting in net sales of $167.2 million. In contrast, Chubbies delivered full year sales of $122.9 million, representing 9.1% growth. We launched 5 new Solo Stove segment products in the second half of '25, and we're encouraged by online customer engagement through our DTC channel during the fourth quarter holiday selling season. We are continuing to engage with retail partners as they plan their 2026 assortment across Solo Stove, Chubbies and our watersports brands. On the balance sheet, we ended the year with $20 million in cash and cash equivalents. Through disciplined working capital management and leaner operations, we reduced inventory balances by nearly 25% year-over-year. This improvement reflects tighter inventory planning, improved supply chain discipline and our focus on converting earnings into cash. We will continue to monitor cash and inventories closely and are carefully managing all of our working capital. Our debt structure includes a $240 million term loan and a $90 million revolving credit facility, both of which mature in 2028. We ended the year with no borrowings outstanding under the revolver, and our weighted average interest rate for the year was 6.63%. At the end of the year, the term loan had $253.1 million outstanding with a weighted average interest rate of 8.97% for the year. As of December 31, we are in compliance with all financial covenants and have no significant debt maturities until 2028. This provides both strength and flexibility as we execute the business strategic transformation. A few other final topics to cover. We continue to closely monitor tariff exposure, including pursuing refund opportunities if and where applicable, while leveraging our diversified sourcing strategy to mitigate risk. Our approach to capital allocation remains disciplined. This year, we expect to invest approximately $3 million to $4 million in growth capital, primarily focused on new product innovation that supports our long-term strategic priorities. These investments support our innovation pipeline across Solo Stove, Chubbies and watersports, which remain an important driver of future growth. We are also continuing to rightsize our structure to align with today's demand environment with sustained focus on profitability, efficiency and cash generation. We believe that this ongoing execution of our profit-focused operating model positions us to improve our performance and deliver attractive long-term returns for our shareholders. Finally, as a reminder, the first quarter is our seasonally lightest sales quarter and retail sell-ins with our partners occurred during the quarter with related cash receipts recognized in the second quarter. As a result, we plan to utilize our revolving credit facility during the quarter and expect to repay those borrowings as cash is generated in the following quarters. This concludes my prepared remarks. John?

Thanks, Laura. In 2025, we set out to fundamentally transform the organization without overpromising and the progress is tangible. Three consecutive quarters of positive operating cash flow and more than 50% improvement in fourth quarter EBITDA underscore that our actions are having a significant positive impact. Our methods and objectives are simple: stem the sales decline, invest in profitable growth and convert revenue into earnings and cash more efficiently. Looking ahead to 2026, we have a clear focus on profitability at the channel, market and product level. We plan to continue to invest in innovation across Solo Stove and Chubbies and have expanded our watersports assortment through our strategic partnership with Costco. In addition, DICK'S Sporting Goods, SCHEELS, Ace Hardware and REI remain important strategic retail partners for our brands. We are also pursuing international opportunities where returns justify the investment and will remain disciplined in converting revenue growth into positive earnings and cash. Last week, we launched a significant lineup refresh at Solo Stove featuring a new fire pit series, a new griddle and more cooler offerings. At Chubbies, we reimagined our iconic men's shorts for our 15th anniversary and extended the celebration with the launch of Cheekies. our new women's swim brand. All of our lifestyle brands are unique, fun and playful, encouraging consumers to enjoy the outdoors more during leisure time. The team and I are building a strong foundation that positions the company to be structurally leaner and more profitable, driven by disciplined expense management, cash generation and the strength of our brands and communities. With continued execution, this platform is expected to drive sustainable long-term growth and lasting shareholder value. To close, we encourage investor engagement and look forward to speaking with new and existing investors. We plan to host 2 days of one-on-one meetings at the upcoming ROTH Conference on the West Coast, March 23 and 24. Please contact our IR team if you would like to meet with us or connect in person at the conference. With that, operator, I would like to open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question today comes from Will Hamilton from Kestrel Partners.

Congrats on the profit improvements. I was wondering if you could give us a sense as to like how the categories performed across your different brands in the fourth quarter, just so we maybe could get a sense as to market share changes for the Solo Brands.

Yes, that's a good question, Will. Thank you for taking the time. On the fire pit side, it's been pretty flat in terms of the category itself, but there's been a lot of low-end competition. So if you look throughout Amazon, there's a tremendous amount of low-end kind of knockoff products that certainly don't meet our quality standard. So I would say from a market share standpoint on units, we're certainly down. but certainly at a much higher AOV. So we're performing fairly well there. When you look at Chubbies, we definitely had some market share gains in the areas with some of the new introductions they had on shorts lines last year. And so although a small piece of the overall apparel category, some market share improvement there.

Okay. I know you've been focused on new products. Maybe you could elaborate a little bit more as to how they performed in the quarter and -- for your thoughts on '26. And like if you could share what percentage of fourth quarter sales were from these new products? Or what would be, in your mind, success in '26 for the new products in terms of share of revenue?

Sure. Great question, and I'm assuming you're focusing a little bit more on Solo Stove with that given the number of products we did launch. If you look at our DTC business, new products made up roughly 25% of the sales in Q4, so a significant percentage of the sales. We did just launch a number of new products last week as well. We completed the full line of the all-new Summit Series of fire pits. We added a portable Steelfire 22 griddle as well as adding a smaller cooler. And I was just looking through it last night in detail, over the last 4 or 5 days, 6 of our 8 top-selling SKUs are products we have launched since the fourth quarter of last year. So we feel the reception has been fairly strong on it. The underlying question is the underlying demand on core products that we had, you'd say our core fire pits, and that's a highly durable, long-lasting product. That's why our customers love it so much. But for us to expand sales, we really need to sell accessories related to those products, try to reinvent the category, which we've done with the Summit Series. And then those customers that love us so much really try to move them into the adjacent categories, and that's what we're trying to do with those new products.

Got it. Okay. Last question, just on OpEx. You obviously cut a lot last year. I think you, in your remarks, indicated you might be cutting more. Just maybe how much restructuring or cost cutting is left and if you could give us some color on that?

Yes. I think I mentioned that at the end of the third quarter as well. As we did see revenue decline in Q3, it became obvious that we needed to be a structurally smaller, leaner, profitable company. And so we really are using tools available to us, AI, we view as a great tool for building efficiency. But we are definitely looking at cost reduction in the coming year. We haven't come out with exact numbers, but structurally, we're taking a significant amount out in payroll, just as we did last year. I believe in Q4, payroll is down about 27% year-over-year. And the rest of the initiatives that we put in coming in, so we'll have that full run rate for '26, but we are leaning down even further. I look at the consumer environment here, it's a little uneven. The customers are selective. Our AOVs are up. So the people who do want to shop are spending more. But I think at the low-end discretionary spending, there's some caution moving forward. So we're setting up the company to operate and not counting on revenue to go up dramatically to drive our business model, just becoming leaner and really rightsizing the company at the right level. But we're still investing in innovation, new products coming out and pushing into some new categories as we discussed earlier.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Mitchell Sacks from Grand Slam.

Can you talk a little bit more -- a little about the reset that you did in '25 and kind of what your concerns are for '26 with all the different things that you've been doing from a cost cutting and new product stance?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear the first part of your question, Mitchell. I kind of cut out.

So you guys did a pretty good reset of the business in '25, how you operate the business. Can you just kind of talk about what your concerns are in '26 and what opportunities you see and what kind of the risks are?

Sure. I mean I think there's a little bit of risk with the consumer market. We're not sure exactly what's going to happen with what's going on geopolitically in the world. Definitely, a reset in '25. As I look at '26, I mean, I do think the challenge facing us is how do we stem the revenue decline in the stove division and how do we begin to increase. And that's why we're aggressively launching significant new products in adjacent categories. The griddles have been really well received. The small griddle is looking like it's very hot out of the chute. So we feel good about that. I think the all-new fire pit line, they've immediately moved up in our top sellers DTC after launching it just last week. So I think that's the challenge behind us. We are set up to flow through, any revenue gains will flow right through the bottom line very efficiently and in the cash flow because we've reduced our cost structure so dramatically. But I look at that as our challenge right there.

And ladies and gentlemen, showing no additional questions at this time, I'd like to turn the floor back over to John Larson for any closing remarks.

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

And with that, everyone, we'll be concluding today's conference call and presentation. We do thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.