Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Investor Day Event and Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call March 20, 2023 8:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Robert Higginbotham - Interim CFO and SVP, IR, Financial Planning & Analysis
Mary Dillon - CEO, President & Director
Franklin Bracken - EVP & Chief Commercial Officer
Peter Scaturro - SVP, Strategic Planning and Growth
Elliott Rodgers - Incoming Chief Operations Officer
Anthony Aversa - SVP, Store Development
Chris Santaella - Chief Merchandising Officer
Conference Call Participants
Katharine McShane - Goldman Sachs Group
John Kernan - TD Cowen
Lorraine Hutchinson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Janine Stichter - BTIG
Tom Nikic - Wedbush Securities
Corey Tarlowe - Jefferies
Samuel Poser - Williams Trading
Adrienne Yih-Tennant - Barclays Bank
Jay Sole - UBS
Cristina Fernández - Telsey Advisory Group
Robert Drbul - Guggenheim Securities
Warren Cheng - Evercore ISI
Jonathan Komp - Robert W. Baird & Co.
Paul Lejuez - Citigroup
Omar Saad - Evercore ISI
Alexandra Straton - Morgan Stanley
Gabriella Carbone - Deutsche Bank
Robert Higginbotham
Welcome to Foot Locker, Inc.'s 2023 Investor Day, Lacing Up For The Future. Thank you to everyone for being with us in the room today, and thank you to everyone else for listening online. We are incredibly excited to present to you the new strategic vision of our company. Before we get into that, a couple of formalities.
First, our disclosure on forward-looking statements. Then a quick run of show. In a moment, I'll walk you through the highlights of our fourth quarter results. Then our Chief Executive Officer, Mary Dillon, will come on to introduce to you our new strategic framework and growth plans. We'll then have our executive team begin to walk you through the details of that plan. At around 9:45, we'll take about a 15-minute break. We'll then resume presentations until around 10:30 and then we'll wrap up with some Q&A.
So let's get into it. Starting with our fourth quarter results. We had an exceptional fourth quarter. Our comps grew 4.2%, well ahead of guidance for down 6% to 8%, driven by strong holiday demand and access to high-quality inventory. As we continue to diversify our assortment, our non-Nike sales grew mid-single digits, with our Nike mix down only slightly, much better than we originally expected. By region, we saw broad-based momentum.
In North America, our core Foot Locker banner was up over 13%, while Champs was down 10% as we repositioned that banner. EMEA comps grew 14% with ongoing strength in key markets, and APAC grew nearly 6%, given our investments in stores, our brand and community experience. Our gross margins overall were down 290 basis points, given promotions were higher than the prior year, but in line with our plan. Our inventory up 30% with high-quality product positions us well for 2023. And our non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.97, above our guidance for $0.45 to $0.53.