Designer Brands Inc. (NYSE:DBI) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call June 2, 2022 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Jessica Miller - IR

Roger Rawlins - CEO

Jared Poff - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Gabriella Carbone - Deutsche Bank

Jay Sole - UBS

Dylan Carden - William Blair

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Designer Brands Incorporated First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, today's event is being recorded.

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Jesse Miller. Please go ahead.

Jessica Miller

Good morning. Earlier today, the company issued a press release comparing results of operations for the 13-week period ended April 30, 2022 to the 13-week period ended May 1, 2021. Please note that remarks made about the future expectations, plans and prospects of the company constitute forward-looking statements. Results may differ materially due to various factors listed in today's press release and the company's public filings with the SEC. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Joining us today are Roger Rawlins, Chief Executive Officer; and Jared Poff, Chief Financial Officer.

Now let me turn over the call to Roger.

Roger Rawlins

Thanks, Jesse. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today.

The strength we saw throughout 2021 continued into the first quarter of 2022, and we are extremely pleased with our performance as it demonstrates the progress we are making towards the long-range plan that we recently outlined at our Investor Day. I want to take this opportunity to thank our associates for their work that continues to successfully deliver long-term shareholder growth, even in today's challenging operating environment. Their hard work has resulted in market share gains, topline improvement and bottom line results that have exceeded our expectations.

Designer Brands entered the year in a position of strength after returning to a growth trajectory in 2021. Our engines are back on and all the actions we took since our acquisition of Camuto in 2018 have enabled us to grow our market share across the board. We delivered outstanding results in the first quarter with net sales increasing 18% and adjusted diluted EPS growing 300% versus the first quarter of 2021.

Providing value to our shareholders remains a top priority for us. We bought back 1.7 million shares in the first quarter and another 1.8 million so far in the second quarter as of May 27. At our April 8 Investor Day, we also announced the reinstatement of our quarterly dividend, which was effective starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2022, and today, announced our upcoming quarterly dividend that will be paid on July 6. Jared will provide more details on this a little later.