Signet Jewelers Ltd Q4 FY2021 Earnings Call

Thanks very much, Jamie, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Signet CEO, Gina Drosos; and CFO, Joan Hilson. During today's presentation, we'll make certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risk and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. We urge you to read the risk factors cautionary language and other disclosures on our annual report on 10-K, quarterly reports on 10-Q and current reports on form 8-K. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. During the call, we'll discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For further discussion of the non-GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliations of non-GAAP to GAAP that's most directly comparable, investors should review the news release we posted on our website at www.signetjewelers.com/investors. Also, please note that we plan to hold a virtual investor event on April 12. Registration details will be announced soon. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Gina.

Thank you, Vinnie, and thanks everyone for being here today. I want to start by outlining our fourth quarter results and the key aspects of our strategic direction moving forward. I am extremely proud of our Signet team and grateful for their achievements over the past year, as well as their remarkable dedication and adaptability during our three-year Path to Brilliance initiative. We have continuously tested our culture of agility and efficiency, and our team has demonstrated that we are transforming this company and are well-prepared for sustainable long-term growth. Q4 highlights the capabilities we are developing, with same-store sales up by 7% and ecommerce sales soaring by over 70%. We achieved a non-GAAP operating income exceeding $293 million, an increase of nearly 9% compared to last year. Despite the significant challenges from COVID-19 in the first half, we regained our momentum, resulting in strong performance in the second half with a 9.9% growth in same-store sales. Our bridal and fashion businesses remain robust, and our strong ecommerce performance has complemented the reopening of our stores. Successfully adapting during the pandemic and achieving the results we did in the latter half of the year has been rewarding, especially when reflecting on the progress made over the last three years. In 2016 and 2017, we faced market share losses to smaller specialty stores, non-specialty retailers, and pure digital players. The industry was rapidly evolving, and customer expectations for quality, service, and personalized engagement were rising, especially as more consumers grew comfortable with ecommerce and digital technology in the jewelry sector, a trend that significantly accelerated this past year. When we embarked on our Path to Brilliance, we made strategic choices and cultural shifts to create a sturdy foundation that would allow us to transition to growth. Comparing where we are today to three years ago, I see three major differences. First, our culture has strengthened; we are more agile, innovative, efficient, and united behind a compelling purpose. Second, we are now more data-driven, gaining deeper insights that help us craft personalized customer experiences and respond with speed and accuracy. Third, we have developed a broader and stronger set of core strengths that provide sustainable competitive advantages. Each of these shifts is reflected in the results from the first three years of our transformation. We successfully cut $300 million in expenses, enhancing our gross margin and SG&A beyond our initial target of $200 million to $225 million. We reduced our store footprint by over 20%, lowering our exposure to underperforming malls and achieving better-than-anticipated sales transference in our new connected commerce approach. Additionally, we increased our ecommerce sales to a 23% share, surpassing our initial goal of 15% and substantially exceeding our pre-Path to Brilliance penetration. This transformation stemmed from our strategic focus on a customer-first, omnichannel approach, and a culture of agility and efficiency, supported by our investments in technology, productivity, and culture. To truly grasp why we can now achieve sustainable long-term growth and why the next phase of our strategy is sound, we must examine what these investments have yielded over the past three years. It began with significant investments in technology, prioritizing data analytics to transform into a more data-driven company. We built a strong talent pool, developed the necessary tech infrastructure for a digitally enabled business, and acquired James Allen, significantly enhancing our digital and ecommerce capabilities. This emphasis has positively affected almost every aspect of our business. For instance, we now have a much clearer understanding of customer behavior across our brands and every touchpoint, increasingly in real-time. We cut our inventory by nearly 11% over three years through stricter inventory controls and new technology tools, improving cash flow and working capital efficiency, all while our merchants enhanced our core product range and new pipeline. We transitioned our banner websites to a unified platform, creating a smoother customer experience that bolsters conversion rates and increases transaction values, enabling us to innovate and add new features more rapidly. Our marketing mix has also seen significant improvements in effectiveness and efficiency. For example, Kay Jewelers has halved its TV advertising spend in the last three years while significantly increasing its digital marketing efforts. This shift was informed by data-driven insights into the media channels that offer the highest returns, resulting in cost-effective media spending. Our digital focus allows us to tailor communications, while maintaining a strong TV advertising presence that builds brand recognition. These examples are indicative of my optimism, and we’re just beginning. We continue to invest in both technology and talent, making our business increasingly customer-centric and data-informed each quarter. Our second area of focus is enhancing productivity, which has become an essential ongoing priority. It now shapes our innovation and execution mindset. A few examples include our efforts to cut costs, where we’ve reduced over $300 million in unnecessary operating expenses in the past three years, reallocating a substantial portion of those savings into customer-focused growth areas. Our strong focus on cash management has allowed us to reduce over $1.3 billion in debt, completely paying off our revolving credit line. Consequently, we are concluding the year with robust liquidity of $1.2 billion in cash. We have made notable strides in optimizing our store footprint; while closing more than 20% of our locations over the past three years, we have also opened and repositioned stores strategically. This approach has significantly lowered our exposure to low-traffic malls and bolstered our off-mall presence. We continue to improve the customer experience by integrating physical and digital aspects, realigning them into a seamless, data-driven omnichannel strategy. We are already observing positive outcomes from these changes. In the second half of fiscal 2021, total revenue increased by 4.4%, despite 395 permanent store closures, and we achieved brick-and-mortar same-store sales growth for two consecutive quarters in North America. Furthermore, our cultural improvements are noteworthy. Signet attracts passionate, skilled talent across all levels, but three years ago, we struggled to harness their full potential. We recognized that our culture had grown too siloed, transactional, and risk-averse. We have worked diligently to foster an environment conducive to a new culture characterized by the freedom to innovate, take risks, learn from failures, work with speed and agility, and be empowered to ruthlessly cut costs that don’t benefit customers. We have also made significant investments in our workforce, such as committing to a $15 minimum wage for all U.S. employees and introducing Love Takes Care bonus awards for all staff, as a token of our gratitude for their dedication amid unprecedented challenges. The transformation is evident; we are witnessing employee engagement thrive in this invigorated culture. Recent internal surveys indicate that over 90% of employees understand our business strategy, and more than 80% take pride in working at Signet, believing we will emerge stronger from the pandemic. For three consecutive years, Signet has been the only specialty jeweler featured in Bloomberg's Gender Equality Index, and we recently earned recognition as a Certified Great Place to Work Company based on employee feedback. Our investment priorities in technology, productivity, and culture have laid a solid foundation. Signet is a significantly stronger organization today than three years ago, both strategically and financially, which positions us to lead our industry and achieve consistent long-term growth through the next phase of our growth strategy, named Inspiring Brilliance. Looking ahead, our main goal is to innovate and grow the jewelry industry while increasing our market share. Essentially, we want to create a larger market and capture a bigger segment of it. We are making clear strategic decisions about where to compete and how to succeed. Firstly, we’ll focus on winning in our leading markets. We have the top retail jewelry brands in their respective territories: Kay Jewelers in the U.S., H.Samuel in the UK, and Peoples in Canada. Our bridal, gifting, and self-purchase categories are strong and expanding, and we’ll maintain our focus on these key segments through data-driven marketing, fresh offerings, and a robust core assortment. Additionally, we will align our brands with the customers they serve effectively. Secondly, we plan to enhance services, creating lasting relationships with our customers. We will improve existing services like repairs and extended service agreements, strengthen ties with new offerings in the piercing and financial service areas, and expand rapidly into emerging marketplaces that connect customers with new jewelry designers, rental options, and subscription services. Thirdly, we are dedicated to embracing accessible luxury and value. Our presence in the mid-tier jewelry market enables us to broaden the traditional upper limit of mid-market definitions with a focus on accessible luxury while addressing the lower end with a focus on value. These steps will help us capture market share from independent and mass-market retailers as well as online counterparts. Lastly, we are committed to leading digital commerce in the jewelry sector. We aim to ensure that we are available for our customers whenever and wherever they want to engage with us. This involves increasing our ecommerce sales percentage, capturing a larger share of jewelry ecommerce transactions, and boosting our social commerce initiatives through customized experiences and influencer partnerships. We are confident in these strategic where-to-play decisions as they tap into our strengths and are challenging for competitors to replicate. Given our journey so far, we are equally confident in the evolution of our how-to-win capabilities, moving from foundational to inspirational. This includes transitioning from customer-first to consumer-inspired strategies, from omnichannel approaches to connected commerce, and enhancing our culture to one that embraces innovation and agility. We first explored consumer inspiration under the Path to Brilliance initiative by strengthening our relationships with current customers. Now, we aim to expand our customer base with insights and innovations that inspire consumers, leading to greater differentiation among our brands. For example, Kay and Zales saw their strongest combined same-store sales growth this past fourth quarter since the Zales acquisition due to more personalized product offerings and marketing strategies. The Jared Foundry concept exemplifies this; it emerged from a recognition of converging trends, including rising demand for personalization, 3D printing technology, and the desire for luxury experiences among mid-market customers. We are leveraging our network of skilled jewelry artisans while utilizing our resources to provide custom jewelry co-created with our customers. This unique offering will roll out to more than 50 Jared stores and online. Next, we are focused on connected commerce. We have introduced various new technology tools, such as conversational messaging and enhanced text search, and integrated features for a seamless customer experience across platforms. For instance, customers can now visually search for jewelry, use virtual try-on to see how pieces look on them, and easily book appointments with consultants. Our connected commerce approach celebrates customer diversity and enhances inventory access, thereby driving sales and reducing return rates. Lastly, we are fostering a culture of innovation and agility, empowering our teams to make swift decisions and encouraging iterative learning. We experienced significant growth in these traits this past year, especially evident in the successful implementation of our strategies during the 2020 holiday season. We leveraged real-time analytics to optimize store labor during peak periods, maximizing sales potential while enhancing customer engagement through new services like curbside pickup and online appointment scheduling. Our jewelry consultants now have access to clienteling tools regardless of their location, creating seamless interactions with customers. We implemented techniques that freed up customer care representatives, enabling them to prioritize serious buyers, resulting in significant sales growth. Our ramped-up ecommerce distribution capabilities ensured that we fulfilled over 98% of our orders on time. These examples highlight the interconnectedness of our strengths. By discovering consumer-inspired insights, creating seamless experiences through connected commerce, and winning customers through a dynamic culture, we establish competitive advantages that lead to long-term growth. With these strategic decisions, we aim to be the innovation leader in jewelry, which is a vision that motivates us. To conclude, Signet's purpose is to inspire love, and our products and services are meant to help individuals celebrate their lives and express their feelings. The significance of love is central to our business, infusing our work with meaning and purpose. It serves as a guiding principle for responsibility and drives our performance. Each time we assist someone in expressing love, we contribute to making the world a better place. Each stand we take for love strengthens ourselves and those we cherish. When the love we inspire leads to more love being shared, we are fulfilling our company’s mission. This concept of inspiring brilliance encapsulates our aim to lead industry changes and societal progress. Our Path to Brilliance journey has been an invigorating experience for all of us, and we are committed to maintaining our momentum as we elevate Signet from stability to growth. Now, I will hand the discussion over to Joan, and we will be glad to answer your questions.

Thank you, Gina. Hello, everyone. We delivered a strong quarter and end to our fiscal year by continuing to execute on two fronts. First, we drove the top-line using enhanced OmniChannel capabilities that allowed us to serve our customers on their terms, teamed with strengthened product assortment. Second, we continued to drive operational efficiency in the form of expense control and inventory management. These disciplines allowed us to end the year in a position of financial strength. With $1.2 billion in cash, we're prepared to fuel the next phase of our strategy for long-term sustainable growth. Fourth quarter total sales grew 1.5% over last year and same-store sales grew 7%. Ecommerce sales grew more than 70% last year. North America delivered 10.4% same-store sales growth, driven by continued strength in both bridal and fashion categories. North America ecommerce sales grew 66%. International same-store sales declined 28.3%, which had a three percentage point negative impact on Signet same-store sales for the quarter. Our UK stores were closed for most of the quarter as a result of governmental lockdowns. That said, our international team delivered strong 150% ecommerce growth, reflecting our OmniChannel focus. Before we continue down the P&L, I'd like to provide a real estate update as continued optimization of our physical footprint remains a core priority and complementary to our digital footprint. We permanently closed 395 stores this year. We also repositioned 33 traditional malls into new off-mall locations. Use of our greenfield analysis has provided our team with data-driven insights and a deeper knowledge of how to best optimize the physical and digital platforms in a given trade area. In addition to our store closures, we identified opportunities for new stores, leading to the opening of 20 Piercing Pagoda stores in fiscal 2021. Moving forward, we plan to close over 100 stores in fiscal 2022, as well as open up to 100 locations primarily in highly-efficient Piercing Pagoda kiosks. We continue our testing of a variety of formats such as Kay/Zale and Jared/James Allen combination stores as well as pop-up stores. To continue along the P&L, we delivered gross margin this quarter of approximately $870 million or 39.8% of sales. This is 210 basis points below last year, excluding restructuring charges due to a combination of strategic promotion relating to inventory optimization and reduced levels of service revenue related to lower store traffic. SG&A was approximately $574 million, down about $60 million from last year, driving a 320 basis-point rate improvement. The improvement was driven by structural cost savings and reduced labor levels. Non-GAAP operating profit was $293.8 million, up over $23 million from last year and excludes $1.9 million in asset impairment and restructuring charges related to the Path to Brilliance transformation plan. Fourth quarter non-GAAP EPS was $4.15, up from $3.67 in the prior year. Turning now to the balance sheet, we continue to focus on inventory lifecycle management, and strategic clearance efforts, all of which contributed to a nearly $300 million reduction in our inventory to this time last year. The flexible fulfillment capabilities that we have in place are helping to minimize stranded inventory and to drive a higher fulfillment rate on customer orders. Our focus on cash conservation and expense control has been a clear priority for us. You'll remember that we also extended our payment terms with vendors and negotiated rent deferrals with landlords. These efforts in combination with our sales performance are largely what contributed to our strong ending cash balance of approximately $1.2 billion. This quarter, we paid down the remaining balance of our revolver, as well as paid off the $100 million term loan. Turning to cost savings; having now reached the three-year mark of our Path to Brilliance transformation, we eliminated $300 million of cumulative costs well above the goal we initially set three years ago. These efforts were largely derived from efficiencies in labor, store operating and inventory-related costs and direct sourcing. Turning to financial services; recall that we have been originating accounts since the second quarter, and we ended this fiscal year with $72 million of receivables on our balance sheet net of allowances. Those accounts are performing better than expected. In January of 2021, we signed an agreement with investors in which they will now buy newly originated subprime accounts through June of this year. We are currently evaluating available options to determine the most effective way to structure our providers and services to best meet the needs of our customers. Now I'd like to discuss our fiscal 2022 financial guidance. We expect stronger sales performance in the first half of the fiscal year. As the vaccine rollout progresses, there could be a shift of consumer discretionary spending away from the jewelry category toward experience-oriented categories, the magnitude and timing of which is difficult to predict. Further, we expect categories with pent-up demand to be promotional in order to capture discretionary spend. As such, we're planning for increased marketing expenses to continue to fuel momentum in the front half as well as proactively manage against changes in consumer spending as the year progresses. While our transformational initiatives continue to gain traction, we're conservatively planning for same-store sales to be negative in the second half of the fiscal year. We have targeted further cost savings this year expected to benefit both SG&A and gross margin in the range of $50 million to $75 million to help mitigate increased levels of investment with a cost savings goal of $175 million to $200 million over the next three years. We'll continue executing on our strategic priorities, which we see contributing to an accelerated first quarter that includes total sales in the range of $1.42 billion to $1.46 billion and non-GAAP EBIT of $40 million to $60 million. Our preliminary Q1 same store sales through March 14 were up approximately 16%. And we expect first quarter same store sales to be in the range of 80% to 84% as we anniversary temporary store closings from last year. For the fiscal year, we expect total sales to be in the range of $5.85 billion to $6 billion, but same store sales in the range of 14% to 17% and non-GAAP EBIT of $290 million to $324 million. You'll recall that we cut capital expenditures to $83 million this past year to focus on cash conservation in response to the pandemic. For FY '22, capital expenditures are planned to be $150 million to $175 million with a focus on digital and technology investments to further strengthen our competitive advantage and long-term positioning. We've also made the strategic decision to target a debt leverage ratio of below three times EBITDAR over time. Our long-term capital priorities remain to invest in the business, pay down debt and return capital to our shareholders. A large amount of uncertainty still exists and we will continue managing the factors under our control, as well as anticipating and reacting to changes in consumer behavior as the year progresses, depending on the timing and extent of potential changes in spending, future results could differ materially from current guidance. Before we open the call for Q&A, I'd like to take a moment to recognize our Signet team. There has been a cultural shift in our company over the past three years as a result of our team members' commitment to our transformation strategy and our purpose. We have momentum, and we're excited to answer this next phase of our growth strategy. And now I'll turn the call over to the operator to begin the Q&A session.

North America transactions up 10%, curious if we could talk a little bit about what that looked like e-commerce versus stores. Also curious how big buy online pick up in store was for the quarter and year, whatever you might be able to share there. And then separately, we're just curious to hear more about the marketplace business that you spoke about. Where are you now with that initiative? And how do you see that evolving over the next year or so? Thanks.

I'll start Paul, on some of the metric questions that you had. Our e-commerce performance as we talked about traffic was up, our conversion was up, our ATV was strong as well online, when you look overall at the stores what we saw on the lower traffic, our conversion was also very strong. And we were able to drive transactions. So overall, we feel very good about the team's response to the quarter that we went through in terms of capacities constraints, the uncertainty, and the agility that the team really demonstrated with respect to flexible fulfillment, and you know, the shift from store opportunities that really helped mitigate those capacity constraints.

And Paul, hi, it's Gina. I'll jump in on your buy online pick up in store and marketplace questions. You know, we only got buy online pick up in store really running in the fourth quarter. And so it's a nascent capability for us, but our team executed brilliantly. And we had very high customer satisfaction, very high online on-time fulfillment. In fact, 86% of the orders were picked up in stores within three hours of receiving the order in the month of December. So our teams were really all over, you know, bringing that new capability to life. And one of the interesting customer dynamics is we typically see a customer who we call the late inspiration seeker, typically male who buys late in the holiday season. He was an over user of the buy online pick up in store technology. We had more than 6000 items picked up in our store in the last couple of days before Christmas, primarily men. So it's really proving out I think to be a strong technology for us. The other one on flexible fulfillment, I'll just mention a ship from store. So we had turned on capability to be able to ship directly to customers from our store in sales pre-holiday, we're now turning that on across our other banners. And that's a real inventory opportunity for us, it unlocks stranded clearance inventory as an example across our store network and also allows us to have a very broad e-commerce offering for our customers. So flexible fulfillment is benefiting us in a couple of ways. In terms of marketplace, you know, we have a very successful marketplace in our business already with jamesallen.com. We also have stood up more of a wholesale kind of a marketplace to serve independent jewelers leveraging our scale in diamond buying. And that is very early, but proving to be a good new business for us. And then we believe that with our scale, we have the opportunity to bring some new capabilities to life. These are not yet ready to do more dreams than, you know anything. But we're looking into customers' desire for rental jewelry, for subscription jewelry, customers' desire to access new designers that they might not be able to find anywhere else. And for example, on Zales, we've already begun a process of discovering these new designers who don't have the scale to be in store. But we can help them with our vendor relationships to develop their product lines, and then they can start out in our websites because you know, perhaps in a more marketplace-oriented environment. So we think there's some real upside for us over the next couple of years as we begin to flesh out those ideas and bring those capabilities to life.

Thanks. Good morning. I'm going to ask a question about the long-term margin opportunities. It looks like the guidance pencils out to around 5% operating margin for this year. Is this a good level that we should use as a base upon which you'll invest to grow market share? Or do you see any other big levers you can pull to move that margin number higher?

Thanks for the question, Lorraine. As you noted, our guidance range it pencils out at, you know, 5% to 5.4%, which I'd note on the higher end is an improvement to fiscal '20. That said, long-term growth remains the focus. And our strategic decisions and continued investments always consider sustainable long-term sustainable growth and share gains. And assuming a way to think about this as assuming a near flat to slightly positive top line growth, we can gradually and over time expand our margins. Largely due to our continued optimization efforts, particularly with our fleet, as well as other cost efforts that we consider within our cost savings program.

Thank you. And then can you just give a few more comments on the fourth quarter gross margin decline and what your outlook is for the first half of the year on that line item?

Well, we've really don't give specific guidance on gross margin in terms of the outlook for this year. But I would just reference you again, back to the operating margin that we just spoke about, Lorraine, but in the fourth quarter, that we had strategic promotion, as I mentioned, and we had very strong sell down activities and lifecycle activities that were strategically supported our selling strategies and the inventory management that we believe has been a very large piece of our strong cash flow position. So we will continue to efforts that what Gina just mentioned with respect to flexible fulfillment ship from store, you know, minimizing stranded inventory. We're rolling that out in the first quarter and the first quarter here for the new initiatives that will also really help with our margin, merchandise margin. So we remain diligent, very focused on turning our inventories faster, and leveraging the new tools that we've put in place.

Good morning. This is Will on for Ike. Can you just talk about, a little bit about the payables, it looks like it was a big deal. You know, it helps you free cash flow, your cash flow from operations this year. Can you just talk a little bit about what caused that spike?

Yes, thanks for the question Will. I would say that we have had a continued effort throughout the year to manage working capital much more efficiently. And we've worked very closely with our vendor partners, and have, you know, lengthened our terms. We also had from deferral of rent, which we worked with our landlords on, of course, that will be paid here in FY '22. But it was a concerted effort for us to manage our working capital more efficiently.

And so do you expect that to normalize going forward?

We have a focus on cash flow generation, for fiscal '22, as I mentioned, and we'll continue to have a focus on inventory, payables and just overall cash management, because, as I said, we've positioned our plans conservatively, and we expect negative sales in the back half of this year. And we keep that in mind as we manage our balance sheet.

Got you. That's helpful. And can you just remind us what the profitability profile e-com is versus brick and mortar?

Well, we haven't really given that guidance, per se, what we said is that it's not materially different. What I share well, is that when you think of the activities that Gina mentioned, through virtual selling, and ship from store, you're going to see a higher concentration, they continue to see a higher penetration of e-com sales. And as we move through more of the stranded inventory, you know, we would expect, you know, that to impact margins somewhat on e-com. And over time as that position normalizes, we can expect it to return to what we're seeing today.

That's great. And just one more for me, can you talk about any plans for the convertible debt?

That remains out there in 2024. And, you know, we'll address that as you know, we progress as I mentioned, our capital priorities are initially number one, invest in the business. And number two is to pay down debt leverage. You'll recall as I mentioned in my prepared remarks that we fully paid down our revolver as well as our $100 million FILO loan. And what we have remaining is a convertible debt as well as the notes payable or senior notes out there for 2024.

Good morning, everyone. As you think about the wage hike, I think that was announced earlier this year, by spring 2022. I believe that you had been paying above minimum wage. Anyway, what impact does that have and are there any other puts and takes on the SG&A given the expense reductions that we should be noting going forward? And then can you talk about with the store portfolio, the opening 100 and closing 100? Is this what we should expect going forward? And how is the integration of the multi-banner stores progressing?

Hi, Dana. I'll start on that. So yes, we recently made a commitment to a $15 minimum wage across the US. This is an initiative that we had already begun. So we started it in fiscal '21 as a conscious way to improve our employee experience. And we've been addressing this not only in our stores but also our distribution centers and our fulfillment centers. And you're right that many of our store staff already make above a $15 minimum wage, because their wages are the combination of a base wage, and a commission wage. So on average, we're above that $15. But it's tough for people who come in and are starting out and haven't yet built that base of, you know, of clients. And so we think this is an opportunity to not only continue to attract great talent but to continue to elevate the employee experience across all of our customer care distribution center and store teams. The increase, as I said, started in fiscal '21. And it is reflected in that the fiscal '22 guidance that Gina gave.

Dana, with respect to the SG&A, as we look forward, you know, you'll recall in '21, we have store closures that labor in those stores will come out occupancy rate, occupancy will come down in terms of rent. And then permanent cost removal savings efforts as we look forward, we'll continue to drive operational efficiencies in our stores, we've managed our store operating hours, and we'll continue to lean into those. I did give guidance for the year of $50 million to $75 million in cost savings. But I also will indicate that we are investing, as Gina mentioned, in technology and digital tools that will continue to further our traction in our omni-channel journey to connective commerce. And then, again, I mentioned the marketing investment, which we think is very important, we're seeing traction, as we noted in our quarter-to-date top line sales. And we think it's important for us to remain position to respond to what's going on in the market. And just to have that flexibility in our thinking. And that is also included in our guidance.

Yes, I'll just, I mean, just to add one thought on the marketing, so we're, through March 14, up 16%, same store sales across Signet, that's over 20% in North America, we've really leaned into the momentum that we saw coming out of Valentine's Day, which was very successful for us. We know that only about a third of tax refunds are out there so far, we would potentially benefit from another round of stimulus. And so our plan is to use our very targeted marketing to try to attract some of that spending. And then we've also made sure we have a strong back half of marketing so that we can be proactive and trying to offset losses that we might see as customers potentially turn their spending toward travel and other experiences once the vaccine has achieved herd immunity. And then with respect to real estate, Dana, we gave guidance that up to 100 stores, and over 100 stores closing up to 100 stores opening and what we really like about what we're seeing is in the pure things that go into highly efficient kiosk locations, we opened 20 in fiscal '21. And we're looking to invest in up to 100 in fiscal '22 and based on the results that we're seeing in these new openings. With respect to our footprint, as we go forward, we intend to optimize the digital and virtual footprint. We'll continue to evaluate by trade area and continue to refer to our Greenfield analysis and update it as results progress.

Well, thank you all for your participation on our call today. As we conclude, I just want to reiterate my profound appreciation for our Signet team for their passion, performance and commitment to our purpose and our customers. And I especially want to recognize my exceptional business partner and Signet CFO Joan Hilson, whose two-year anniversary is today. Her leadership is an amazing catalyst within Signet. As we complete this phase of Signet's transformation, our entire team is focused on inspiring brilliance in everything we do, and we commit ourselves to delivering sustainable long-term growth. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, with that we will conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.