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Financial, Retail

RH Reports Third Quarter 2023 Results

RH releases Q3 2023 results in a letter to shareholders by Gary Friedman, chairman and chief executive officer, that records net revenues of $751 million

12/8/2023
CORTE MADERA, Calif. -- RH (NYSE: RH) has released its financial results for the third quarter ended October 28, 2023, in a shareholder letter from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Friedman. Below is an excerpt of his letter:

Net revenues of $751 million were at the mid-point of our guidance for the quarter, and adjusted operating margin of 7.3% was slightly below expectations due to higher than anticipated expenses, including international openings as well as costs related to our pending acquisition of the New York Guesthouse property and unsuccessful efforts to secure the iconic One Ocean Drive Miami Beach location.

While pleased with improved demand trends generated from the launch of our new RH Interiors and RH Contemporary collections, we experienced increased headwinds in early October when mortgage rates peaked above 8%, and the Hamas invasion of Israel triggered the war in the Middle East.

With 82% of homeowners having mortgages below 5%, and 62% below 4%, we continue to expect the existing housing market to remain frozen until interest rates and/or home prices fall meaningfully. Additionally, the home furnishings market has become increasingly promotional, and we believe that will create a mix shift towards clearance products, pressuring gross margins. In light of the current market we are delaying the mailing of our RH Modern Sourcebook until the first quarter of fiscal 2024 when demand conditions will likely be more favorable.
As a result, we are narrowing our revenue guidance range for the year to $3.06 billion to $3.08 billion, and now expect adjusted operating margin to be in the range of 13.6% to 14.0%.

As mentioned, we are in contract to make an opportunistic purchase of the New York Guesthouse property for approximately $58 million, scheduled to close in the fourth quarter. The building was appraised at $85 million last September when the Federal Funds rate was half the level it is today. We believe controlling the outcome of this one- of-a-kind property is in our best interest. However, we will be poised to take advantage of any opportunity to do a sale-leaseback with the appropriate investor when the commercial real estate market rebounds in the future.

THIRD QUARTER 2023 FINANCIAL RESULTS AND SHAREHOLDER LETTER

PRODUCT ELEVATION

We expect our demand trends to accelerate though the first half of 2024 as our product transformation unfolds, in- stocks improve, we complete the reset of our Galleries, and introduce our new RH Modern and RH Outdoor Sourcebooks in the first quarter of next year. We anticipate our inflection point will peak in the second quarter of 2024 as our new collections fully ramp and we begin another cycle of Sourcebook mailings, completely transforming and refreshing the entire brand over a 12-month period.

We believe our latest collections reflect a level of design and quality inaccessible in our current market and a value proposition that will be disruptive across multiple markets, positioning RH to gain market share throughout fiscal 2024. While a product transformation of this magnitude will be margin dilutive in the short term, we believe it will become margin accretive over the long term as selling rates stabilize and allow for supply chain and sourcing efficiencies.

PLATFORM EXPANSION

Our plan to expand the RH brand globally, address new markets locally and transform our North American Galleries represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity.

As discussed last quarter, we introduced RH to the UK this past summer in a dramatic and unforgettable fashion with the opening of RH England, The Gallery at the Historic Aynho Park, a 17th-century, 73-acre estate that is a celebration of History, Design, Food and Wine. We had a spectacular turnout for our opening event and the global press coverage the brand received was multiple times greater than any Gallery we have ever opened. Due to RH England’s countryside location, we expect the majority of the revenues to be driven by our Interior Design and Trade businesses, which are dependent on building books of business with high-value repeat clients like Interior Design Firms and Hospitality projects. The quote book and demand continue to build monthly, despite the seasonal nature of the location. Our first UK Interiors Sourcebook was in home in October, with our next contact planned to be our RH Modern and RH Outdoor Sourcebooks in the first quarter of 2024.

In November we opened two new international Galleries, RH Munich and RH Düsseldorf. The response to our opening events was beyond our expectations, with RH Munich hosting over 900 chic attendees roaming the three floors with Cipriani Bellinis and Vesper Martinis, and traffic in both Galleries has been strong since opening.

Although RH England is our most unique and spectacular Gallery to date, and the only one with a hospitality component in Europe, all three are architecturally impressive, multi-level expressions of the RH brand, only to be outdone by our even more impressive teams in each location. While many retailers boast of a capital-light, franchise or licensing approach to international expansion, we believe the only way to build a brand and optimize the business globally, is to invest into, and control the brand in the same manner we do locally. With people who live and breathe our values, because it’s their values. People who will lead our cause and build our culture, because it’s their cause, and it’s their culture. We believe when you aspire to be the very best in the world, there are no shortcuts, and greatness can never be delegated, nor licensed or franchised.

Our next international openings include RH Brussels, The Gallery on the Boulevard De Waterloo, and RH Madrid, The Gallery on the Plaza Marques De Salamanca in the first half of 2024, followed by RH Paris, The Gallery on the Champs-Elysées in the fall of next year.

RH Paris is one building from the corner of the Avenue Montaigne, known as one of the most exclusive and luxurious arteries in the capital, and the chosen home of the major haute-couture brands such as Chanel, Dior, Vuitton, Celine, Saint Laurent, and many others. We believe the space we have designed for this location will position RH as a place- maker in the luxury fashion capital of the world. RH Paris will be a six-floor jewel-box connected by a dramatic, ornate scissor stair and a central glass elevator that will whisk you up to the fifth floor and rooftop Champagne & Caviar Bar, where you can take in views of the Eiffel Tower while enjoying our innovative menu featuring the finest Petrossian Caviars. You can also visit the second floor and dine in our dramatic atrium restaurant, inspired by the Grand Palais. With an onyx-carved bar, floors, walls and tables looking out into the beautifully landscaped courtyard with 30-foot ivy-covered walls, it’s like dining in a secret garden, erasing the noise and chaos of the outside world. Mark your calendars for early September, RH Paris will be an opening party you won’t want to miss.

2 THIRD QUARTER 2023 FINANCIAL RESULTS AND SHAREHOLDER LETTER

We are also under construction in London and Milan in inspiring spaces that will celebrate the heritage of the historic structures and will integrate full expressions of our hospitality experiences. Our current plans call for opening both Galleries in 2025. We are also anticipating gaining local approvals soon for RH Sydney, the Gallery in Double Bay, with plans to open in late 2025 or early 2026.

Regarding our North American transformation, we opened RH Indianapolis, The Gallery at the DeHaan Estate, one of the most accurate Palladian-style villas ever built in the United States. The estate spans 151 acres and over 60 rooms, looking over a 35-acre lake, and represents one of the largest, most inspiring and immersive physical expressions of our brand to date.

With construction delays pushing RH Cleveland into the first quarter of next year, our plan now includes opening five North American Design Galleries in 2024, inclusive of RH Palo Alto, RH Cleveland and RH Raleigh in the first half of next year, and RH Montecito and RH Newport Beach in the second half.

We also believe there is an opportunity to address new markets locally by opening Design Studios in neighborhoods, towns and small cities where the wealthy and affluent live, visit and vacation. We have several existing locations that have validated this strategy in East Hampton, Yountville, Los Gatos, Pasadena and our former San Francisco Gallery in the Design District, where we have generated annual revenues in the range of $5 to $20 million in 2,000 to 5,000 square feet. We have secured our first new location for a Design Studio in Palm Desert, which should open in the first half of 2024.

We have identified over 40 locations that are incremental to our previous plans in North America and believe the results of these Design Studios will provide data that could lead to opening larger Galleries in those markets.

View the full letter here.
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