Summary

• Gildan is a leading manufacturer of everyday basic apparel.
• Company markets its products in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
• Company-owned brands including Gildan®, American Apparel®, Comfort Colors®, GOLDTOE®, and Peds®.
• Gildan owns and operates integrated manufacturing facilities located in Central America, the Caribbean, the United States, and Bangladesh.

Gildan Activewear (NYSE: GIL, TSX: GIL) is a leading manufacturer of everyday basic apparel. The Company’s product offering includes activewear, underwear and socks, sold to a broad range of customers, including wholesale distributors, screenprinters or embellishers, as well as to retailers that sell to consumers through their physical stores and/or e-commerce platforms and to global lifestyle brand companies. The Company markets its products in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, under a diversified portfolio of Company-owned brands including Gildan®, American Apparel®, Comfort Colors®, GOLDTOE®, and Peds®.

Gildan owns and operates vertically integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities which are primarily located in Central America, the Caribbean, the United States, and Bangladesh.

Recent Developments

Gildan Included in CDP’s Leadership Band and in S&P Global’s Sustainability Yearbook¹

February 16, 2024; Gildan Activewear Inc. share that it has been included in CDP’s Leadership band for its 2023 climate change disclosures for the fourth time. In addition, Gildan was also included in the Sustainability Yearbook 2024 by S&P Global for the 12th consecutive year, based on S&P Global’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) in 2023. 

Financial Highlights

Full Year 2023 Results

February 21, 2024; Gildan Activewear Inc. announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023²

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net sales of $3,196 million were down 1% year over year, as expected, reflecting a decrease of 3% in Activewear sales and a 10% increase in the Hosiery and underwear category. Activewear sales of $2,668 million were down $95 million, primarily due to lower sales volumes compared to the prior year where the company saw stronger levels of distributor inventory replenishment, partly offset by slightly higher net selling prices. While overall Activewear POS was soft for the full year, the company saw year over year POS trends for this category improve sequentially through the first three quarters of the year before stabilizing in the fourth quarter. International sales of $225 million were down 17% versus the prior year period mainly due to the non-recurrence of prior year restocking in addition to distributors' cautious inventory management throughout the year, in a challenged market. The strong performance in the Hosiery and underwear category, with sales of $528 million, up $50 million, was driven by growth stemming from the expansion of its private label offering and the roll-out of new underwear programs in the mass retail channel, as well as strength in hosiery. Additionally, even though industry-wide demand remained weak for these categories, the company benefited from a more favorable demand environment in comparison to 2022, along with the normalization of inventories at retailers.

The company realized gross margins of 27.5%, down 310 basis points year over year, which includes the recognition of hurricane insurance recoveries representing 70 basis points. On an adjusted basis, gross margin of 27.4% was down 240 basis points, mainly a result of the flow-through impact of peak fiber costs on its cost of sales earlier in the year and higher manufacturing input costs, as anticipated, partly offset by slightly higher net selling prices.

SG&A expenses were $330 million, or 10.3% as a percentage of net sales, reflecting the impact of CEO separation costs and related advisory fees on shareholder matters, detailed above, and inflation on overall costs, which were mostly offset by the impact of lower volumes, lower variable compensation expenses and the benefit from its cost containment measures. On an adjusted basis, SG&A expenses as percentage of sales came in line with prior year, at 10.1%.

The company generated operating income of $644 million or 20.1% of sales, which included the benefit of a $77 million net insurance gain, a $41 million non-cash reversal of a portion of a prior-year hosiery-related impairment charge, and a $25 million gain from the sale and leaseback of one of its U.S. distribution facilities, partly offset by higher restructuring costs of $46 million. Operating income of $603 million in 2022, or 18.6% of sales, included the non-cash impairment charge of $62 million for hosiery, partly offset by an insurance accounting gain of $26 million. On an adjusted basis, the company generated operating income of $553 million in 2023, which translated to an adjusted operating margin of 17.3% compared to $639 million and 19.7% respectively last year, mainly reflecting gross margin pressure in the year.

After reflecting net financial expenses of $80 million, up from $37 million last year, its net earnings and adjusted net earnings reached $534 million and $453 million respectively, in 2023, down 1% and 21% versus prior year. After reflecting the impact of share repurchases made under the Company's NCIB programs, diluted EPS and adjusted diluted EPS of $3.03 and $2.57, were up 3% and down 17% respectively, versus diluted EPS and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.93 and $3.11 respectively, last year.

Outlook

For 2024, the company expect the following:

• Revenue growth for the full year to be flat to up low-single digits;
• Adjusted operating margin slightly above the high end of its 18% to 20% annual target range;
• Capex to come in at approximately 5% of sales;
• Adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $2.92 to $3.07, up significantly between 13.5% and 19.5% year over year;
• Free cash flow above 2023 levels driven by increased profitability, lower working capital investments and lower capital expenditures than in 2023.

Company Overview

Gildan is a vertically integrated manufacturer of everyday basic apparel, including activewear, underwear, and hosiery products. The company's products are sold to wholesale distributors, screenprinters, and embellishers in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, as well as to retailers in North America, including mass merchants, department stores, national chains, specialty retailers, craft stores, and online retailers. The company also manufacture products for global lifestyle brand companies who market these products under their own brands through their own retail establishments, ecommerce platforms, and/or to third-party retailers.³

Products and Brands

The products the company manufacture and sell are marketed under Company brands, including Gildan®, American Apparel®, Comfort Colors®, Gildan® Hammer™, GoldToe®, and Peds®.

The company's primary product categories include activewear tops and bottoms (activewear), socks (hosiery), and underwear tops and bottoms (underwear). In fiscal 2023, Activewear sales accounted for 83% of total net sales, and Hosiery and underwear sales accounted for 17% of total net sales.

Manufacturing

The vast majority of its products are manufactured in facilities that the company own and operate.

Company History

Joseph Chamandy starts Harley Inc.⁴

References

1. ^ https://gildancorp.com/en/media/news/cdp-leadership-band-and-sp-global/
2. ^ https://gildancorp.com/media/uploads/news/2024-02/bgildan_activewear_reports_strong_fourth_quarter_results_and_initia_f2eU37W.pdf
3. ^ https://gildancorp.com/media/uploads/reports/b2023_report_to_shareholders.pdf
4. ^ https://gildancorp.com/en/company/our-story/