a.k.a. Brands Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Profitability improved despite flat sales: Second-quarter net sales were essentially unchanged at $160.1 million, while Adjusted EBITDA rose 16% to $8.7 million and gross margin expanded 360 basis points to 61.1%, driven by lower tariffs and stronger full-price selling.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Regional performance was mixed: U.S. sales increased 2% and rest-of-world sales surged 51%, helped by the U.K. distribution center, while Australia and New Zealand sales fell 13% amid macroeconomic pressure and a difficult comparison.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management reiterated fiscal 2026 guidance for net sales of $625 million to $635 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $30 million to $32 million, citing high-single-digit Q3 sales growth and continued momentum across regions.
  • Positive Sentiment: Omnichannel expansion remains a major growth focus: Princess Polly plans at least 10 additional stores in 2027 and sees potential for a minimum of 100 U.S. locations, while Culture Kings expects to open two new U.S. stores in Q4 2026; wholesale and marketplace partnerships are also expanding.
  • Positive Sentiment: The balance sheet strengthened: Inventory declined 14%, debt fell 8%, and net leverage improved to 3.37 times year over year, supported in part by approximately $25.8 million of IEEPA tariff refunds, though Q3 will include roughly $3 million in one-time distribution-center relocation costs and face elevated air freight costs.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
a.k.a. Brands Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Greetings, welcome to the a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce K.C White, General Counsel. Please go ahead.

K.C. White
K.C. White
General Counsel at a.k.a. Brands

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining a.k.a. Brands to discuss our Q2 2026. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you of the company's Safe Harbor language. Management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements made on this call that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including when we refer to expectations, projections, and other characterizations of future events, including guidance and underlying assumptions. Any forward-looking statement providing during this call, including projections for future performance, is based on management's expectations as of today. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.

K.C. White
K.C. White
General Counsel at a.k.a. Brands

These statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statement. For a further discussion of risks related to our business, please see our filings with the SEC. Please note we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. This call will also contain non-GAAP financial measures such as Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in the release furnished to the SEC and available on our website. With that, I'll turn it over to Ciaran.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Good afternoon, thank you for joining us to discuss our Q2 2026 results. In the second quarter, we generated net sales of $160.1 million, essentially flat to the prior year, while driving Adjusted EBITDA growth of 16% year-over-year to $8.7 million, further validating that the structural improvements we've made across the business are enabling strong profit flow through. We delivered on our growth expectations in both the U.S. and rest of world geographies with net sales of two percent and 51% respectively. The Australia and New Zealand region were the outlier, with net sales there contracted approximately 13%, pressured by a challenging macro backdrop and a tough prior year comparison from the clearance of non-go-forward goods.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Importantly, Q3 to date momentum has accelerated in all regions, with overall net sales growth in the high single digits alongside healthy margins, giving us continued confidence in our outlook for the second half of the year. We're seeing clear proof points of success across both our women's and men's businesses, reinforcing that our strategic initiatives are resonating with customers and positioning us well for long-term growth. As I highlighted on our Q1 call, a.k.a. Brands is a fundamentally repositioned operating model anchored on profitability and durability. Our Q2 results are a clear reflection of that transformation, with strong profit flow through driving Adjusted EBITDA growth in the mid-teens. Our performance this quarter was driven by the expanded distribution of our brands across stores, wholesale, and marketplace, the strengthening of our operational foundation, and continued financial discipline across the business.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

We're off to a solid start in Q3. I remain confident that 2026 will serve as another meaningful proof point that our strategy is working and our business is on a stronger trajectory. Reiterating our strategy, we've continued building out our omni-channel model beyond our direct-to-consumer roots. Princess Polly now operates 13 U.S. stores plus our first two Australian locations, with more openings planned in both markets this year. As we announced this morning, Culture Kings is also expanding its store footprint in the U.S. with a signed lease for a new store in Puerto Rico and final negotiations for a major metropolitan opening later this year. At the same time, we are expanding our wholesale and marketplace partnerships, which are exceeding expectations, expanding brand awareness, attracting new customers, and creating incremental growth opportunities. Behind the scenes, we've laid the operational groundwork for this expansion.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Inventory has been well managed, driving more full price sell-through and improved inventory turns are giving us greater flexibility to invest in growth. That discipline has also enabled Culture Kings and mnml to further evolve towards a test and repeat merchandising model, which has been a multi-year initiative that is now showing up clearly in our margin improvements. As I previously mentioned, we also completed a full overhaul of our sourcing network in 2025, diversifying across geographies and vendors. That gives us a more resilient supply chain, one built to support test and repeats, and to handle the current trade environment as we keep growing. Together, these initiatives have strengthened our financial model. We ended the quarter with our strongest balance sheet since becoming a public company, reducing our inventory by 14% and our debt by eight percent versus the prior year.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

We ended the period with net leverage of 3.37x. This provides us with increased financial flexibility to continue investing in both growth and profitability. Looking ahead, three priorities remain. Driving direct-to-consumer growth through differentiated products and marketing. Expanding reach through retail, wholesale, and marketplace, and continuing to sharpen our operating model. We're also scaling our AI investment, already seeing early gains in imagery, marketing efficiency, and inventory with more margin benefit expected over time. Turning now to our brand highlights. Princess Polly, our largest brand, delivered another strong quarter. The brand's expanding omni-channel presence continued to extend its reach beyond its successful direct-to-consumer model, driving growth across board, new and returning customers with stores, wholesale, and marketplace, each making meaningful contributions.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Princess Polly's 1,000 square foot pop-up at The Grove in Los Angeles, which opened in May, far exceeded our expectations, and we're excited to have made The Grove a permanent location. Princess Polly is on track to open four additional stores in the U.S. and one in Australia all by year-end. Looking ahead to 2027, we plan to open as many as 10 new Princess Polly stores with five leases already executed in major trade areas, including Charlotte, Boca Raton, Nashville, Burlington, and Jacksonville. Longer term, we see the potential for a minimum of 100 Princess Polly stores in the U.S. alone, up from a current fleet of 13 stores. As I mentioned, our sales growth of more than 50% in the rest of world was another bright spot in the quarter.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

The largest driver was the U.K. distribution center that launched in March, which is delivering the customer experience we envisioned. The two-day delivery window is transforming conversion with momentum compounding week over week. This confirms for us the tremendous growth opportunity we have for Princess Polly in the U.K. and internationally, which we will look to capitalize on over the coming years. From a merchandising perspective, Princess Polly enters the back-to-school selling season with an evolved approach that builds on its test and repeat model. Beginning this month, and informed by strong customer feedback, the brand expanded its offering with deeper buys in core seasonal styles across denim, sweats, and tops. This is designed to capitalize on peak selling throughout the season, both in stores and online. I want to be clear though, test and repeat remains the core of Princess Polly's assortment strategy.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

What we're doing is layering in evergreen programs season after season in the categories where customer demand has proven durable. Taken together, these results underscore why global expansion of Princess Polly's addressable market remains a key strategic priority. Our smaller women's brand, Petal & Pup, continued to expand its wholesale and marketplace distribution in Q2. Nordstrom remains a productive partner with strong unit velocity and sell-through across dresses and casual styles in-store and online. Macy's was a notable Q2 call-out and Nuuly remains a strong growth partner, with tops now the number one performing category on the platform, reinforcing the strength of our expanding separates offering.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Petal & Pup continues to build distribution of its expanding lifestyle assortment by adding more specialty wholesale partners, and during this quarter, it will take another important step, taking part in the specialty retail trade show MAGIC in Las Vegas, the largest wholesale trade show in the U.S. Looking ahead for Petal & Pup, we've intentionally pulled forward our product flow with fall launching in August and holiday in October, four - six weeks earlier than last year. This gives both our direct-to-consumer and wholesale partners a longer selling window heading into the back half. Petal & Pup is well positioned for the second half, and I'm confident in the white space runway and long-term trajectory of the brand. Turning now to our streetwear brands.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Over the past several years, we've strengthened the foundation of the streetwear business. We're now applying the same omni-channel playbook that has driven success across our women's brands. We're expanding beyond direct-to-consumer through stores and wholesale while continuing to execute our disciplined full price test and repeat merchandising strategy. Customers are responding to improved product and a less promotional approach, driving strong sell-through. While sales were not at the level we expected for Culture Kings in Australia in the quarter, the business contributed meaningfully to the overall gross margin expansion. Culture Kings' experiential retail model, together with its portfolio of in-house brands that we have now transitioned to a test and repeat model, including mnml, Loiter, and Carré, provide a strong foundation as we expand across new channels.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

mnml's recent performance have been among the strongest we've seen from the brand, with several key products achieving exceptional success in TikTok Shop. mnml now ranking as a top five brand in the men's category on the platform. Loiter will lean further into collaborations with their recent WrestleMania partnership and the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration, serving as great examples of how differentiated the Loiter brand is. Finally, in Q2, Carré launched their first global collaboration with Coca-Cola centered around the World Cup. We're excited by Carré's product pipeline and future collaborations. The team's continued work expanding the in-house brand portfolio, curating third-party brands such as New Era, Adidas, and ASICS, and driving the strategic transition towards a more full price test and repeat model sets the stage for meaningful, profitable growth ahead. Marketing remains a key strength for Culture Kings.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Brand activations, creative partnerships and exclusive collaborations continue to drive traffic, customer engagement, and cultural relevance, reinforcing the foundation for profitable growth. Our men's brands are now in a solid footing to follow a similar path to our women's business, expanding reach through brick and mortar retail, wholesale partnerships, and marketplaces. We're still early in this journey, but I'm confident that we're in a strong position to meaningfully grow our men's total addressable market. As I've mentioned, we signed a new Culture Kings store lease in Puerto Rico, and we're in the final negotiations for another opening in a major metropolitan market. We expect to have both new stores open in Q4 2026. These will be Culture Kings' first new U.S. store openings since 2022 and mark an important milestone in the brand's next phase of growth.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

New stores will draw on the learnings from our highest-performing Australia locations, as well as our highly productive and profitable Las Vegas flagship. In closing, our Q2 results reinforce that the operating model we've built is delivering. We posted double-digit Adjusted EBITDA growth, positive operating cash flow year to date, and our strongest balance sheet position since our IPO. The work we've put into go-to-market strategy, sourcing, inventory, and channel expansion is translating directly into profit flow through. Q3 to date trends have been strong. We continue to make progress building out our omni-channel model, well underway in women's, just beginning in men's. Taken together, that gives me real confidence in both the back half of the year and the long-term opportunity across our brand portfolio. I want to thank our teams for their continued hard work and commitment.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Our results are a direct reflection on their dedication to our brands and our customers. Before I turn it over to Kevin, I want to take a moment to note a change to our board. Ilene Eskenazi has stepped down after many years of dedicated service, and on behalf of the entire company, I want to thank her for her contributions and counsel over time. I'm delighted to welcome Carrie Cassidy to the board. Carrie brings deep expertise in talent and organizational leadership, having served as Chief People Officer at Restoration Hardware and held senior leadership roles at Levi Strauss, Barclays, and First Data, and currently serves on the board of FilmLA and G.L. Mezzetta. As we scale our brands portfolio, her perspective on leadership and organizational performance will be a real asset to this board. We're excited to have her on board.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

With that, I'll turn it over to Kevin.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

Thanks, Ciaran. For the Q2, net sales and Adjusted EBITDA were in line with our expectations, with Adjusted EBITDA growing 16%, reflecting continued execution against our full-year plan. Let me walk you through the drivers. Net sales were $160.1 million for the Q2, compared to $160.5 million a year ago. On a constant currency basis, net sales declined 5.3%. By region, net sales in the U.S. increased 2.1% to $110.7 million. Net sales in the rest of the world increased 50.5% to $9.6 million, driven in part by the opening of our new U.K. distribution center. In the Australia and New Zealand region, net sales declined 13% to $39.8 million, where we're seeing consumers under increased pressure from the macro environment. Total orders were $2.04 million, down 0.5% year-over-year.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

Trailing 12-month active customers, excluding wholesale, increased 4.4% to $4.31 million, compared to $4.13 million a year ago. Average order value was $78, consistent with last year. Gross margin increased 360 basis points to 61.1%. Let me provide some additional detail on our Q2 gross margin. The reported 61.1% rate did not include any IEEPA refunds. Of the 360 basis points of year-over-year expansion, approximately 240 basis points related to lower year-over-year tariffs. The remaining expansion of 120 basis points was driven largely by our streetwear brands, a direct result of higher full price selling, partially offset by higher air freight costs. Our outlook, which I'll cover in a moment, assumes a gross margin of approximately 59% for Q3 and reflects current tariff rates and elevated air freight costs. Moving to selling expenses. Selling expenses were $47.8 million compared to $45.4 million a year ago.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

The increase was driven by higher in-store selling expenses as we continue to increase our retail footprint. As a percentage of net sales, selling expenses were 29.9% compared to 28.3% a year ago. Marketing expenses were $21.4 million compared to $19.9 million a year ago and 13.3% of net sales. General and administrative expenses were $27.5 million, flat with a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA increased 16% to $8.7 million in the second quarter, our highest quarterly Adjusted EBITDA since Q2 2022, driven primarily by higher gross margin. This compared to $7.5 million a year ago. Our Adjusted EBITDA margin grew 80 basis points to 5.5%. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $21.1 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $23.1 million a year ago.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

During the quarter, we received substantially all of the $25.8 million in expected IEEPA tariff refunds, which is reflected in our operating cash flow. Total debt at the end of the quarter declined 8.1% to $99.9 million from $108.7 million a year ago. As we continue to focus on reducing our leverage and strengthening our balance sheet. Net leverage declined to 3.37x at the end of the quarter, compared to 3.5x a year ago. We ended the quarter in a healthy position with $79.9 million in inventory, down 13.6% from a year ago. Turning now to our outlook. We're pleased with our strong start to Q3, with net sales up high single digits and are confident in the strategic initiatives in place as we head into the back half of the year. We are reiterating our guidance for fiscal 2026.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

We continue to expect net sales to be between $625 million- $635 million and Adjusted EBITDA of between $30 million - $32 million. For the Q3, we expect net sales to be between $160 million and $164 million. As I mentioned, we expect gross margin of approximately 59% and Adjusted EBITDA of between $8 million and $8.5 million in the Q3. For modeling purposes, we expect to incur a one-time charge of approximately $3 million in Q3 related to a planned distribution center relocation that will be reported in selling expenses, but excluded from Adjusted EBITDA.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

For the full year, we anticipate fiscal 2026 stock-based compensation of approximately $6.5 million to $7 million, depreciation and amortization expense of roughly $20 million - $21 million, interest and other expense of approximately $16 million - $18 million, an effective tax rate of negative 10%, CapEx between $18 million - $20 million, and weighted average diluted share count of approximately 11 million. In closing, we are pleased with our execution this quarter against our strategic plan. We believe we are well-positioned to build on this momentum and continue delivering long-term value for our stockholders. With that, we'll open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is from Ryan Meyers with Lake Street.

Ryan Meyers
Ryan Meyers
Analyst at Lake Street

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the strong quarter. Just thinking about the unchanged revenue guidance. Obviously, you guys are expecting to see some pretty significant momentum here in the second half of the year. I know you face some easier compares from last year's second half, but just walk us through maybe what you're seeing in the business right now. Is demand picking up? Is it maybe a continuation of what you saw in the first half of the year? Just as we understand the strength in the second half of the year.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Thanks, Ryan. It is great to see that we're now up high single digits as we go through Q3. It's somewhat the performance, certainly for U.S. and rest of world that we started seeing as we saw improving comps there and performance as we went through Q2. With U.S. is running up double digits quarter to date. There's a combination of drivers there, right? Compared to this time last year, our inventory is just in a much better position and our inventory flow is in a much better position. We certainly had a lot of challenges last year as we made such significant transition to our supply chain. We also have more wholesale partners, more marketplace, more distribution points, which continues to build there.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

From a store perspective, we have seven more stores as we'll end Q3 than we had last year. Obviously some nice comp from there. One of the standouts of last quarter was that the performance that we saw in the rest of world group, particularly what we see happening from opening up that U.K. distribution center with rest of world up over 50% in the quarter. There's a lot of strong momentum across the business, great, like I said, to see us back at double-digit growth in the U.S. and high single digits overall.

Ryan Meyers
Ryan Meyers
Analyst at Lake Street

Right. For sure. Thinking longer term, you guys had said Princess Polly targeting at least 100 stores. What are you seeing from the current store base in terms of productivity and paybacks that kind of gives you the confidence in that target longer term?

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Yeah, I think with 13 doors open so far, it was still early days on kind of the opportunity that we have. We'll look to do another 10 at least next year certainly see kind of 100 potential in the U.S. I think, look, what we're seeing at the moment is the stores are introducing us to new customers. They also have a nice halo effect for the online business, we just see really strong productivity. We're modeling them all to have a payback of two years or less, I would say we're seeing kind of better performance than that across the fleet. I think, look, we're still early days. I think how we are evolving our approach to assortment, being more evergreen, I think is particularly helpful for the stores.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Excited to see how they perform now in the back-to-school season with more of that denim, fleece, and tops inside there just kind of really showing up in a strong way for their customers. Yeah, I think we're just really excited about the opportunity.

Ryan Meyers
Ryan Meyers
Analyst at Lake Street

Got it. No, that's great to hear. Thanks for taking my questions.

Operator

Our next question is from Eric Vetter with SCC Research.

Eric Vetter
Analyst at SCC Research

Good afternoon. Congratulations. Let's talk about Culture Kings. When we see the new stores come into Puerto Rico and the metropolitan area, how can you compare and contrast that into what we're seeing, what the stores were in Vegas, and how you're looking upon kind of leveraging those?

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think, look, Eric, we are super excited that we will have another two stores open for Culture Kings in the U.S. before the end of the year. Like you said, one in Puerto Rico, one in another major metropolitan area. I think the stores that we will open will be more in that kind of four and a half to five and a half, 6,000 sq ft size. Certainly smaller than Vegas. From a size perspective, I think it won't have some of the really big features that Vegas has. I think we'll take a lot of learnings from the new Brisbane store that we have in Australia, how well that's performing, and what we've learned from Vegas, right?

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think it'll very much continue to be, I would say, headwear, footwear, core components of the store, but also really leading with our own first-party brands, and I would say in particular, mnml, Loiter, Saint Morta, American Thrift, continue to have really strong performance. I would say now kind of across the world as we bring in new product. We're starting to see that how it's a meaningful increase to the overall gross margin of the business. We can also see on that newer product we're bringing in. In Australia and the U.S., it's growing double digits, even more growth from a gross margin dollar perspective. I think it's going to be great to have some more doors open and really show off the Culture Kings brand to people.

Eric Vetter
Analyst at SCC Research

Yeah. Australia, could you talk a little bit more about two things. One is you opened another Princess Polly store. How are the Princess Polly stores doing, and what's the potential for that? Second, what are you seeing economically that's kind of causing kind of Australian growth after a very long period of positives there? Thank you.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Yeah. Thanks, Eric. Look, it was great that Princess Polly opened their second store in the Gold Coast area, after the first one in Bondi Beach last year. I would say, look, phenomenal success. The amount of traffic they got on that first weekend, and I would say kind of performance has continued to be really strong for the brand. The brand is obviously, Princess Polly, just really well established in Australia. This is the second store, so I would say that customer has been really waiting and longing to get in there, feel and touch the product. I think, look, just super success there. I think longer term in Australia, we could certainly see a handful of maybe up to 10 stores. As a reminder, we've got eight stores for Culture Kings in Australia.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think we'll continue to be predominantly a direct-to-consumer business down there, but certainly could see a handful of stores down there for Princess Polly. Then, as it relates to the region itself. Yeah, like you mentioned, we had been on a nice period of seeing growth from the region, and look, the region was up 3.8% in Q1, and Culture Kings was pretty much flat comping. We certainly saw pressure there from a macro perspective, significant kind of fuel hikes, rate hikes, and I would say what we are seeing and have heard from other retailers is pretty similar. That kind of pressure degrading in June and into July. I would say, look, some of the bright spots for us are obviously seeing the stores in the region positive comping in July. It's great to see that.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think it's really showing the progress that we've made on resetting that business, getting the right product in there, moving past the older product, and that newer stuff, as I mentioned, we are seeing double-digit comps on that product, and even more from a gross margin perspective. I think, look, all of that is pointing to us feeling that that business is gonna get back on track. We're making really good progress on doing that. Gives us a lot of confidence to open new stores now in the U.S. for the brand as well.

Eric Vetter
Analyst at SCC Research

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question is from Randal Konik with Jefferies.

Randal Konik
Randal Konik
Managing Director at Jefferies

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess what I want to ask about is, now with the announcement of Princess Polly thinking at least 100 stores, I think it would be super helpful to understand how you think about long-term penetration by channel, let's say, how you think about e-com versus stores, versus wholesale of the broader, of the entire kind of portfolio. Then can you give us some high-level thoughts on how you think about margin contribution or overall margin by channel so we kind of think through how we think about overall long-term operating margins for the entire company? That'd be super helpful. Thanks.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Yeah, I think it's certainly great, the work we've done over the last couple of years. I would say, look at the individual brands, but also across the group on really following that strategy of leaning into direct-to-consumer with product from a marketing perspective, but also opening up these new channels. I think, look, we've learned a lot over the last couple of years, from a store perspective, from a wholesale, from a marketplace, even from TikTok, I would say over the last 12 months, and the kind of the opportunity across them all. I would say all have slightly different operating model. All have slightly different, I would say, economics more from a geography of gross margin selling and marketing perspective. I think what we can see with them all, Randy, is look, there's just a huge opportunity for us, right? We're really early on.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think when we've kind of put our product in front of customers, they are reacting to it really positively and giving us confidence to lean into these opportunities. I certainly think if today we had 100 stores for Princess Polly, I think with the halo benefit that we get to the online business as well as how many more customers we'd introduce to the brand, you will still see that direct-to-consumer business being larger than stores. I would say that for us then, wholesale marketplace would be materially smaller than both of those opportunities as well. Still meaningful to the overall business. I think, probably for me, that mix longer term, I think majority still direct-to-consumer with stores next and then wholesale marketplace.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think a version of that holds through, certainly across the streetwear business, and probably for Petal & Pup as well, although the timing of it might be a little bit different on that brand.

Randal Konik
Randal Konik
Managing Director at Jefferies

Got it. My last question would be, when I look at the cash flow statement, in the press release, it looks like debt paydown exceeded CapEx on a six-month basis. Maybe give us some perspective of how you're thinking, again, let's say medium term about capital deployment, to grow, let's say, Princess Polly units or stores, and then versus your thoughts on debt paydown. How do you think about that kind of interplay between CapEx utilization for stores and debt paydown? Super helpful. Thanks.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

Thanks, Randal We finished the quarter, obviously, in a really great spot on the balance sheet, as we talked about. We did have the IEEPA cash come in during the quarter, which was obviously great. The debt is down year-over-year eight percent, and our leverage is down both sequentially from Q1 and also year-over-year down to 3.3. It will continue to be a priority for us to bring down debt, to generate cash, and we definitely see the potential to do that. If you kind of reflect back and look at the last 18 months, which smooths out some of the ins and outs of all the tariff noise, we've generated $35 million of operating cash, and that we've put $25 million to CapEx and $10 million to debt.

Kevin Grant
Kevin Grant
CFO at a.k.a. Brands

You can see that we have that track record of being able to fund the growth and then also to continue to bring down debt and to bring down the leverage, and that will certainly be a priority for us to chase the growth and also to do it in a healthy way from a balance sheet perspective.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I would just add on, Randal, I think certainly it's great to see the progress on EBITDA, 16% growth year to date. It's up, I think, over 35% for the six-month period versus last year. Look, we still haven't seen the full benefit of the progress we're making on the streetwear business, right? It's great to see the margin up 120 basis points, and I think as we've talked about for a while now, customers would start first seeing the new product and really reacting positively to it. Great to see that. We'd see it in the financials and gross margin first, which we have now for the last couple of quarters. I think next, we'll start seeing it in increasing EBITDA, then we'll really start seeing it from a comp perspective.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think when that really kicks in at the level we kind of expect that it can, I think we'll continue to increase EBITDA, increase cash flow, and increase our ability to lean into these growth opportunities that we have.

Randal Konik
Randal Konik
Managing Director at Jefferies

Thanks, guys.

Operator

Our next question is from Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory.

Dana Telsey
Dana Telsey
CEO at Telsey Advisory

Hey, everyone. Nice to see the progress. On Princess Polly, the 100-store opportunity, I could definitely see that. As you think about the go forward and the expansion there, how many can you open a year? Are you seeing as you open more, are there, whether it's cost to open, whether it's fixtures, is there leverage that you can get? As you think about the store size and where you're going, is there different store sizes in different types of neighborhoods? Then at Culture Kings, any learnings from Princess Polly about opening stores in the U.S. on what you should or shouldn't do? Then just on the retail stores part versus wholesale, how do you think of the margin structure of retail and wholesale? Thank you.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

Yeah. Thanks, Dana. Gosh, look, I think we've learned a lot, I would say. I think we're super fortunate, right? With just the level of data that we have and how we can analyze where our customers are, customer frequency, customer white space that we have, and how that lines up with different mall locations and opportunities that are there. For us, we can really kind of focus in on what are the right spots for us to open stores. Look, it's somewhat then around timing from a, is there the size that we want and with the economics that we want? I think we're very much at this stage looking for those kind of right spots, right locations, right economics for us, rather than chasing a kind of particular store count.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I do think, look, I'd love to do kind of would expect to do 10 stores next year for Princess Polly. That's a 50% increase year-over-year or kind of to the overall fleet. I think, look, as we continue to kind of refine how we're opening stores, we can accelerate that process as well. As it relates to the cost to open stores, I think, look, we're certainly have been refining over these first 13 that we've opened, how the store should be laid out, what fixtures really make sense for us, and for our customers with how they shop. I think very early days on figuring out how we bring down the costs of store openings. I would say that from a fixture perspective and just also kind of from a speed of opening.

Ciaran Long
Ciaran Long
CEO at a.k.a. Brands

I think, look, we are taking those learnings across to Culture Kings as well, right? We are not needing to rebuild systems, tools, processes as we open more stores for Culture Kings. I think they'll benefit from some of the work that Princess Polly has done and will allow them to be more efficient and quicker with opening stores. Just from a margin perspective, look, I would say certainly from a gross margin perspective, obviously kind of stores materially higher from getting full price at retail and then just all of the margin there versus the wholesale. Obviously you have higher selling expenses and some marketing expenses for stores rather than wholesale. I think, look, you kind of blend out to a, I suppose, a EBITDA before G&A pretty similar across both channels. Obviously you're getting that full retail from a store perspective.

Dana Telsey
Dana Telsey
CEO at Telsey Advisory

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question and answer session and does conclude today's conference as well. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation, and have a great day

Executives
    • K.C. White
      K.C. White
      General Counsel
    • Ciaran Long
      Ciaran Long
      CEO
    • Kevin Grant
      Kevin Grant
      CFO
Analysts
Powered by Quartr