# Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (GO) FY 2024 MD&A

Verbatim Item 7 Management's Discussion and Analysis from Grocery Outlet Holding Corp.'s 10-K for fiscal year 2024.

SEC filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1771515/000177151525000017/go-20241228.htm
Accession: 0001771515-25-000017
Filing date: 2025-02-26
Report date: 2024-12-28
Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary.
Confidence: high

Company profile: /company/GO/
All MD&A years: /company/GO/mda/
Previous year: /company/GO/mda/fy2023/ (FY 2023)
Next year: /company/GO/mda/fy2026/ (FY 2026)

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in "Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data." This discussion may contain forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" or set forth in other sections of this report.

For discussion related to the results of operations and changes in financial condition for fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022 refer to "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II of this Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2023.

We operate on a fiscal year that ends on the Saturday closest to December 31st each year. References to fiscal 2026, fiscal 2025, fiscal 2024, fiscal 2023, and fiscal 2022 refer to the fiscal years ended January 2, 2027, January 3, 2026, December 28, 2024, December 30, 2023, and December 31, 2022, respectively. Our 2024, 2023 and 2022 fiscal years all consisted of 52 weeks.

As used in this report, references to "Grocery Outlet," "the Company," "the registrant," "we," "us" and "our," refer to Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise indicated or the context requires otherwise.

Overview

We are a high-growth, extreme value retailer of quality, name-brand consumables and fresh products sold primarily through a network of independently operated stores. Our flexible buying model allows us to offer quality, name-brand opportunistic products at prices generally 40% to 70% below those of conventional retailers. Our Grocery Outlet stores are primarily run by entrepreneurial IOs who create a neighborhood feel through personalized customer service and a localized product offering. As of December 28, 2024, we had 533 stores in California, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky and Virginia.

Recent Trends and Developments

The extent of the continuing impact of the factors set forth below on our operational and financial performance will depend on many factors, including certain factors outside of our control.

Macroeconomic Conditions. Over the past several years, and to a lesser extent recently, our business has been and continues to be impacted by macroeconomic conditions including supply chain and labor challenges, inflation and subsequent disinflation, and changes in consumer behavior, and our IOs have been impacted by staffing challenges and increased labor costs and utility costs within their businesses.

Pricing Competition. During fiscal 2024 we have observed an increase in promotional and pricing activities from key competitors, putting further pressure on our relative value proposition, which in turn, has resulted in our increased efforts to actively negotiate costs and adjust prices to sharpen our value proposition.

Restructuring Plan. While we continue to believe in our long-term growth potential, we recently reviewed our strategic initiatives and priorities and have determined to simplify our near-term growth strategy in order to build a stronger foundation from which to scale in the future, and to drive sustainable and disciplined growth, profitability and return on invested capital. In particular, we reassessed our new store opening strategy for fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026, the efficiency of certain supply chain investments and our general and administrative cost structure. As a result, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we began to initiate the Restructuring Plan that is intended to improve our long-term profitability and cash flow generation, optimize the footprint of new store growth and lower our cost base. As further discussed below, the Restructuring Plan provides for (i) the termination of leases for unopened stores in suboptimal locations, 15 of which we had planned to open in fiscal 2025 and eight of which we had planned to open in fiscal 2026 (the “Lease Terminations”), (ii) the cancellation of certain capital intensive warehouse projects and (iii) the implementation of a workforce reduction, pursuant to which we notified affected employees on February 18, 2025 (the “Workforce Reduction”). These actions under the Restructuring Plan are expected to be substantially completed by the first half of fiscal 2025.

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We currently estimate we will incur total costs under the Restructuring Plan of between $52 million and $61 million, of which between $36 million and $45 million are expected to be cash expenditures. The Restructuring Plan includes the activities set forth below:

•We are optimizing new store growth in fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026 to increase efficiencies for distribution and optimize brand awareness and marketing. Specifically, we are narrowing our focus in our future new store openings to target existing markets and a smaller set of high-priority adjacent new markets to improve new store sales productivity and return on invested capital. We plan to open 33 to 35 net new stores in fiscal 2025 in existing markets and a smaller set of high-priority adjacent new markets. We incurred $9.2 million of non-cash impairment of long-lived assets in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 related to the Lease Terminations, which is included in selling, general and administrative expenses. We estimate that we will incur between $30 million to $37 million of additional cash expense related to the Lease Terminations in the first half of fiscal 2025.

•We are shifting our planned investments in our distribution infrastructure in fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026 away from highly capital-intensive projects. We will instead invest in lower cost distribution centers for dry goods to enhance capacity and improve inventory management and overall execution. In connection with such strategy, we cancelled certain warehouse projects, resulting in $6.7 million of non-cash impairment of long-lived assets in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, which is included in selling, general and administrative expenses.

•We are building a more scalable cost structure through the implementation of the Workforce Reduction, which reduced headcount by approximately 40 full-time employees in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 with total cash cost incurred of $1.6 million, including employee severance, employee benefit and related costs.

•In connection with the Restructuring Plan, we estimate that we will incur cash costs of between $4.5 million and $6.5 million in legal and other professional fees in the first half of fiscal 2025.

New Store Growth. Planned construction and opening of new stores has been, and may continue to be, negatively impacted due to both increased lead times to acquire materials, obtain permits and licenses, hook up utilities as well as higher construction and development related costs. Our new store growth efforts are focused on organic growth combined with complementary real estate opportunities that align with our long-term geographic expansion and store growth strategies. Complementary growth opportunities may include expanding strategic relationships with large property owners, evaluating acquisitions of opportunistic real estate that become available through consolidation in the retail sector, and exploring strategic regional acquisitions of operating businesses. On April 1, 2024, we acquired United Grocery Outlet, which included 40 stores in six adjacent states we did not operate in as of such date (Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia) and a company-operated distribution center. The acquisition provides us with the opportunity to scale in a new region and is a platform for potential future expansion in the Southeast. Excluding the United Grocery Outlet transaction, we opened 27 new stores and closed two stores during fiscal 2024. Our near-term integration focus is expanding the assortment, investing in store refreshes and new fixtures and introducing some of our marketing programs to the Southeast region. We plan to open 33 to 35 net new stores in fiscal 2025.

Enterprise Resource Planning System Upgrades and Challenges. In late August 2023, we replaced components of our enterprise resource planning system, including our financial ledger, inventory management platform and product data warehouse system. The implementation of these system upgrades resulted in significant disruption to our business operations, including ordering and inventory disruptions, as well as payment processing, which adversely impacted our results of operations during the remainder of fiscal 2023, as well as during fiscal 2024, as more fully described below in “Comparison of fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2023." We have since improved the data visibility to help us manage and forecast the business and we continue to work to further improve visibility into additional operating data, and to increase the speed and efficiency of the tools that we and our IOs use to manage the business.

Private Label Products. In the third quarter of fiscal 2024, we began to introduce our private label products in stores. In addition to providing better value and inventory consistency for our customers, our private label products are expected to deliver better margins for us and our IOs. During fiscal 2024, we introduced over 180 new private-label SKUs across various grocery and deli categories.

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Key Factors and Measures We Use to Evaluate Our Business

We consider a variety of financial and operating measures in assessing the performance of our business. The key financial measures we use in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") are net sales, gross profit and gross margin, selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A"), operating income, net income and comprehensive income and earnings per share. The key operational metrics and non-GAAP financial measures we use are number of new stores, comparable store sales, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share.

Fiscal 2024 Overview

Key financial and operating performance results for our fiscal 2024 compared to our fiscal 2023 were as follows:

•Net sales increased 10.1% to $4.37 billion for fiscal 2024 from $3.97 billion for fiscal 2023.

•Comparable store sales increased by 2.7% in fiscal 2024, driven by a 4.2% increase in the number of transactions partially offset by a 1.4% decrease in average transaction size.

•Gross margin decreased by 110 basis points to 30.2%, compared to gross margin of 31.3% for fiscal 2023.

•We added 67 new stores, including 40 stores from the acquisition of United Grocery Outlet, and closed two, ending fiscal 2024 with 533 stores in 16 states.

•SG&A increased 11.4% to $1.24 billion, or 28.4% of net sales.

•Net income was $39.5 million, or $0.40 per diluted share for fiscal 2024, compared to net income of $79.4 million, or $0.79 per diluted share, for fiscal 2023.

•Adjusted EBITDA(1) decreased 6.3% to $236.8 million for fiscal 2024 compared to $252.6 million for fiscal 2023.

•Adjusted net income(1) was $76.3 million, or $0.77 per adjusted diluted share(1) for fiscal 2024 compared to $108.1 million, or $1.07 per adjusted diluted share(1), for fiscal 2023.

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(1)Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share are non-GAAP financial measures, which exclude the impact of certain special items. Please note that our non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See "Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section below for additional information about these items, including their definitions, how the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and how management utilizes them, and reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures and the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

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Key Components of Results of Operations

Net Sales

We recognize revenues from the sale of products at the point of sale, net of any taxes or deposits collected and remitted to governmental authorities. Discounts provided to customers by us are recognized at the time of sale as a reduction in net sales as the products are sold. Discounts that are funded solely by IOs are not recognized as a reduction in net sales as the IO bears the incidental costs arising from the discount. We do not accept manufacturer coupons. Net sales consist of net sales from comparable stores, described below under "Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Comparable Store Sales," and non-comparable stores. Growth of our net sales is generally driven by expansion of our store base in existing and new markets as well as comparable store sales growth. Net sales are impacted by the spending habits of our customers, customer perception of value in our offerings, product mix and supply, as well as promotional and competitive activities. Our ever-changing selection of offerings across diverse product categories supports growth in net sales by attracting new customers and encouraging repeat visits from our existing customers. The spending habits of our customers are affected by changes in macroeconomic conditions, governmental benefit programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and discretionary income. Our customers' discretionary income is impacted by wages, fuel and other cost-of-living increases including food-at-home inflation, as well as consumer trends and preferences, which fluctuate depending on the environment. Because we offer a broad selection of merchandise at extreme values, historically our business has benefited from periods of economic uncertainty.

Cost of Sales, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Cost of sales includes, among other things, merchandise costs, inventory markdowns, inventory losses, transportation costs and distribution and warehousing costs, including depreciation. Gross profit is equal to our net sales less our cost of sales. Gross margin is gross profit as a percentage of our net sales. Gross margin is a measure used by management to indicate whether we are selling merchandise at an appropriate gross profit. Gross margin is impacted by product mix and availability, as some products generally provide higher gross margins, and by our merchandise costs, which can vary. Gross margin is also impacted by the costs of distributing and transporting product to our stores, which can vary. Our gross profit is variable in nature and generally follows changes in net sales. While our disciplined buying approach has produced consistent gross margins throughout economic cycles, which we believe has helped to mitigate adverse impacts on gross profit and results of operations, changes in consumer demand as a result of macroeconomic conditions, including inflationary cost increases for goods, labor and transportation, supply chain constraints and changes in discretionary income, have resulted and could continue to result in higher variability to our gross margins. The components of our cost of sales, as well as our gross profit and gross margin, may not be comparable to the same or similar measures of our competitors and other retailers.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

SG&A are comprised of both store-related expenses and corporate expenses. Our store-related expenses include commissions paid to IOs, occupancy and our portion of maintenance costs, depreciation and amortization of store-related assets and the cost of opening new IO stores. Company-operated store-related expenses also include payroll, benefits, supplies and utilities. Corporate expenses include payroll and benefits for corporate and field support, share-based compensation, marketing and advertising, insurance and professional services, depreciation and amortization of corporate assets, operator recruiting and training costs and impairment of long-lived assets related to the Restructuring Plan. We continue to closely manage our expenses and monitor SG&A as a percentage of net sales. SG&A generally increases as we grow our store base and invest in our corporate infrastructure. SG&A related to commissions paid to IOs are variable in nature and generally increase as gross profits rise and decrease as gross profits decline. We expect that our SG&A will continue to increase in future periods as we continue to grow our net sales and gross profits. The components of our SG&A may not be comparable to the components of similar measures of our competitors and other retailers.

Operating Income

Operating income is gross profit less SG&A. Operating income excludes interest expense, net, loss on debt extinguishment and modification and income tax expense. We use operating income as an indicator of the productivity of our business and our ability to manage expenses.

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Results of Operations

The following tables summarize key components of our results of operations both in dollars and as a percentage of net sales (amounts in thousands, except for percentages):

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","December 31, 2022"],["Net sales","$","4,371,501","","","$","3,969,453","","","$","3,578,101"],["Cost of sales","3,049,564","","","2,727,774","","","2,486,002"],["Gross profit","1,321,937","","","1,241,679","","","1,092,099"],["Selling, general and administrative expenses","1,243,610","","","1,115,897","","","997,109"],["Operating income","78,327","","","125,782","","","94,990"],["Other expenses:"],["Interest expense, net","22,156","","","16,361","","","17,967"],["Loss on debt extinguishment and modification","\u2014","","","5,340","","","1,274"],["Total other expenses","22,156","","","21,701","","","19,241"],["Income before income taxes","56,171","","","104,081","","","75,749"],["Income tax expense","16,706","","","24,644","","","10,697"],["Net income and comprehensive income","$","39,465","","","$","79,437","","","$","65,052"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","December 31, 2022"],["Percentage of net sales (1)"],["Net sales","100.0","%","","100.0","%","","100.0","%"],["Cost of sales","69.8","%","","68.7","%","","69.5","%"],["Gross profit","30.2","%","","31.3","%","","30.5","%"],["Selling, general and administrative expenses","28.4","%","","28.1","%","","27.9","%"],["Operating income","1.8","%","","3.2","%","","2.7","%"],["Other expenses:"],["Interest expense, net","0.5","%","","0.4","%","","0.5","%"],["Loss on debt extinguishment and modification","\u2014","%","","0.1","%","","\u2014","%"],["Total other expenses","0.5","%","","0.5","%","","0.5","%"],["Income before income taxes","1.3","%","","2.6","%","","2.1","%"],["Income tax expense","0.4","%","","0.6","%","","0.3","%"],["Net income and comprehensive income","0.9","%","","2.0","%","","1.8","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

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(1)Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Number of New Stores

The number of new stores reflects the number of stores opened or acquired during a particular reporting period. Newly opened stores require an initial capital investment from us for store build-outs, fixtures and equipment that we amortize over time as well as cash required for inventory and pre-opening expenses and typically the issuance of IO notes to support IO startup costs. Certain newly acquired stores may require refreshes and new fixtures.

We expect new store growth to be a significant and critical driver of our net sales growth over the long term. We lease substantially all of our store locations. Our initial lease terms on stores are typically ten years with options to renew for two or three successive five-year periods.

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Comparable Store Sales

We use comparable store sales as an operating metric to measure performance of a store during the current reporting period against the performance of the same store in the corresponding period of the previous year. Comparable store sales are impacted by the same factors that impact net sales.

Comparable store sales consist of net sales from our stores beginning on the first day of the fourteenth full fiscal month following a store's opening, which is when we believe comparability is achieved, or the thirteenth full fiscal month following a store's acquisition. Included in our comparable store definition are those stores that have been remodeled, expanded, or relocated in their existing location or respective trade areas. Excluded from our comparable store definition are those stores that have been temporarily closed for an extended period, those that have had their business materially disrupted for both planned projects as well as due to unforeseen circumstances, permanent store closures and dispositions. When applicable, as was the case with fiscal 2020 and will be the case with fiscal 2025, we exclude the net sales in the non-comparable week of a 53-week year from the same store sales calculation after comparing the current and prior year weekly periods that are most closely aligned.

Opening or, on a limited strategic basis, acquiring new stores is a primary component of our growth strategy and, as we continue to execute on our growth strategy, we expect that a significant portion of our net sales growth will be attributable to non-comparable store net sales. Accordingly, comparable store sales is only one of many measures we use to assess the success of our growth strategy.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share

EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share are non-GAAP financial measures that are supplemental key metrics used by management and our Board to assess our financial performance. EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share are also frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate us and other companies in our industry. Management believes it is useful to investors and analysts to evaluate these non-GAAP financial measures on the same basis as management uses to evaluate our operating results. We use these non-GAAP financial measures to supplement GAAP financial measures of performance to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures. In addition, we use adjusted EBITDA to supplement GAAP financial measures of performance to evaluate our performance in connection with compensation decisions. We believe that excluding items from operating income, net income and earnings per diluted share that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, our core operating results, and that may vary in frequency or magnitude, enhances the comparability of our results and provides additional information for analyzing trends in our business.

We define EBITDA as net income before net interest expense, income tax expenses and depreciation and amortization expenses. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA adjusted to exclude share-based compensation expenses, loss on debt extinguishment and modification, asset impairment and gain or loss on disposition, acquisition and integration costs, costs related to the amortization of inventory purchase accounting asset step-ups, restructuring charges, and certain other expenses that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, our core operating results, and that may vary in frequency or magnitude. Adjusted net income represents net income adjusted for the previously mentioned adjusted EBITDA adjustments, further adjusted for the amortization of property and equipment purchase accounting asset step-ups and deferred financing costs, tax adjustment to normalize the effective tax rate, and tax effect of total adjustments. Basic adjusted earnings per share is calculated using adjusted net income, as defined above, and basic weighted average shares outstanding. Diluted adjusted earnings per share is calculated using adjusted net income, as defined above, and diluted weighted average shares outstanding. These non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures reported by other companies and have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. We address the limitations of the non-GAAP financial measures through the use of various GAAP measures. In the future, we will incur expenses or charges such as those added back to calculate adjusted EBITDA or adjusted net income. Our presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by the adjustments we have used to derive such non-GAAP measures.

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The following table summarizes key operating metrics and non-GAAP financial measures for the periods presented (amounts in thousands, except for percentages and store counts):

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","December 31, 2022"],["Other Financial and Operations Data"],["Number of new stores (1)","67","","","28","","","27"],["Number of stores open at end of period","533","","","468","","","441"],["Comparable store sales increase (2)","2.7","%","","7.5","%","","11.8","%"],["EBITDA (3)","$","186,533","","","$","208,424","","","$","171,967"],["Adjusted EBITDA (3)","$","236,779","","","$","252,621","","","$","214,682"],["Adjusted net income (3)","$","76,275","","","$","108,113","","","$","93,858"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

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(1)Fiscal year 2024 includes the addition of 40 stores from the acquisition of United Grocery Outlet on April 1, 2024.

(2)Comparable store sales consist of net sales from our stores beginning on the first day of the fourteenth full fiscal month following the store's opening, which is when we believe comparability is achieved, or the thirteenth full fiscal month following the store's acquisition.

(3)See "GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations" section below for the applicable reconciliations.

GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations

The following tables provide a reconciliation from our GAAP net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, GAAP net income to adjusted net income, and our GAAP earnings per share to adjusted earnings per share for the periods presented (amounts in thousands, except per share data):

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","December 31, 2022"],["Net income","$","39,465","","","$","79,437","","","$","65,052"],["Interest expense, net","22,156","","","16,361","","","17,967"],["Income tax expense","16,706","","","24,644","","","10,697"],["Depreciation and amortization expenses","108,206","","","87,982","","","78,251"],["EBITDA","186,533","","","208,424","","","171,967"],["Share-based compensation expenses (1)","10,516","","","31,091","","","32,556"],["Loss on debt extinguishment and modification (2)","\u2014","","","5,340","","","1,274"],["Asset impairment and gain or loss on disposition (3)","1,047","","","485","","","1,176"],["Acquisition and integration costs (4)","8,631","","","459","","","\u2014"],["Amortization of purchase accounting assets (5)","839","","","\u2014","","","\u2014"],["Restructuring (6)","15,888","","","\u2014","","","\u2014"],["Other (7)","13,325","","","6,822","","","7,709"],["Adjusted EBITDA","$","236,779","","","$","252,621","","","$","214,682"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

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[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","December 31, 2022"],["Net income","$","39,465","","","$","79,437","","","$","65,052"],["Share-based compensation expenses (1)","10,516","","","31,091","","","32,556"],["Loss on debt extinguishment and modification (2)","\u2014","","","5,340","","","1,274"],["Asset impairment and gain or loss on disposition (3)","1,047","","","485","","","1,176"],["Acquisition and integration costs (4)","8,631","","","459","","","\u2014"],["Amortization of purchase accounting assets and deferred financing costs (5)","6,328","","","5,838","","","10,877"],["Restructuring (6)","15,888","","","\u2014","","","\u2014"],["Other (7)","13,325","","","6,822","","","7,709"],["Tax adjustment to normalize effective tax rate (8)","(1,179)","","","(6,423)","","","(10,084)"],["Tax effect of total adjustments (9)","(17,746)","","","(14,936)","","","(14,702)"],["Adjusted net income","$","76,275","","","$","108,113","","","$","93,858"],["GAAP earnings per share:"],["Basic","$","0.40","","","$","0.80","","","$","0.67"],["Diluted","$","0.40","","","$","0.79","","","$","0.65"],["Adjusted earnings per share:"],["Basic","$","0.77","","","$","1.10","","","$","0.97"],["Diluted","$","0.77","","","$","1.07","","","$","0.94"],["Weighted average shares outstanding:"],["Basic","98,707","","","98,709","","","96,812"],["Diluted","99,615","","","100,831","","","100,162"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

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(1)Includes non-cash share-based compensation expense and zero, less than $0.1 million, and $0.1 million of cash dividends paid in fiscal 2024, fiscal 2023, and fiscal 2022 respectively, on vested share-based awards as a result of dividends declared in connection with a recapitalization that occurred in fiscal 2018.

(2)Represents the write-off of debt issuance costs and debt discounts as well as debt modification costs related to refinancing and/or repayment of our credit facilities. See NOTE 6—Long-term Debt to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

(3)Represents non-restructuring asset impairment charges and gains or losses on dispositions of assets.

(4)Represents costs related to the acquisition and integration of United Grocery Outlet, including due diligence, legal, other consulting and retention bonus expenses.

(5)For purposes of determining adjusted EBITDA, this line represents the incremental amortization of inventory step-ups resulting from purchase price accounting related to the acquisition. For purposes of determining adjusted net income, in addition to the previously noted item, this line also represents the incremental amortization of an asset step-up resulting from purchase price accounting related to our acquisition in 2014 by an investment fund affiliated with Hellman & Friedman LLC, as well as the amortization of debt issuance costs, as these items are already included in the adjusted EBITDA reconciliation within the depreciation and amortization expenses and interest income, net, respectively.

(6)Represents the impairment of long-lived assets related to the Restructuring Plan.

(7)Represents other non-recurring, non-cash or non-operational items, such as certain personnel-related hiring and termination costs, which were $7.8 million in fiscal 2024, system implementation costs, which were $3.7 million in fiscal 2024, legal settlements and other legal expenses, costs related to employer payroll taxes associated with equity awards, store closing costs, strategic project costs and miscellaneous costs.

(8)Represents adjustments to normalize the effective tax rate for the impact of unusual or infrequent tax items that we do not consider in our evaluation of ongoing performance, including excess tax expenses or benefits related to stock option exercises and vesting of time-based restricted stock units ("RSUs") and performance-based restricted stock units ("PSUs") that are recorded in earnings as discrete items in the reporting period in which they occur.

(9)Represents the tax effect of the total adjustments. We calculate the tax effect of the total adjustments on a discrete basis excluding any non-recurring and unusual tax items.

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Comparison of fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2023 (amounts in thousands, except percentages)

Net Sales

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Net sales","$","4,371,501","","","$","3,969,453","","","$","402,048","","","10.1","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in net sales was primarily attributable to an increase in comparable store sales as well as non-comparable store net sales growth primarily from the 65 net new stores acquired or opened during fiscal 2024.

Comparable store sales increased 2.7%, driven by a 4.2% increase in the number of transactions, partially offset by a 1.4% decrease in average transaction size.

Cost of Sales, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Cost of sales","$","3,049,564","","","$","2,727,774","","","$","321,790","","","11.8","%"],["% of net sales","69.8","%","","68.7","%"],["Gross profit","$","1,321,937","","","$","1,241,679","","","$","80,258","","","6.5","%"],["Gross margin","30.2","%","","31.3","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in cost of sales and gross profit was primarily the result of an increase in comparable store sales combined with non-comparable net sales from 65 net new stores acquired or opened during fiscal 2024, as well as impacts related to our system upgrades.

Cost as a percentage of net sales increased and gross margin decreased primarily due to inventory management impacts related to our system upgrades, as certain tools we used to manage the business on our legacy system has been taking longer to rebuild, which impacted data visibility.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["SG&A","$","1,243,610","","","$","1,115,897","","","$","127,713","","","11.4","%"],["% of net sales","28.4","%","","28.1","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in SG&A was driven by $93.3 million in higher store-related expenses and $34.4 million in higher corporate-related expenses. Store-related expenses increased primarily as a result of higher commission payments largely due to 25 net new stores operated by IOs. Also contributing to the increase in SG&A were higher store costs due to 65 net new stores, 40 of which are Company-operated, and the recognition of e-commerce vendor receivables during fiscal 2023. Corporate-related expenses increased largely to support net new store growth combined with $15.9 million in impairment of long-lived assets related to the Restructuring Plan and incremental costs to support our system upgrades, partially offset by lower incentive compensation expenses.

SG&A as a percentage of net sales increased primarily due to $15.9 million in impairment of long-lived assets related to the Restructuring Plan and increases in other store costs, partially offset by lower elective commission support we provided to operators through early 2024 related to our system upgrades.

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Interest Expense, Net

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Interest expense, net","$","22,156","","","$","16,361","","","$","5,795","","","35.4","%"],["% of net sales","0.5","%","","0.4","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in net interest expense was primarily driven by higher average principal debt outstanding during fiscal 2024, due largely to fund share repurchases and other cash outlays to support the continued growth of the business, after the acquisition of United Grocery Outlet.

See NOTE 6—Long-term Debt to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Loss on Debt Extinguishment and Modification

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Loss on debt extinguishment and modification","$","\u2014","","","$","5,340","","","$","(5,340)","","","(100.0)","%"],["% of net sales","\u2014","%","","0.1","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

During fiscal 2023, we recorded a $5.3 million loss on debt extinguishment related to the payoff of $385.0 million of principal on the senior term loan outstanding under our prior credit facilities.

See NOTE 6—Long-term Debt to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Income Tax Expense

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Income tax expense","$","16,706","","","$","24,644","","","$","(7,938)","","","(32.2)","%"],["% of net sales","0.4","%","","0.6","%"],["Effective income tax rate","29.7","%","","23.7","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The decrease in income tax expense was primarily due to lower pretax book income.

The increase in our effective income tax rate primarily related to non-deductible acquisition and integration costs related to the acquisition of United Grocery Outlet in fiscal 2024 and lower excess tax benefits related to the exercise of stock options.

See NOTE 10—Income Taxes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Net Income

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Net income","$","39,465","","","$","79,437","","","$","(39,972)","","","(50.3)","%"],["% of net sales","0.9","%","","2.0","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Net income decreased as a result of the foregoing factors.

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Adjusted EBITDA

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Adjusted EBITDA","$","236,779","","","$","252,621","","","$","(15,842)","","","(6.3)","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was primarily attributable to decreased gross margin and higher SG&A, partially offset by an increase in comparable store sales of 2.7% for fiscal 2024 as well as non-comparable store sales, as discussed above.

Adjusted Net Income

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","$ Change","","% Change"],["Adjusted net income","$","76,275","","","$","108,113","","","$","(31,838)","","","(29.4)","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The decrease in adjusted net income was primarily attributable to decreased gross margin, higher SG&A (including higher depreciation expense), and higher net interest expense, partially offset by an increase in comparable store sales of 2.7% for fiscal 2024 as well as non-comparable store sales, as discussed above.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of Liquidity

Based on our current operations and new store growth plans, we expect to satisfy our short-term and long-term cash requirements through a combination of our existing cash and cash equivalents position, funds generated from operating activities, and the borrowing capacity available in the revolving credit facility under our credit agreement, dated February 21, 2023, with Bank of America, N.A. (the "2023 Credit Agreement"). If cash generated from our operations and borrowings under the revolving credit facility are not sufficient or available to meet our liquidity requirements, then we will be required to obtain additional equity or debt financing in the future. There can be no assurance that equity or debt financing will be available to us when we need it or, if available, the terms will be satisfactory to us and not dilutive to our then-current stockholders. Additionally, we may seek to take advantage of market opportunities to refinance our existing debt instruments with new debt instruments at interest rates, maturities and terms we deem attractive.

As of December 28, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $62.8 million, which consisted primarily of cash held in checking and money market accounts with financial institutions. In addition, we have a revolving credit facility with $400.0 million in borrowing capacity under the 2023 Credit Agreement. As of December 28, 2024, we had $190.0 million of borrowings outstanding under the revolving credit facility and $4.5 million of outstanding standby letters of credit, resulting in $205.5 million of remaining borrowing capacity available under this revolving credit facility. During fiscal 2024, $190.0 million was borrowed under this revolving credit facility.

On February 21, 2023, we entered into the 2023 Credit Agreement, which provides for senior secured credit facilities consisting of (i) a senior secured term loan facility (the "senior term loan") in an original aggregate principal amount of $300.0 million and (ii) a senior secured revolving credit facility (the "revolving credit facility" and, together with the senior term loan, the "new credit facilities") in an aggregate principal amount of $400.0 million. The senior term loan was borrowed in full on such date, and $25.0 million of the revolving credit facility was borrowed on such date. Also on February 21, 2023, we repaid all of the outstanding indebtedness under our prior first lien credit agreement, as well as fees and expenses in connection therewith. See NOTE 6—Long-term Debt to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further detail regarding the 2023 Credit Agreement and our prior first lien credit agreement.

The senior secured credit facilities of the 2023 Credit Agreement permit us to add incremental term loan facilities, increase any existing term loan facility, increase revolving commitments, and/or add incremental replacement revolving credit facility tranches. The aggregate principal amount of such incremental facilities are limited to (a) an amount not in excess of the sum of the greater of $200.0 million and 100% of Consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the 2023 Credit Agreement), subject to certain limitations, plus (b) voluntary prepayments of any term loan facility, voluntary permanent reductions of the commitments for the revolving credit facility and voluntary prepayments of indebtedness secured by liens on the collateral securing the credit facilities, subject to certain exceptions, plus (c) an amount such that (assuming that the full amount of any such incremental revolving increase and/or incremental replacement revolving credit facility was drawn, and after giving effect to any appropriate pro forma adjustment events) we would be in compliance, on a pro forma basis (but excluding the cash proceeds of such incurrence), with a Total Net Leverage Ratio (as defined in the 2023 Credit Agreement) of 3.00 to 1.00.

We may also, from time to time, at our sole discretion, prepay or retire all or a portion of our outstanding debt.

Material Cash Requirements

Leases

We have operating and finance lease arrangements for substantially all store locations, distribution centers, and certain office space and equipment. As of December 28, 2024, total lease assets and lease liabilities were $1.0 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively, and we had executed leases for 69 store locations that we had not yet taken possession of with total undiscounted future lease payments of $451.5 million and lease terms through 2043. We have identified 17 of these store locations to pursue negotiations to exit leases with total undiscounted future lease payments of $66.7 million and lease terms through 2038 related to the Restructuring Plan. See NOTE 4—Leases to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further detail of our lease obligations and the timing of lease liability maturities. See NOTE 16—Restructuring Plan to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the Restructuring Plan.

Debt Obligations and Interest Payments

See NOTE 6—Long-term Debt to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further detail of our 2023 Credit Agreement, which as of December 28, 2024 consists of a senior term loan with $288.8 million of principal outstanding and a revolving credit facility with an aggregate outstanding principal balance of $190.0 million, as well as outstanding letters of credit of $4.5 million and a remaining borrowing capacity available of $205.5 million. As of December 28, 2024, based

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on the then-current interest rate of 6.92%, expected future interest payments associated with our debt totaled $99.6 million, with $33.1 million payable during fiscal 2025. The 2023 Credit Agreement requires us to make scheduled quarterly amortization payments on the senior term loan. Such payments total $45.0 million over the remaining term of the senior term loan, with $15.0 million payable in fiscal 2025. The remaining senior term loan principal balance will become due in February 2028 at maturity.

Capital Expenditures

Our capital expenditures are primarily related to new store openings, ongoing store maintenance and improvements, expenditures related to our distribution centers and infrastructure-related investments, including investments related to upgrading and maintaining our information technology systems and corporate offices. We expect to fund capital expenditures primarily through cash generated from our operations. As compared to capital expenditures of $185.7 million, net of tenant improvement allowances, in fiscal 2024, we expect to incur capital expenditures of approximately $210.0 million, net of tenant improvement allowances, in fiscal 2025, primarily related to new store openings, supply chain investments, ongoing store maintenance and improvements and systems and infrastructure investments.

Working Capital and Purchase Commitments

Our primary working capital requirements are for the purchase of inventory, payroll, rent, issuance of IO notes, other store facilities costs, distribution costs and general and administrative costs. Our working capital requirements fluctuate during the year, driven primarily by the timing of inventory fluctuations, new store openings and capital spending.

Our purchase commitments consist of non-cancelable obligations under service and supply contracts. As of December 28, 2024, we had total purchase obligations of $8.3 million, which is fully payable during fiscal 2025.

Share Repurchases and Dividends

We may repurchase our common stock pursuant to programs approved by our Board. As of December 28, 2024, we had $100.0 million of repurchase authority remaining under the current share repurchase program. See "Item 5. Market For Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities—Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities" for discussion about our Board-authorized share repurchase program.

As of December 28, 2024, we currently do not expect to declare any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

Acquisition of United Grocery Outlet

The acquisition of United Grocery Outlet was completed on April 1, 2024 for the total purchase consideration of $62.5 million, including $2.0 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand, after post-closing adjustments, and was funded with cash on hand.

Debt Covenants

The 2023 Credit Agreement contains certain customary representations and warranties, subject to limitations and exceptions, and affirmative and customary covenants. The 2023 Credit Agreement contains certain covenants that, among other things, limit our ability and the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to: pay dividends or distributions, repurchase equity, prepay junior debt and make certain investments; incur additional debt or issue certain disqualified stock and preferred stock; incur liens on assets; merge or consolidate with another company or sell, assign, transfer, lease, convey or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets; enter into transactions with affiliates; and allow to exist certain restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other payments to the borrower. The 2023 Credit Agreement also contains financial performance covenants requiring us to satisfy a maximum total net leverage ratio test and a minimum interest coverage ratio test as of the last day of each fiscal quarter. The maximum total net leverage ratio test requires us to be in compliance with a Total Net Leverage Ratio no greater than 3.50 to 1.00 as of the last day of each test period ending prior to the test period ending on or about December 31, 2025, and no greater than 3.25 to 1.00 as of the last day of each test period ending thereafter, subject to certain adjustments set forth in the 2023 Credit Agreement. The minimum interest coverage ratio test requires us to be in compliance with a Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio (as defined in the 2023 Credit Agreement) of no less than 1.75 to 1.00 as of the last day of each test period.

As of December 28, 2024, we were in compliance with all applicable financial covenant requirements for the 2023 Credit Agreement.

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Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods presented (amounts in thousands):

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","Fiscal Year Ended"],["","December 28, 2024","","December 30, 2023","","December 31, 2022"],["Net cash provided by operating activities","$","111,963","","","$","303,447","","","$","185,511"],["Net cash used in investing activities","(274,028)","","","(194,165)","","","(149,931)"],["Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities","109,906","","","(97,023)","","","(72,937)"],["Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents","$","(52,159)","","","$","12,259","","","$","(37,357)"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Cash Provided by Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $112.0 million for fiscal 2024 compared to $303.4 million for fiscal 2023. The $191.5 million decrease was primarily driven by changes in trade accounts payable and accrued and other liabilities combined with lower net income and changes in merchandise inventory levels. The change in trade accounts payable and accrued and other liabilities were partially attributable to disruptions related to the implementation of our system upgrades.

Cash Used in Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $274.0 million for fiscal 2024 compared to $194.2 million for fiscal 2023. The $79.9 million increase was due primarily to the acquisition of United Grocery Outlet in April 2024 combined with increased spending on property and equipment due to higher store count and higher construction costs related to future stores.

Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities of $109.9 million for fiscal 2024 was primarily due to the borrowing of $190.0 million on our revolving credit facility under the 2023 Credit Agreement and $8.8 million in proceeds from the exercise of stock options, partially offset by the repurchase of $81.4 million of our common stock and $5.6 million in scheduled principal payments on the senior term loan under the 2023 Credit Agreement. Net cash used in financing activities of $97.0 million for fiscal 2023 was primarily due to the payoff of $385.0 million of principal on the prior senior term loan outstanding under our prior credit facility, repayment of the $25.0 million of principal on our revolving credit facility, $4.5 million in debt issuance costs paid, the repurchase of $5.9 million worth of common stock, and $5.6 million in scheduled principal payments on the senior term loan under the 2023 Credit Agreement, partially offset by $325.0 million in proceeds from the 2023 Credit Agreement.

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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. A summary of our significant accounting policies can be found in NOTE 1—Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to our Consolidated Financial Statements. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make judgments and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our judgments and estimates are based on historical experience and other factors believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Management evaluated the development and selection of our critical accounting policies and estimates and believes that the following involves a higher degree of judgment or complexity and is most significant to reporting our results of operations and financial position, and is therefore discussed as critical. With respect to critical accounting policies, even a relatively minor variance between actual and expected results can potentially have a materially favorable or unfavorable impact on subsequent results of operations.

Long-lived asset impairment

We evaluate long-lived assets, including property and equipment and lease right-of-use assets, for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of such assets may not be recoverable. For purposes of this evaluation, long-lived assets are grouped with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets. Our retail stores are evaluated for impairment at the store level. A long-lived asset or asset group may be impaired if its carrying value exceeds its estimated undiscounted future cash flows over its remaining useful life. The total amount of property and equipment, including store assets, and operating lease right-of-use assets as of December 28, 2024 were $750.4 million and $1.0 billion, respectively.

Our impairment calculations contain uncertainties because they require us to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate future cash flows. Key assumptions used in estimating future cash flows include projected sales growth, gross margin and operating expenses. Estimates of sales growth, gross margin and operating expenses are based on internal projections and consider the store’s historical performance, length of time the store has been open, the local market economics and the business environment impacting the store’s performance. These estimates are subjective and our ability to realize future cash flows is affected by factors such as ongoing maintenance and improvement of the assets, changes in economic conditions and changes in operating performance. We have not made any material changes in the accounting methodology used to evaluate the impairment of long-lived assets during fiscal 2024. If actual results are not consistent with our estimates and assumptions used to calculate estimated future cash flows, we may be exposed to impairment losses that could be material.

If a long-lived asset or asset group is determined to be impaired, we record an impairment loss for the amount by which the carrying value of the asset or asset group exceeds its fair value. The estimated fair value of the asset or asset group is based on the estimated discounted future cash flows of the asset or asset group using a discount rate commensurate with the related risk.

In fiscal 2024 we recognized $15.9 million of impairment of long-lived assets resulting from the Restructuring Plan, which is included in Selling, general and administrative expenses. There were no adjustments to the carrying value of long-lived assets due to impairment charges during fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2022.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Refer to NOTE 1—Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

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