J. Jill's FY21 sales grow by 37.1 percent, cuts loss

For the fourth quarter, J. Jill Inc. reported total net sales up 15.3 percent to 145.2 million dollars, while the company’s comparable sales, which includes comparable store and direct to consumer sales, increased by 19.7 percent. Direct to consumer net sales were down 8.8 percent over 2020.

For the full year, total net sales were up 37.1 percent to 585.2 million dollars and comparable sales increased by 23.4 percent. The company’s direct to consumer net sales grew 4.4 percent over 2020.

Commenting on the results, Claire Spofford, president and chief executive officer of J.Jill, Inc, stated: “Fiscal 2021 marked a year of significant recovery for J.Jill driven by the strengthening of our operating model focused on delivering gross margin improvement through disciplined inventory management and full price selling. We delivered significant Adjusted EBITDA expansion while navigating a dynamic macro environment, particularly in the second half of the year.”

J. Jill’s Q4 financial performance highlights

The company’s gross profit for the quarter was 92.7 million dollars, while gross margin was 63.9 percent compared to 56.7 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

Net income for the quarter was 3.6 million dollars compared to a net loss of 26.9 million dollars in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Net income per diluted share was 25 cents compared to a net loss of 2.80 dollars in the previous year. The company said, adjusted net income per diluted share was 15 cents compared to a loss of 1.30 dollars in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was 15.2 million dollars compared to a loss of 3.8 million dollars in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

The company closed seven stores in the fourth quarter and ended the quarter with 253 stores.

Review of J. Jill’s full year results

Gross profit for the full year was 394.4 million dollars and gross margin was 67.4 percent compared to 57.6 percent for the year ended January 30, 2021.

Net Loss was 28.1 million dollars compared to a loss of 139.4 million dollars. Net loss per diluted share was 2.26 dollars compared to a net loss of 15.22 dollars for the year ended January 30, 2021. The company’s adjusted net income per diluted share was 2.13 dollars compared to a loss of 7.49 dollars for the previous year.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year was 91.8 million dollars compared to a loss of 37.7 million dollars for the previous year.

The company closed 14 stores for the year ended January 29, 2022 and ended the period with 253 stores. For the first quarter of fiscal 2022, the company expects revenues to grow between 11 percent and 14 percent compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2021, and for adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 20 and 22 million dollars.

For fiscal 2022, the company expects total capital spend to be between 15 million dollars and 18 million dollars and up to 10 net store closures.