J.Jill, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2023 April (Form 10-Q)

1. Description of Business

J.Jill, Inc., “J.Jill” or the “Company”, is a national lifestyle brand that provides apparel, footwear and accessories designed to help its customers move through a full life with ease. The brand represents an easy, thoughtful, and inspired style that celebrates the totality of all women and designs its products with its core brand ethos in mind: keep it simple and make it matter. J.Jill offers a high touch customer experience through over 200 stores nationwide and a robust ecommerce platform. J.Jill is headquartered outside Boston.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3. Revenues

Disaggregation of Revenue

Net sales consist primarily of revenues, net of merchandise returns and discounts, generated from the sale of apparel and accessory merchandise through retail stores (“Retail”) and through our website and catalog orders (“Direct”). Net sales also include shipping and handling fees collected from customers, royalty revenues and marketing reimbursements related to our private label credit card agreement. Retail revenue is recognized at the time of sale and Direct revenue is recognized upon shipment of merchandise to the customer. The following table presents disaggregated revenues by source (in thousands):

Contract Liabilities

The Company recognizes a contract liability when it has received consideration from the customer and has a future obligation to the customer. Total contract liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):

For the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, the Company recognized approximately $2.9 million and $3.0 million, respectively, of revenue related to gift card redemptions and breakage. Revenue recognized consists of gift cards that were part of the unredeemed gift card balance at the beginning of the period as well as gift cards that were issued and redeemed during the period.

Performance Obligations

The Company has a remaining immaterial performance obligation for a signing bonus related to the private label credit card agreement that is being amortized to revenue evenly through the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2023.

Unredeemed gift cards also require a performance obligation for revenue to be recognized, but substantially all gift cards are redeemed in the first year of issuance.

Practical Expedients and Policy Elections

The Company excludes from its revenue all amounts collected from customers for sales taxes that are remitted to taxing authorities.

Shipping and handling activities that occur after control of related goods transfers to the customer are accounted for as fulfillment activities rather than assessing these activities as performance obligations.

The Company does not disclose remaining performance obligations that have an expected duration of one year or less.

4. Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

The balance of goodwill was $59.7 million at April 29, 2023 and January 28, 2023. The accumulated goodwill impairment losses as of April 29, 2023 are $137.3 million.

Total amortization expense for these amortizable intangible assets was $1.7 million and $1.9 million for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, respectively.

Impairment Tests

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are not amortized but are reviewed for impairment at least annually at fiscal year-end, or more frequently when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Definite-lived intangible assets are reviewed for impairment when events or circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Judgments regarding indicators of potential impairment are based on market conditions and operational performance of the business.
 

5. Debt

Term Loan Credit Agreement

On April 5, 2023, the Company and Jill Acquisition LLC (the “Borrower”) entered into a Term Loan Credit Agreement (the “Term Loan Credit Agreement”) by and among the lenders party thereto and Jefferies Finance LLC (“Jefferies Finance”), as administrative and collateral agent. The Term Loan Credit Agreement provides for a secured term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $175.0 million with a maturity date of May 8, 2028 (the “Term Loan Facility”). Loans under the Term Loan Credit Agreement bear interest at the Borrower’s election at (1) Base Rate (as defined in the Term Loan Credit Agreement) plus 7.00% or (2) Adjusted Term SOFR (as defined in the Term Loan Credit Agreement) plus 8.00%, with Adjusted Term SOFR subject to a floor rate of 1.00%.

The Term Loan Credit Agreement facility is to be repaid in quarterly payments of $2.2 million from July 28, 2023 to May 2, 2025, and $3.3 million from August 1, 2025 to April 28, 2028 with the balance of the Term Loan Credit Agreement facility due upon maturity on May 8, 2028.

The Borrower’s obligations under the Term Loan Credit Agreement are guaranteed by the Company and J.Jill Gift Card Solutions, Inc., a Florida corporation (“Jill Gift Card Solutions” and collectively with the Company, the “Guarantors”), and are secured by substantially all of the real and personal property of the Borrower and the Guarantors, subject to certain customary exceptions. The Term Loan Credit Agreement includes customary negative covenants for term loan agreements of this type, including covenants limiting the ability of the Borrower and the Guarantors to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, create liens on assets, make investments, loans or advances, engage in mergers, consolidations, sales of assets and purchases, pay dividends and distributions, enter into transactions with affiliates, and make payments in respect of junior indebtedness, in each case subject to customary exceptions for term loan agreements of this type. The Term Loan Credit Agreement also includes certain customary representations and warranties, affirmative covenants, certain financial covenants and events of default, including but not limited to, payment defaults, breaches of representations and warranties, covenant defaults, certain events under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), certain final non-appealable judgments that are not covered by a reputable and solvent insurance company, certain defaults under other indebtedness, change of control and certain Title 11 proceedings.

In conjunction with the entry into the Term Loan Credit Agreement, the Company paid $3.7 million in third-party fees related to legal, consulting, agent and other fees. Of these costs, $3.1 million were deferred and presented as a direct reduction from the carrying amount of long-term debt on the consolidated balance sheets as of April 29, 2023 and will be amortized through the line item “Interest Expense” in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income over the term of the Term Loan Credit Agreement using the effective interest method.

As of April 29, 2023, the Company was in compliance with all covenants.

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Table of Contents

Priming and Subordinated Term Loans

The proceeds from the Term Loan Credit Agreement, combined with a portion of the Company’s existing cash on hand, were used to repay in full the outstanding balances of $225.4 million, inclusive of $3.6 million interest, under the Priming Term Loan Credit Agreement (the “Priming Credit Agreement”) and the Subordinated Term Loan Credit Agreement (the “Subordinated Credit Agreement”). All security interests and liens incurred in connection with the Priming Credit Agreement and Subordinated Credit Agreement have been released. The prepayment of the Priming Credit Agreement and Subordinated Credit Agreement was in accordance with the terms of such agreements.

A portion of the transaction was accounted for as a debt modification. As a result, approximately $0.4 million of deferred costs will continue to be deferred and amortized using the effective interest method through May 8, 2028, the maturity date of the Term Loan Facility. These fees are presented as a direct reduction from the carrying amount of long-term debt on the consolidated balance sheets. For repayment of the remaining portion of the Priming Credit Agreement and for the entirety of the Subordinated Credit Agreement, the Company recorded a loss on debt refinancing of $12.7 million of which $10.4 million relates to the Subordinated Facility, inclusive of the write-off of original issue discount, and deferred debt issuance costs and other fees, in the line item “Loss on debt refinancing” in its condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income and in the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows. No debt refinancing gains or losses were recognized during the thirteen weeks ended April 30, 2022.

The Company was in compliance with all covenants under the Priming Credit Agreement and the Subordinated Credit Agreement at the time of their repayment.

Asset-Based Revolving Credit Agreement

The Company is party to a secured $40.0 million asset-based revolving credit facility agreement (the “ABL Credit Agreement” and, such facility, the “ABL Facility”).

Based on the terms of the ABL Facility, as amended, the maturity date of the ABL Facility was extended to May 8, 2024, in connection with the entry into the Term Loan Credit Agreement. The benchmark interest rate applicable to the loans under the ABL Facility is the forward-looking secured overnight financing rate.

Borrowings under the ABL Facility are secured by a first lien on accounts receivable and inventory. In connection with the ABL Facility, the Company is subject to various financial reporting (including with respect to liquidity), financial and other covenants. Affirmative covenants include providing timely quarterly and annual financial statements and prompt notification of the occurrence of any event of default or any other event, change or circumstance that has had, or could reasonably be expected to have, a material adverse effect as defined in the ABL Facility. In addition, there are negative covenants, including certain restrictions on the Company’s ability to incur additional indebtedness, create liens, enter into transactions with affiliates, transfer assets, pay dividends, consolidate or merge with other entities, make advances, investments and loans or modify its organizational documents. The ABL Facility also includes certain financial maintenance covenants, including a requirement to maintain a fixed charge coverage ratio greater than or equal to 1.00:1.00 if availability under the ABL Facility is less than specified levels. As of April 29, 2023 and January 28, 2023, the Company was in compliance with all covenants.

The Company had no short-term borrowings under the Company’s ABL Facility as of April 29, 2023 and January 28, 2023. The Company’s available borrowing capacity under the ABL Facility as of April 29, 2023 and January 28, 2023 was $34.2 million and $30.0 million, respectively. At April 29, 2023 and January 28, 2023, there were outstanding letters of credit of $5.8 million and $7.0 million, respectively, which reduced the availability under the ABL Facility. As of April 29, 2023, the maximum commitment for letters of credit was $10.0 million.

Subsequent Event

On May 10, 2023, the Company entered into Amendment No. 6 to the ABL Credit Agreement (the “ABL Amendment”), by and among the Company, J.Jill Gift Card Solutions, the other guarantors party thereto from time to time, the other lenders party thereto from time to time and CIT Finance LLC, as the administrative agent and collateral agent.

The ABL Amendment extended the maturity date of the ABL Credit Agreement from May 8, 2024 to May 10, 2028 (or 180 days prior to the maturity date of the Company’s Term Loan Credit Agreement if the maturity date of such Term Loan Facility has not been extended to a date that is at least 180 days after the maturity date of the ABL Credit Agreement). The other terms and conditions of the ABL Credit Facility remain substantially unchanged.

6. Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date.

Valuation techniques used to measure fair value require the Company to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). Financial assets and liabilities carried at fair value are to be classified and disclosed in one of the following three levels of the fair value hierarchy, of which the first two are considered observable and the last is considered unobservable:

The Company’s debt instruments include the Term Loan as of April 29, 2023 and Priming Loan and the Subordinated Facility as of January 28, 2023. The debt instruments are recorded at cost, net of debt issuance costs and any related discount. The fair value of the debt instruments is obtained based on observable market prices quoted on public exchanges for similar instruments.

The Company believes that the carrying amounts of its other financial instruments, including cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable and any amounts drawn on its revolving credit facilities, consisting primarily of instruments without extended maturities, based on management’s estimates, approximates their fair value due to the short-term maturities of these instruments.

Assets and Liabilities with Recurring Fair Value Measurements - Certain assets and liabilities may be measured at fair value on an ongoing basis. We did not elect to apply the fair value option for recording financial assets and financial liabilities. Other than total debt, we do not have any assets or liabilities which we measure at fair value on a recurring basis.

Assets and Liabilities with Nonrecurring Fair Value Measurements - Certain assets and liabilities are not measured at fair value on an ongoing basis. These assets and liabilities, which include long-lived assets, goodwill, intangible assets, and debt are subject to fair value adjustment in certain circumstances. From time to time, the fair value is determined on these assets and liabilities as part of related impairment tests or for disclosure purposes. See Note 4. Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, for additional information.

7. Income Taxes

The Company recorded an income tax provision of $2.0 million and $5.0 million during the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, respectively. The effective tax rate was 29.9% for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023, and 25.8% for the thirteen weeks ended April 30, 2022.

The effective tax rate for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 differs from the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to the impact of state and local income taxes, executive compensation limitations and non-deductible expenses. The effective tax rate for the thirteen weeks ended April 30, 2022 differs from the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to the impact of state and local income taxes and partial release of its valuation allowance on state deferred tax assets.

8. Net Income Per Share

Equity compensation awards are excluded from the diluted earnings per share calculation when their inclusion would have an antidilutive effect such as when the Company has a net loss for the reporting period, or if the assumed proceeds per share of the award is in excess of the related fiscal period’s average price of the Company’s common stock. Accordingly, 35,195 and 162,406 shares for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, respectively, were excluded from the diluted earnings per share calculation because their inclusion would be antidilutive.

For the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, warrants issued to the Subordinated Facility holders have been included in the denominator for basic and diluted EPS calculations as the exercise of the warrants is near certain because the exercise price is non-substantive in relation to the fair value of the common shares to be issued upon exercise.

9. Equity-Based Compensation

In conjunction with the initial public offering (“IPO”), on March 9, 2017, the Company established the J.Jill, Inc. Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan, as amended on June 7, 2018 (the “2017 Plan”), which reserves common stock for issuance upon exercise of options, or in respect of granted awards. The 2017 Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Committee”). The Committee has the authority to determine the type, size and terms and conditions of awards to be granted and to grant such awards. The 2017 Plan has 1,293,453 shares of common stock reserved for issuance to awards granted by the Committee. As of April 29, 2023, there were an aggregate of 351,831 shares remaining for future issuance.

During the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023, the Committee approved and granted restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and performance-based restricted stock units (“PSUs”) under the 2017 Plan.

Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”)

For the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, the Committee granted RSUs under the 2017 Plan, which vest in one to three equal annual installments, beginning one year from the date of grant. The grant-date fair value of RSUs is recognized as expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period. For the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, the fair market value of RSUs was determined based on the market price of the Company’s shares on the date of the grant.

The following table summarizes the RSU awards activity for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023:

As of April 29, 2023, there was $6.2 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested RSUs, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average service period of 2.1 years. The total fair value of RSUs vested during the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022 was $2.6 million, and $1.4 million, respectively.

Performance Stock Units (“PSUs”)

For the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023, the Company granted PSUs, a portion of which are based on achieving an Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”) goal and the remaining portion is based on achieving an annualized absolute total shareholder return (“TSR”) growth goal.

Each PSU award reflects a target number of shares (“Target Shares”) that may be issued to the award recipient provided the employee continues to provide services to the Company through January 31, 2026 (“Fiscal Year 2025”). For Adjusted EBITDA based PSUs, the number of units earned will be determined based on the achievement of the predetermined Adjusted EBITDA goals at the end of each performance period ending January 29, 2024, February 1, 2025 (“Fiscal Year 2024”), and Fiscal Year 2025, respectively, and for TSR based PSUs, the number of units earned will be determined based on the achievement of the predetermined TSR growth goal at the end of Fiscal Year 2025. The TSR is based on J Jill’s 30-trading day average beginning and closing price of the three-year performance period, assuming the reinvestment of dividends. Depending on the performance results based on Adjusted EBITDA and TSR, the actual number of shares that a grant recipient receives at the end of the vesting period may range from 0% to 200% of the Target Shares granted. PSUs are converted into shares of common stock upon vesting, under the terms of the 2017 Plan.

The fair value of the PSUs granted during the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 for which the performance is based on an Adjusted EBITDA goal was determined based on the market price of the Company’s shares on the date of the grant. Additionally, for those awards whose performance is based on a TSR growth goal, the fair value was estimated on the grant date using a Monte Carlo simulation with the below noted assumptions:

The Company recognizes equity-based compensation expense related to Adjusted EBITDA PSUs based on the Company’s estimate of the percentage of the award that will be achieved. The Company evaluates the estimate on these awards on a quarterly basis and adjusts equity-based compensation expense related to these awards, as appropriate. For the TSR goal based PSUs, the equity-based compensation expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the three year performance period based on the grant-date fair value of these PSUs.

As of April 29, 2023, there was $1.9 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested PSUs, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average service period of 2.8 years.

Equity-based compensation expense for all award types of $0.9 million and $0.7 million was recorded in the Selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive income for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, respectively.

10. Related Party Transactions

TowerBrook Capital Partners, LP (“TowerBrook”) controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding voting stock, and as a result we are a controlled company within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) corporate governance standards.

On September 30, 2020, the Company entered into the Subordinated Facility, with a group of lenders that includes certain affiliates of TowerBrook and our Chairman of the board of directors (the “Subordinated Lenders”).

As of April 5, 2023, the Subordinated Facility was repaid in full. Refer to Note 5. Debt for additional information on repayment of the Subordinated Facility.

In association with the Subordinated Facility, the Company incurred $1.1 million and $0.8 million of Interest expense, net – related party for the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, respectively.

For the thirteen weeks ended April 29, 2023 and April 30, 2022, the Company incurred an immaterial amount of other related party transactions.

11. Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

The Company is subject to various legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. Although the outcome of such proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty, management does not believe that the Company is presently party to any legal proceedings the resolution of which management believes would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows. The Company establishes reserves for specific legal matters when the Company determines that the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome is probable, and the loss is reasonably estimable.