KOHLS Corp - Quarter Report: 2019 May (Form 10-Q)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

For the quarterly period ended May 4, 2019

OR

For the Transition period from ________ to _________

Commission file number 1-11084

KOHL’S CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (262) 703-7000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.   ☐

Indicate by a check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).     Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date: May 31, 2019 Common Stock, Par Value $0.01 per Share, 162,025,878 shares outstanding.

KOHL’S CORPORATION

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PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

KOHL’S CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited)

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for fiscal year end consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and related footnotes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 2, 2019 (Commission File No. 1-11084) as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Due to the seasonality of our business, results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for a full fiscal year.

We operate as a single business unit.

The following table provides a brief description of issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards:

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

2. Revenue Recognition

The following table summarizes net sales by line of business:

Liabilities for performance obligations resulting from our rewards programs, return reserves, and unredeemed gift cards and merchandise return cards totaled $372 million as of May 4, 2019, $413 million as of February 2, 2019 and $380 million as of May 5, 2018.

3. Debt

Long-term debt consists of the following unsecured senior debt:

Our long-term debt is classified as Level 1, financial instruments with unadjusted, quoted prices listed on active market exchanges. The estimated fair value of our long-term debt was $1.9 billion at May 4, 2019, $1.8 billion at February 2, 2019, and $2.3 billion at May 5, 2018.

Year to date, we have reduced our outstanding debt by $6 million through open market repurchases.           

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

4. Leases

Effective February 3, 2019 (the “adoption date”), we adopted ASC 842 Leases (the “new standard”).  The new standard requires lessees to recognize a liability for lease obligations and a corresponding right of use asset on the balance sheet. The guidance also requires disclosure of key information about leasing arrangements that is intended to give financial statement users the ability to assess the amount, timing, and potential uncertainty of cash flows related to leases.  We adopted the new standard using a modified retrospective transition method and applied the transition provisions at the beginning of the period of adoption through a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings.  We did not restate prior period financial statements.

The new standard includes several transition practical expedients that were available to reduce the burden of implementing the standard.  

The following table summarizes changes in our balance sheet upon adoption of the new standard:

These adjustments represent non-cash activities for Statement of Cash Flow purposes.

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

Adoption of the new standard is not expected to have a material impact on our net income prospectively.  We expect immaterial increases in Selling, general and administrative expenses to be more than offset by decreases in Depreciation and amortization and Interest expense. Substantially all of the expected income statement changes are due to the reversal of accounting for build to suit arrangements where construction is complete which were accounted for as operating or finance leases in accordance with the transition provisions of ASC 842.

Finance and Operating Leases

We lease certain property and equipment used in our operations.  Some of our store leases include additional rental payments based on a percentage of sales over contractual levels or which are adjusted periodically for inflation.  Our typical store lease has an initial term of 20 to 25 years and four to eight five-year renewal options.  

Lease assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term. Lease assets are recognized at commencement date based on the value of the lease liability and are adjusted for any lease payments made to the lessor at or before commencement date, minus any lease incentives received and any initial direct costs incurred by the lessee.

Lease liabilities represent our contractual obligation to make lease payments. They are recognized at commencement date based on the present value of minimum lease payments over the lease term.  As the implicit interest rate is not readily identifiable in our leases, we estimate our collateralized borrowing rate to calculate the present value of lease payments. For leases that commenced prior to the adoption date, we used the February 3, 2019 rate for a term consistent with the original lease term for operating leases and the rate on the lease commencement date for finance leases.

For leases with terms of 12 months or less, we elected the practical expedient to exclude them from the balance sheet and recognize expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term.  For leases beginning, modified, or reassessed in 2019 and later, we elected the practical expedient to combine lease and non-lease components.

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

The following table summarizes our operating and finance leases and where they are presented in our Balance Sheet as of May 4, 2019 and our Statement of Income and Statement of Cash Flows for the quarter ended May 4, 2019:

The following table summarizes future lease payments at May 4, 2019:

Total lease payments includes $2.9 billion related to options to extend operating lease terms that are reasonably certain of being exercised, includes $1.4 billion related to options to extend finance lease terms that are

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

reasonably certain of being exercised, and excludes $14 million of legally binding lease payments for leases signed but not yet commenced.

The following table summarizes weighted-average remaining lease term and discount rates:

Financing Obligations

Historical failed sale leasebacks that did not qualify for sale leaseback accounting upon adoption of ASC 842 continue to be accounted for as financing obligations.

The tables below summarize our financing obligations and where they are presented in our Balance Sheet as of May 4, 2019 and our Statement of Income and Statement of Cash Flows for the quarter ended May 4, 2019.

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

The following table summarizes future financing obligation payments:

The following table summarizes the weighted-average remaining term and discount rate for financing obligations:

5. Stock-Based Awards

The following table summarizes our stock-based awards activity for the quarter ended May 4, 2019:

Effective April 18, 2019, in connection with our entry into a commercial agreement with Amazon.com Services, Inc. (“Amazon”), we issued warrants to an affiliate of Amazon, to purchase up to 1,747,441 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $69.68, subject to customary anti-dilution provisions. The warrants vest in five equal annual installments beginning on January 15, 2020 and expire on April 18, 2026. Unvested warrants will not vest if the commercial agreement is terminated, not renewed, or if no substitute written returns arrangement is entered into between the parties.

6. Contingencies

We are subject to certain legal proceedings and claims arising out of the conduct of our business.  In the opinion of management, the outcome of these proceedings and litigation will not have a material adverse impact on our consolidated financial statements.

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KOHL’S CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

7. Net Income Per Share

Basic net income per share is net income divided by the average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net income per share includes incremental shares assumed for share-based awards and stock warrants.

The information required to compute basic and diluted net income per share is as follows:

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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

For purposes of the following discussion, unless noted, all references to "the quarter" and "the first quarter" are for the three fiscal months (13 weeks) ended May 4, 2019 and May 5, 2018.  

This Form 10-Q contains "forward-looking statements" made within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Words such as "believes," “anticipates,” “plans,” "may," "intends," "will," "should," “expects” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements may include comments about our future sales or financial performance and our plans, performance, and other objectives, expectations or intentions, such as statements regarding our liquidity, debt service requirements, planned capital expenditures, future store initiatives, and adequacy of capital resources and reserves. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s then current views and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Any such forward-looking statements are qualified by the important risk factors described in Part I, Item 1A of our 2018 Form 10-K or disclosed from time to time in our filings with the SEC, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to the date initially made, and we undertake no obligation to update them.

Executive Summary

As of May 4, 2019, we operated 1,155 Kohl's department stores, a website (www.Kohls.com), 12 FILA outlets, and four Off-Aisle clearance centers. Our Kohl's stores and website sell moderately-priced proprietary and national brand apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty and home products. Our Kohl's stores generally carry a consistent merchandise assortment with some differences attributable to local preferences. Our website includes merchandise which is available in our stores, as well as merchandise that is available only online.

Key financial results for the quarter included:

We adopted the new lease accounting standard in the first quarter of 2019 and prior periods were not restated.  

See "Results of Operations" and "Liquidity and Capital Resources" for additional details about our financial results.

Results of Operations

Net Sales

Net sales decreased $132 million, or 3.3%, to $3.8 billion for the first quarter of 2019. Comparable sales decreased 3.4%.  Kohl’s store sales are included in comparable sales after the store has been open for 12 full months.  Digital sales and sales at remodeled and relocated Kohl’s stores are included in comparable sales, unless square footage has changed by more than 10%.  

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Other Revenue

Other revenue increased $11 million, or 4%, to $266 million for the first quarter of 2019.  The increase was driven by higher credit revenue due to increases in interest and fees and decreased fraud losses.

Cost of Merchandise Sold and Gross Margin

Cost of merchandise sold includes the total cost of products sold, including product development costs, net of vendor payments other than reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs; inventory shrink; markdowns; freight expenses associated with moving merchandise from our vendors to our distribution centers; shipping expenses for online sales; and terms cash discount. Our Cost of merchandise sold may not be comparable with that of other retailers because we include distribution center and buying costs in Selling, general and administrative expenses while other retailers may include these expenses in Cost of merchandise sold.  

The decrease in gross margin as a percent of net sales reflects an unfavorable product mix shift between spring and fall goods as well as a higher digital penetration than the first quarter of 2018.    

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses ("SG&A")

SG&A expenses include compensation and benefit costs (including stores, headquarters, buying, and distribution centers); occupancy and operating costs of our retail, distribution and corporate facilities; freight expenses associated with moving merchandise from our distribution centers to our retail stores and among distribution and retail facilities; marketing expenses, offset by vendor payments for reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs; expenses related to our credit card operations; and other administrative revenues and expenses.  We do not include depreciation and amortization in SG&A. The classification of these expenses varies across the retail industry.  

Many of our expenses, including store payroll and distribution costs, are variable in nature. These costs generally increase as sales increase and decrease as sales decrease. We measure both the change in these variable expenses and the expense as a percent of sales. If the expense as a percent of sales decreased from the prior year, the expense "leveraged". If the expense as a percent of sales increased over the prior year, the expense "deleveraged".

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The following table summarizes the increases and decreases in SG&A by expense type:

SG&A increased 1.2%, or $16 million, to $1.3 billion. Substantially all of the increase was due to marketing expenses as we continue to make investments to target market share gains over the long-term. As a percentage of total revenue, SG&A deleveraged 126 basis points.  

Other Expenses

Depreciation and amortization decreased $13 million for the quarter and was driven by the adoption of the new lease accounting standard, as well as the maturity of our store portfolio.

Net interest expense decreased $19 million for the quarter due primarily to the benefits of debt reductions in 2018 and adoption of the new lease accounting standard.

In the first quarter of 2019, we incurred $49 million in lease asset impairment charges related to the previously announced closure of four stores.

In the first quarter of 2018, we recognized a $42 million loss on extinguishment of debt related to our $500 million cash tender offer.  

Income Taxes

The decreases in the provision for income taxes and the effective tax rate were primarily due to a favorable state tax settlement.  The decrease in the provision for income taxes was also impacted by lower taxable income due to the timing of deductions.

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Income before Income Taxes, Net Income and Earnings Per Diluted Share

We believe the adjusted results in the table above are useful because they provide enhanced visibility into our results, excluding non-recurring expenses.  However, these non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to replace the comparable GAAP measures.

Seasonality and Inflation

Our business, like that of most retailers, is subject to seasonal influences, with the major portion of sales and income typically realized during the second half of each fiscal year, which includes the back-to-school and holiday seasons. Approximately 15% of annual sales typically occur during the back-to-school season and 30% during the holiday season. Because of the seasonality of our business, results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for a full fiscal year.

We expect that our operations will continue to be influenced by general economic conditions, including food, fuel and energy prices, higher wages and by costs to source our merchandise. There can be no assurances that such factors will not impact our business in the future.  

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The following table presents our primary uses and sources of cash.

Our working capital and inventory levels typically build throughout the fall, peaking during the November and December holiday selling season.

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Operating Activities

Operating activities generated $136 million of cash in the first quarter of 2019 compared to $387 million in the first quarter of 2018.  The decrease was primarily due to changes in operating assets and liabilities.

Investing Activities

Investing activities used cash of $238 million in the first quarter of 2019 and $133 million in the first quarter of 2018. The increase was primarily due to investments in our E-commerce fulfillment centers.

Financing Activities

Financing activities used cash of $289 million in the first quarter of 2019 and $740 million in the first quarter of 2018.

During the first quarter of 2019, we repurchased $6 million of outstanding debt on the open market. During the first quarter of 2018, we completed a cash tender offer for $500 million of senior unsecured debt.  We may again seek to retire or purchase our outstanding debt through open market cash purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases, if any, will depend on prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. 

We paid cash for treasury stock purchases of $121 million in the first quarter of 2019 and $70 million in the first quarter of 2018.  Share repurchases are discretionary in nature. The timing and amount of repurchases is based upon available cash balances, our stock price and other factors.

We paid cash dividends of $108 million ($0.67 per share) in the first quarter of 2019 and $101 million ($0.61 per share) in the first quarter of 2018. On May 15, 2019, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on our common stock of $0.67 per share. The dividend is payable June 26, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 12, 2019.

During the first quarter of 2019, Standard and Poor’s upgraded our long-term debt from BBB- to BBB. As of May 4, 2019, our credit ratings were as follows:

Key Financial Ratios

Key financial ratios that provide certain measures of our liquidity are as follows:

The decreases in our working capital and current ratio are primarily due to lower cash balances as a result of debt reductions, share repurchases and dividends, as well as the addition of operating leases to current liabilities due to new lease accounting.  These impacts were partially offset by decreases in accounts payable.

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Debt Covenant Compliance

As of May 4, 2019, we were in compliance with all debt covenants and expect to remain in compliance during the remainder of fiscal 2019.  

Contractual Obligations

Other than operating leases which are now Recorded, rather than Unrecorded contractual obligations, there have been no significant changes in the contractual obligations disclosed in our 2018 Form 10-K.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not provided any financial guarantees as of May 4, 2019.

We have not created, and are a not party to, any special-purpose or off-balance sheet entities for the purpose of raising capital, incurring debt or operating our business. We do not have any arrangements or relationships with entities that are not consolidated into our financial statements that are reasonably likely to materially affect our financial condition, liquidity, results of operations or capital resources.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts. Management has discussed the development, selection and disclosure of its estimates and assumptions with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors. There have been no significant changes in the critical accounting policies and estimates discussed in our 2018 Form 10-K.

Item 3.  Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

There have been no significant changes in the market risks described in our 2018 Form 10-K.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (the “Evaluation”) at a reasonable assurance level as of the last day of the period covered by this report.

Based upon the Evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective at the reasonable assurance level. Disclosure controls and procedures are defined by Rule 13a-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") as controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified by the SEC's rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

It should be noted that the design of any system of controls is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving our stated goals under all potential future conditions, regardless of how remote.

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Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended May 4, 2019 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

We are implementing a new enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system which will affect many of our financial processes. This project is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of certain financial and business transaction processes, as well as the underlying systems environment.  The new ERP system will be a significant component of our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1A. Risk Factors

There have been no significant changes in the risk factors described in our 2018 Form 10-K.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

Effective April 18, 2019, in connection with our entry into the Commercial Agreement with Amazon, we issued a warrant (the “Warrant”) to an affiliate of Amazon, to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,747,441 shares (the “Warrant Shares”) of our common stock.  The Warrant vests with respect to 349,489 Warrant Shares on January 15, 2020 and with respect to 349,488 Warrant Shares on each of the first, second, third, and fourth anniversaries of such date, provided that any unvested portion of the Warrant will not vest subsequent to the termination or non-renewal of the Commercial Agreement in accordance with its terms if no substitute written returns arrangement is entered into between the parties.   Upon vesting, the Warrant Shares may be acquired at an exercise price of $69.68 subject to certain customary anti-dilution provisions.  The right to purchase Warrant Shares expires on April 18, 2026.

The issuance of the Warrant and the Warrant Shares has not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) or under any state securities law. We believe that the transaction is exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.  Amazon acknowledged its intention to acquire the Warrant and Warrant Shares for investment only and not with a view toward its distribution, and appropriate legends will be affixed to the Warrant and the Warrant Shares.

The following table contains information for shares of common stock repurchased and shares acquired from employees in lieu of amounts required to satisfy minimum tax withholding requirements upon the vesting of the employees’ stock-based compensation during the three fiscal months ended May 4, 2019:

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Item 6. Exhibits

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

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