Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. (OTC:SCCAF) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2022 8:00 AM ET

Stewart Schaefer - President & CEO

Craig De Pratto - CFO

Stephen MacLeod - BMO Capital Markets

Meaghen Annett - TD Securities

Good morning and thank you for standing by. I would like to welcome everyone to Sleep Country's Q1 2022 Results Conference Call.

Yesterday, Sleep Country released their financial results for the first quarter of 2022. A copy of the earnings disclosure is available on their Investor Relations website and includes cautionary language about forward-looking statements, risks and uncertainties, which also applies to the discussion during today's conference call.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Stewart Schaefer, President and CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I hope you're all keeping well on this beautiful Spring day.

With me today is Craig De Pratto, our CFO. We are very pleased to share our strong results for the first quarter, the best Q1 in our company's history. Building on our record performance in 2021, we delivered impressive growth across all the key metrics of our business and strengthened our position as Canada's leading sleep partner.

Revenue increased by an impressive 13.1%, net income grew by 111.8% and operating EBITDA increased by 48.5%, reinforcing the power of our sleep ecosystem and our best-in-class teams to provide a seamless customer experience across all our brands and all our channels.

Our same-store sales increased by 8.8%, despite the resurgence of COVID that began in mid-December. Our results demonstrate our diversified investments in our portfolio of leading products and brands, digital and physical channels and our distribution network that has positioned us well to adapt to the challenges we face because of supply chain disruptions.

While we were not immune to the rippling effects of the pandemic, challenging supply chain issues, volatile interest rates, inflation, rising oil price, the tragic war in Ukraine and a drop in consumer confidence, our proactive measures to adjust our prices ahead of the curve allowed us to somewhat offset the cost of goods, freight and logistic pressures. Our pricing power allows us to increase prices in certain select categories, reducing some of the inflationary pressures that we are experiencing across the board.

Even in this challenging environment, our more than 1,600 associates at Sleep Country, Dormez-vous, Endy and Hush continue to demonstrate the resilience and determination to deliver the best experience for our customers. We remain committed to and are very bullish on our brick-and-mortar strategic footprint with the addition of 1 new store in Thornhill, Ontario this quarter, bringing our growing retail network to 286 stores.

In the months ahead, we will continue to expand our footprint and look forward to introducing a transformed store design in key locations to further enhance our customers' experience. We extended our digital reach in January with the addition of our Sleep Country and Dormez-vous shops on Loblaw.ca, growing our existing online best-in-class marketplace partnerships with Best Buy and Walmart, reaching millions of more new and loyal customers with a full assortment of sleep products.

E-commerce sales represented 20.8% of our total revenue, reinforcing the importance of creating a channel agnostic and seamless customer experience as Canada's leading omnichannel sleep retailer.

We elevated our purpose with our World Sleep Day campaign, raising awareness for the importance of sleep for our well-being with $100,000 donation to the Canadian Mental Health Association and a powerful brand activation that was our most successful performance campaign since Boxing Week. We pledged over $250,000 worth of sleep essentials to support Ukrainian families displaced by this tragic war and who are in dire need.

Looking ahead, we are well positioned and diversified in our blend of merchandising channel-agnostic approach to weather the changing economic climate and continue to lead Canada sleep base with our frictionless digital experience, multiple distribution channels, powerful and the most innovative sleep brands in the country. We will continue to focus on driving growth and delivering the best omnichannel sleep experience for our customers, while building shareholder value.

Thank you, thank you to all our Sleep Country, Dormez-vous, Endy and Hush teams and all our market partners for their incredible contributions throughout the quarter and continued commitment to our customers.

With that, I will now turn the conversation over to Craig to discuss our financial results.

Thank you, Stewart, and good morning, everyone. As Stewart noted earlier in the call, we are extremely pleased with our Q1 2022 results, despite the macro environment we operate in.

We saw an increase in our revenues of $24 million or 13.1% from $183 million in Q1 2021 to $207 million in Q1 2022. This change was mainly driven by an 8.8% increase in our same-store sales, the opening of 3 net new stores since Q1 of last year as well as the incremental revenue from Hush, who we acquired in Q4 of last year. Our Q1 2022 e-commerce sales represented 20.8% of our revenues.

On to gross profit. Our gross profit margin increased by 710 basis points from 27.5% in Q1 2021 to 34.6% in Q1 2022. This increase was mainly as a result of our strategic pricing beginning in Q2 of 2021 and throughout the rest of last year and into early Q1 fiscal 2022. Our gross profits increased due to our average unit selling prices, lower inventory adjustments and COVID-19 PP&E cost, in addition to leveraging on our occupancy and depreciation costs.

Additionally, in Q1 2021, we had incurred higher wage costs as a result of keeping our stores open for curbside pickup due to temporary store closures in select regions. This created a drag on margins of approximately 160 basis points in the prior year. These margin efficiencies were offset by higher sales, salaries and commission costs due to the shift in revenue earned from our e-commerce platform in the prior year to our retail stores in Q1 2022.

Our EBITDA was impacted by higher G&A costs mainly driven by an increase in media and advertising, compensation, professional fees, IT and depreciation expenses. Three items to point out within G&A costs are: one, our higher LTIP costs as we continue to perform well against our fiscal 2020 PSU plan; two, restructuring costs that we incurred during the quarter as we made certain changes to the company's leadership team; and lastly, the inclusion of $1.1 million in professional fees tied to our ERP project.

Our EBITDA increased by $13.8 million or 45.7% from $30.4 million in Q1 2021 to $44.2 million in Q1 2022. Adjusting our EBITDA for LTIP and ERP costs, our operating EBITDA saw an increase of $15.2 million or 48.5% from $31.5 million in Q1 2021 to $46.7 million in Q1 2022.

Net income attributable to the company increased by $9.7 million from $8.7 million in Q1 2021 to $18.4 million in Q1 2022. Adjusted net income attributable to the company increased by $11.2 million from $9.6 million in Q1 2021 to $20.8 million in Q1 2022.

Diluted earnings per share increased by $0.26 or 113% from $0.49 in Q1 '22 -- or to $0.49 in Q1 '22 from $0.23 in Q1 2021. Diluted adjusted earnings per share increased by $0.30 or 115.4% from $0.26 in Q1 2021 to $0.56 in Q1 2022.

On to other items. In our last investor call, we provided an update to our capital allocation framework. As a reminder, with regards to our leverage, we intend to maintain a strong balance sheet while being comfortable with long-term leverage in the area of 2x. We also feel comfortable temporarily exceeding 2x leverage for a period of time, provided we see a path to getting back below this level within a reasonable time frame.

We had mentioned that we intended to increase our Q1 dividend by at least 10% and increase our annual dividend at a minimum growth rate of 10% for the near to medium term going forward. Subsequent to Q1 quarter end, on May 4, 2022, the Board declared a dividend of $0.215 per share, an increase of 10%, which is payable on May 30 to the shareholders of record at the close of business on May 20, 2022.

In Q1 2022, the TSX approved our NCIB program and subsequently -- and we subsequently purchased and canceled 85,000 shares to date, and we'll be continuing to execute against the NCIB in future quarters. In terms of our capital expenditure plans, we continue to intend -- we intend to open a minimum of 6 net new stores -- 6 new stores for Sleep Country, Dormez-vous and renovate between 20 and 30 stores later this year to our newest format.

Additionally, we will continue to invest in our ERP and technology to further enhance our digital capabilities and omnichannel experience, and spend approximately 1% of revenue for ongoing store in DC maintenance. Lastly, we'll maintain a disciplined filter when assessing potential M&A targets and evaluate M&A against alternative uses of cash.

Thank you. And I'll now pass the call back over to Stewart for closing remarks.

Thanks, Craig. Our strong results in the first quarter continue to demonstrate the power of our sleep ecosystem and our team's ability to deliver for our customers. Building on our deep foundation of sleep expertise, we will continue to expand our reach, grow our channels and build the most innovative and expansive product assortment in Canada.

We remain focused on executing against our strategic plan and are committed to delivering long-term profitable growth for our shareholders as we also help Canadians achieve their best night sleep in support of their health and well-being.

With that, we conclude our remarks and open the floor for questions. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from John Zamparo of CIBC.

I wanted to start on the higher average sale price that you referenced in the press release. I'm wondering if you can add some details on pricing and mix and just what you're seeing from consumers above and below that $1,000 price point.

Sure, John. So as referenced in previous quarters, we did see a little bit of a softness below our $1,000 price point, as consumers start spending money potentially on other items, there was concern about some inflationary items.

But in general, the biggest part of our business is the mid- to high end, which is where the strength of our business has always been was -- our pricing power allowed us to drive prices higher to compensate for any loss in units below $1,000.

Interesting enough, our unit growth proved out to be quite handsome in the quarter because the offset of below $1,000 was partially caused by us by shifting our price spend higher than the $500 price point, higher than the $1,000 price point. So we saw the unit growth accelerate quite considerably above that point.

Okay. That's helpful. And when you look at the same-store sales number, how did that trend throughout the quarter? And the reason I ask there is some of your U.S. peers have talked about a slowdown as a result of the war and its impact on consumer caution. Is that similar to what you saw?

Yes. It was definitely a bumpy quarter. The quarter start -- Omicron hit in mid-December. So going into the quarter, at the beginning of January, people started backing away from the stores, and our e-commerce business was picking up.

Then mid- or the third week in February, the Ukraine war began. And definitely, we saw a little bit of a slowdown and then picking up aggressively by the end of the first week of March and ending well into the end of March.

Okay. Got it. On the cost inflation side, the press release referenced lower product and delivery costs. I'm a bit surprised to see that given the inflationary environment. So is there any more color you can add to that? And can you quantify the cost inflation you are seeing, whether it's as a whole or on your largest cost inputs?

Yes. So John, on the comment around lower cost, it's a lower cost as a percentage of sales just because as Stu alluded to, as our AUSP or average ticket was higher, those are as a percentage of sales year-over-year, but not as an absolute dollar. We've definitely seen the similar pressures that you're hearing more broadly on that front.

It costs us the same amount to deliver a $1,500 mattress as of that a $500 mattress, John, so that's a big benefit in our business.

Okay. And any color or quantification you can add to the inflation side on costs?

Yes. We're no different than anyone else. We're seeing it across the board. We're seeing it in gas prices. We're seeing it in labor prices. The good thing about our business is a large component of our workforce is commission based, and that is the biggest part of it. There's no question that there's a war on talent when it comes to IT and e-commerce. And -- but we've been very proactive and ahead of the curve in terms of what we've been seeing for over a year.

And some of the -- most of the adjustments that we were able to make in specific categories of our business has clearly offset some of those pressure -- inflation pressures that we're seeing.

Okay. Understood. And then last one for me, and I know I've asked this before, but just trying to get better understanding of the thinking. And when you post a quarter like this, which is well above expectations, it's on top of a strong year. Last year, you've had incredible results over the past 18 months.

And when you see the stock where it is, what stops you from doing something more impactful on the capital return side to refuse the notion that's out there that these strong results are temporary that I think is impacting valuation on this front?

Yes. Well, thank you, John, for noticing that our multiple is at a ridiculously low level, but I'll let Craig talk about our NCIB.

Yes. I think the one thing, John, on our NCIB was we were in blackout for much of the quarter after we came out of last quarter's results. And so we bought back actively for the time period outside of the blackout.

We are looking at -- obviously, we'll be back active on the NCIB post blackout period, and we're also looking into putting in place an automatic share purchase plan. So when we do have those blackout periods, we can be active in the market as well with predetermined ranges. So I think that's one area where you can expect to see us continue to be very active going forward.

Your next question comes from Martin Landry of Stifel.

I would like to dig a little bit deeper in your gross margin expansion. It's expanded by 700 bps. It's the largest expansion I've seen you guys achieve, and it's occurring at a time when freight is increasing. It also contrast with your peers that I have seen their margin erode. So Craig, I was wondering if you could do a bridge for us and quantify the main buckets that explain the increase.

Yes, Martin. So one piece that we just discussed was obviously the higher AUSP, which is there is some efficiencies on our delivery side of our business on that front, so that is about one benefit. But if we go a little bit more specifically, in Q1 of last year, we had curbside pickup, which was a drag on our margin, about 1.6%, so 160 basis points.

In addition, if you go sequentially from Q2 to Q3 to Q4 of last year, when we did put the proactive retail pricing strategy in place, you will see that we did separate and continue to separate on our margin and lever by about 200 to 300 basis points just on those last couple of quarters.

So we did see that come through and roll through. So that was if you ended at Q4 and went and bridged to Q1, you should have already baked in or look to bake in an efficiency there or a step-up in our overall margins on that front. And then lastly was just in terms of our depreciation occupancy cost, we do lever that a little bit more nicely this year with the big increase in sales at the $ 207 million mark.

So those will be the main pieces that I would kind of point out. And then lastly is also on the price increasing. We did also roll through an additional price increase in early Q1 2022, so that has an additional offset against some of the cost pressures we're seeing. So when you add those all up, those are really some of the main contributors where we saw the step-up kind of happening gradually throughout last year and then also the additional retail price in Q2 -- or Q1 of this year.

Okay. Just to be clear, curbside pickup has a boost, 160 basis point. Your pricing last year, 200 to 300 basis points. Your occupancy costs, I'm sorry, I didn't get the numbers there.

I don't have the exact number on occupancy leverage. But if -- we can take that offline and I can get you the bridge on that. But there is a little bit of efficiency there as we continue to lever off of higher sales results.

And then you said you took on price in Q1 of this -- of 2022. How much of an impact did that have on your gross margin?

It was -- it wouldn't have been for the entire quarter, but it would have had an efficiency probably in the 0.5% to 1% range given when we rolled it out throughout the quarter. So if you add those all up, and I think you bridge pretty closely to the year-over-year between margins, I think you have to look at it sequentially and then versus that year-over-year straight up comparison. There's just a little bit of noise on the numbers.

I'm going to add one last thing, Martin. Traditionally, we are always on events. There's always some type of promotion that's going on. In Q4 of last year, our discounting on some of our promotions were a little bit less.

There's no question that inventory is the new gold, and being in stock is a competitive advantage for us. So if you look at our discounting promotions that we would have had in Q1 of 2021 compared to our discounted promotions in 2022, it is also a little less.

Okay. That's helpful. And I was wondering if you can discuss the traffic trends post quarter, the sentiment. There's lots of moving parts on the macroeconomic front. So any color you can give us on consumer sentiment and traffic would be super helpful.

Yes. I got to tell you, Martin, 28 years doing this, there are so many moving parts, and it's getting harder and harder to navigate through this environment and giving even a guidance 60, 90 days out because so many things could happen in this economy in this world. That being said, we are currently feeling really bullish on our business. We think that the consumer still has a very healthy balance sheet. There's no question that on the lower end of the consumer, maybe they're pulling back a little bit as they see their gas prices and everyday expenses.

But our customers are happily returning to the stores, enjoying the shopping experience. I'm not even hearing comments about death of the stores that we saw -- heard a few years ago. The omnichannel experience is definitely an important part of it. So the trends in traffic have been different, but not weaker. So we're -- and feeling that as we go into the second quarter. So can't predict further out, but that's what we're feeling now, very bullish.

Your next question comes from Stephen MacLeod of BMO Capital Markets.

Good. Just wanted -- so lots of great color so far, so thank you. I just had a couple of follow-up questions on the gross margin. Can you just talk a little bit about whether you have the positive mix shift from higher accessories growth in Q1? I assume you did. I just didn't hear it in the buckets.

And then secondly to that, I know you don't give guidance, but just thinking about all the puts and takes, Craig, that you went through on the gross margin side, it sounds like a lot of the benefit has been from price. So is it fair to assume that you wouldn't give that back necessarily as you roll through the rest of 2022?

Yes. So on the first part of your question, the accessories piece, yes, we are seeing a nice mix and compounded growth year-over-year in that bucket, which does tend to be about a 10 -- 10% higher margin. So yes, we are seeing a greater mix shift in accessories, which is a very -- which is a positive.

And on the price, as you roll through the rest of the year, we would expect that you will continue to see a step-up in the sales and levering on gross profit, and that we would not be giving that back. As Stu did allude to, there are different pressures market around container costs. That's something, which we feel we've gotten ahead of with our retail pricing strategy, and that's why we did start rolling that out last year in Q2.

So Q1 is a comparative, just has a little bit more noise than when we look back on that Q2, Q3, Q4, where we did see year-over-year growth in that 200 to 300 basis points due to some of those pricing strategies that we have implemented last year that just weren't there in Q1.

Steve, also, I wanted to just hit on your comment about mix of products because all retailers are living and learning through pre-COVID, post-COVID and just the patterns of the consumer in this omnichannel world that we're in.

The most interesting thing that we've noticed in Q1, which was a big help, as people were -- and continuing into Q2, as people return to the stores, the average transaction is substantially higher, literally almost double than what we were doing on e-commerce.

So thank goodness, we had our e-commerce in place during this pandemic, and it drove a whole new customer segmentation for us, which we're very excited to have, and that's going to continue to grow. But interestingly enough, as customers walk into our stores, greeted by our sleep experts, go through the experience because customer experience is key, they are also graduating to a higher quality, higher -- and higher average unit selling price in terms of mattress for that same transaction.

And the basket size, also when they come in and they go through the whole experience of why the pillow also is important and why the sheets are also more important, which is also a pickup in terms of our accessory business, too.

Okay. That's great. And just so I understand. So you're saying that as people come to stores, their average purchase price, their average basket is more than double what it was through the pandemic online. Is that what you mean?

Correct. Yes. On e-commerce online, approximately, the average transaction is about $700. I think it's $672 for us. Right now, in store, that is probably $1,250 to $1,300. Same customer, just different experience and willing to pay up for that experience.

Great. Okay, okay. And then maybe just finally, I was wondering if you could comment a little bit about the performance of your partnerships, Best Buy, Walmart, Loblaws. I know they're still somewhat early days, so just wondering if you have any incremental color.

Yes. We're really happy about these partnerships and having conversations about how do we develop and enhance these relationships. For sure, the expansion of our brand through the millions of people that go through their stores, on their websites and everything has definitely positioned us really well in a broader customer segmentation than ever before.

Transactionally, it's been -- we've been very pleased. Loblaws, who joined in January, we had some of our biggest marketplace days ever in our company's history. And the stores that we're doing with Walmart, our Sleep Country Express, we're doing some final tweaks and changes on some of the look of the stores that we've already put into place because our accessory business seems to be quite brisk. And we have to probably increase some shelving to support that.

And hopefully, as I said on the last quarter, at the end of June, we're hoping to announce that we're going to be taking our next step into opening multiple more stores with them.

Your next question comes from Meaghen Annett of TD Securities.

I have a question around the competitive environment in Canada. So we have been dealing with supply chain delays and whatnot for some time. And I'm sure you're aware of this as well, but it seems that some of the more diversified players in furniture and other categories are receiving those goods and then may be normalizing a bit, and that could be putting some pressure on their businesses in one way or another.

So as a specialty retailer, how do you think that this shifting supply-demand dynamic impacts your business for better or for worse? And maybe just as a follow-up, in the event that demand does level off to an extent, can you just talk about your ability to appropriately manage the flow of inventory going forward?

So Meaghen, I just want to be sure I understand your question. Are you asking about our supply dynamic or you're asking in comparison to other retailers?

Right. So as some of the, let's say, furniture retailers are potentially pulling back on, let's say, their bedding stock or having to promote some of their product. How do you see that impacting the competitive environment?

Yes. So I'm not sure what others are necessarily doing, but I will say that our inventory is managed very well. The majority of our business is still in mattresses. 80% of our business is still manufactured in Canada, so we haven't had a lot of the import supply chain disruptions that others have, and that's very much a just-in-time model.

So -- and the negative working capital of our business, which is one of the beautiful parts of our business, and we sell the product usually and then order it from our suppliers and receive it within 24 to 48 hours and then ship it out, we're always keeping a decent level of inventory.

On the other 20% of our business, which is on the import side, which has been definitely disrupted like everyone else, and you've probably seen a tick-up in terms of our inventory, which is on proactive measures that we brought in extra inventory because we think that's a competitive advantage.

Again, in Q1, we brought in extra inventory as we get into the moving seasons for Q2. And again, we think that's a competitive advantage. It's -- the holding cost of the extra inventory is offset by the expansion of gross margin by us direct sourcing, including the cost of the freight.

And so we're comfortable and seemed to be managing around -- the team seems to be doing an amazing job managing around this disruption. So there's no need for us to discount aggressively because I have heard that some people that were ordering inventory in the fourth quarter, it only showed up in the first quarter, and they have to try to now get rid of it. We're not having that same type of problem. And we're not even seeing it so much in our category in Canada.

That's great color. And then just looking at the accessories piece of the business, Stewart, you had talked about potentially growing Sleep Country's market share in that category over time. And my question is, do you feel that you have the levers in place today needed to achieve that goal? Or will that require some investments in either organic growth or M&A?

For example, you had alluded to certain brands like Hush being available at a wholesale level. So any color on the strategy there would be great.

Yes. If you could see my face, Meaghen, I'm smiling right now because don't ever ask me if we think we have enough because we don't. And we do believe still that this is a huge opportunity.

We still believe we only have about an 8% to 10% market share. We do believe that we could grow this aggressively. Hush and the brands that we're creating in Sleep Country, some of the direct sourcing that we're doing, some of the innovative products that we're looking at with our partners at Purple, Caspers, Tempur-Pedic. So we still think we're early days, and there's some new innovative products.

We just came back from a trip from Utah, spent some time with our friends at Purple and at Maloof, a very important partner for us, especially on the accessory side of our business. So I think there still is a lot to grow there. Definitely, we love the brand. We love all our brands, but we do believe that an expansion on the accessory side and Hush, both online and in-store, is in the future for us.

And just last question related to Hush. Seeing as they are in the U.S. market, any early learnings there from that geography that you can talk to?

Lots of early learnings. Nothing that I could project of what's going to happen. There's no secret that there has been a little bit of a pullback on the e-commerce world, especially within United States. Amazon reporting their first negative numbers in the, I think, over a decade, especially in the home category.

That being said, we continue to grow in United States. Cost of acquisition is becoming more expensive. So like I said on the last call, we're very excited about this because we get to experiment and learn from the Hush brand before we decide to do anything more aggressively.

It's only been a few months, and it's been a really busy few months. So ask us the question again in 3 months. And maybe, we'll have a different answer for you.

Your next question comes from Patricia Baker of Scotiabank.

So Stewart, in your opening remarks, you referenced the new store design. Can you talk about what constitutes some of the elements, what we can expect from that new store design?

Sure. I haven't given our broader teams a sneak peak yet, so I'm not going to share too much, but I'll give you a little bit of the flavor. First of all, it's constantly evolving. And obviously, even from Meaghen's question before, and you know very well, Patricia, that our accessory business transacts very well at a higher margin, even than our mattresses.

If you look at the square footage in our existing stores today, it outperforms per square foot, even our mattress business. As the world opens up and people are returning to the stores and the overall experience, the customer journey and experience is more and more important.

We are trying to enhance that, and it will be an expansion on some of our accessories and the space and the square footage devoted to it. There will be a digital footprint in our stores with an expansion of endless aisle, so that our sales associates will have the ability to increase the basket size not only with what's on the floor, but the fabulous partnerships that we're digitally creating in our drop ship programs.

So expect an enhancement of the look and the feel with an expansion of our accessory ability to broaden our assortment.

Okay. Stewart, that is exactly what I was hoping to hear from you that you would enhance the accessories at the store level because I think that will do a lot towards building even greater awareness that you are in the accessory business. So I think that will be very positive. That's all I was hoping to hear from you guys.

And then secondly, you referenced your market share in accessories, 8% to 10%. Can you just talk about where you think you are on the mattress side given that 13.1% sales gain in the quarter and the comps that you have? I'm assuming that you gained market share in Q1 last year.

Pardon me. So we believe we did. And the only reason for my hesitation is because, obviously, we're usually taking US data and trying to translate that back to the Canadian data. If you look at a lot of our peers in the United States, and a lot of them who reported last week and had big misses, it's -- I don't know if the differentiating factor is the retailer or the economy or the market.

And so right now, we're not seeing the alignment between what we're seeing in our business and some of the poor numbers that we saw last week. All that to be said, throw in the fact that as you see our unit growth above $1,000, also we're increasing prices.

So part is price increase, which is a good thing for us because we like inflation as long as it's controlled inflation, and everyone is experiencing the same thing. And hopefully, everyone's income is going up at the same time. But -- so I would say we would have grown maybe 1% to 2%, but I don't want to give you the wrong numbers because there's so much noise in the numbers over the last few quarters. It's really hard to say.

That's fair enough. And then, Stewart, I just want to throw one of your comments back at you. And you can tell us what you call your peers in the U.S. And you said you're not sure if it's the market, whether it's about you also recognized that you're trying to be a bit modest and the way you come to market and the fact that Sleep Country does really have a full sleep ecosystem, which none of those -- none of your so-called peers have would be a reason why your performance would be different than them.

Well, Patricia, we don't normally stand on our soapbox, but I'm going to take a lap for my team who's worked so hard and not just on the quarter because this is multiple, multiple, multiple quarters of growth that we're seeing. And the strategic and diversified digital and brick-and-mortar sleep ecosystem that we built over the last few years, the exclusive partnerships that we have made with the most relevant sleep brands, our strategic acquisitions of Endy and Hush, the marketplace relationship that we're talking about Walmart, Best Buy, Loblaws, and even our productive investments in our sleep supply chain, like in the depths of COVID last March of 2020 -- not 2021, 2020, the forced savings from my supply chain team to recommend putting in the super hubs to be able to support our growing import business.

So yes, I think this team has done an unbelievable job, diversifying our portfolio. We feel stronger than ever before. We feel that our balance sheet is the best it's ever been, even though our multiple is trading at historical levels. We're excited about the future and the opportunities that are out there.

And even if there is a recession that happens, we've lived through multiple recessions, multiple stock market crashes. And every single one of those signs, we took more market share because we look for opportunity, which is why our balance sheet is so strong. Thank you for asking.

Okay. My pleasure to give you the opportunity to get on your soapbox. And Craig, I just want to say one -- okay. One thing, Craig, I will say, based on everything that Stewart just said, I'm really pleased that you indicated earlier in response to another question that you're going to be aggressive on the buyback.

Yes. We got a little bit caught with the blackout on this time around, but we'll -- we're looking to be active once we're out of blackout on the other side of this. And whether the multiple is trading, it will be silly not to think that's the move that management would make.

[Operator Instructions] There are no other questions from the phone. I will turn the conference back to Mr. Stewart Schaefer for closing remarks.

So we want to thank everybody, again, for the continued support. This was a fabulous quarter. I want to just do a call out to our entire team, the Dormez-vous, Sleep Country, Endy and Hush teams, who really have worked hard in this difficult environment. And obviously, the customer is rewarding us for it and choosing us for it.

So we appreciate it. We don't take it for granted, and just thank you for everything that everyone is doing. Have a great day. Have a great weekend, everyone, and Happy Mother's Day for all the mothers that are out there.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference for this morning. We would like to thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.