Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's Acushnet Company 4Q '24 Earnings Call. My name is Drew and I'll be the operator today. During today's call, after the prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] It's now my pleasure to hand over to Sondra Lennon, Vice President of FP&A and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Acushnet Holding Corp's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call. Joining me this morning are David Maher, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Sean Sullivan, our Chief Financial Officer. Before turning the call over to David, I would like to remind everyone that we will make forward-looking statements on the call today. These forward-looking statements are based on Acushnet's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations. For a list of factors that could cause actual results to differ, please see today's press release, the slides that accompany our presentation, and our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Throughout this discussion, we will make reference to non-GAAP financial metrics, including items such as net sales on a constant currency basis and adjusted EBITDA. Explanations of how and why we use these metrics and reconciliations of these items to the most directly comparable GAAP metrics can be found in the schedules, in today's press release, the slides that accompany this presentation, and in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Please also note that references throughout this presentation to year-on-year net sales increases and decreases are on a constant currency basis unless otherwise stated as we feel this measurement best provides context as to the performance and trends of our business and when referring to year-to-date or full year results or comparisons, we are referring to the 12 month period ended December 31, 2024, and the comparable 12 month period in 2023. With that, I'll turn the call over to David.

Thanks, Sondra, and good morning everyone. As always, we appreciate your interest in Acushnet and look forward to sharing our 2024 results and future outlook today. Starting on Slide 4, the company delivered fourth quarter sales of $445 million, up 8% for the period, and adjusted EBITDA of $12.4 million. Strong golf equipment sales led by Titleist GT Metals and double-digit gains in gear drove this growth and our team did good work balancing healthy at-once demand while also preparing for several first quarter product launches. Now to full year results. Acushnet achieved sales of $2.46 billion in 2024, a 4% constant currency gain, an adjusted EBITDA of $404 million, a 7.5% increase for the year. These results were made possible thanks to the talented and dedicated associates who make up Acushnet, including our longest-serving teammate who works in golf ball operations and next week celebrates his 55th anniversary with the company. To underscore key themes of 2024, our team generated terrific momentum in Titleist Golf Equipment which increased net sales 7% for the year. Titleist Golf Ball sales in 2024 grew 4%, which is noteworthy given this followed the 2023 Pro V1 launch year when ball sales increased double digits. We generally expect second year sales to be down slightly due to the timing associated with our two-year product cycles. Our strong golf ball performance in 2024 was fueled by balanced growth across our Pro V1 and performance models and strong adoption throughout the pyramid of influence. Titleist Golf Clubs also posted strong results in 2024 with overall sales up double digits and growth in all regions led by the U.S. and Japan. Our SM10 wedge launch in Q1 and GT Metals launch in Q3 were well received and these franchises are in great shape as we start the…

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone. To begin, I'd like to discuss a few items that have impacted the 2024 financials. First, as we discussed last quarter, I want to highlight the combination of our previous Titleist Golf balls and Golf Club segments into Titleist Golf Equipment segment. This new reporting structure best reflects the way in which we are now managing and allocating resources to the golf equipment business. As you can see in today's earnings release, we will still provide net sales detail for Golf Balls and Clubs within the financials. Next, the company made a change in accounting principle related to the presentation of distribution in shipping and handling costs, moving these costs from SG&A expense into cost of goods sold. Distribution expense is a cost essential to the fulfillment and delivery of our products to our customers and as such is more meaningfully presented as a cost of sales rather than SG&A. This presentation change also makes our financial statements more comparable to some of our closest industry peers. The impact of this change for 2024 and 2023 has been included in today's earnings release. Lastly, I want to point out that we recorded a one-time benefit to our income statement associated with a change in the company's paid time off policy or PTO totaling approximately $18 million in the fourth quarter. The amount of the benefit that is included in gross profit, SG&A, and R&D is $7 million, $9 million, and $2 million, respectively. The total amount has been excluded from adjusted EBITDA as noted in our reconciliation. Now turning to our 2024 financial results. Fourth quarter net sales were in line with our expectations and up 7.9% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 with higher net sales across all reportable segments. Adjusted…

Thank you, Sean. Operator, could we now open up the lines for questions?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Joseph Altobello from Raymond James. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Hi, guys. Good morning. I guess first question on the quarter, the gross margin up 300 basis points. I think the PTO benefit was half of that, so, and I apologize if I missed this. What drove the other half of the improvement year-over-year?

Yes, Joe. Just continued performance in the Golf Equipment segment, we had growth across all of the product segments on the top line. I think we've got a more normalized supply chain moderating freight distribution environment, which allowed us to deliver incremental gross margin for Q4.

Okay. And shifting over to the investments you guys called out this morning. Is there a way to quantify how much of that is hitting in '25 and should we think of those as sort of one-time in nature, or are they going to continue going forward?

Yes, I don't know that we quantify how much hits in '25, Joe, but we did call out a handful of that will be outsized in '25 and normalize in the out years.

Yes, I think, Joe, again I just point you to the guide gave you on revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We do think that 2025 brings a consistent or expanding gross margin for the company in total. We talked a bit about the SG&A and delivering an EBITDA - excuse me, EBITDA margin, generally in line with where we're at today. So, obviously, the global ERP is a multi-year. Building out the fitting network globally is something that we will continue to do. But obviously, as you see, given the performance of the golf equipment segment has and yields tremendous benefits. So I'll leave it at that.

Yes. And I just said, we've talked for a while, Joe, about the buildout of our digital capabilities, the buildout of our fitting network. At some point they'll be built out, right? This is us taking our efforts to new markets. And again, at some point, they will be built out. We think we're spending, investing in '25, but in '26 and '27, we should be closer to the buildout phase than we are now.

Okay. Very helpful. Thank you.

Thanks, Joe. Operator, next question please.

Of course. Our next question comes from Megan Clapp from Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open. Please proceed.

Hi, good morning. Thanks so much. I wanted to start with the top-line guide, Sean. You gave a lot of helpful commentary on the first half. But as it relates to the full year midpoint in constant currency, up 3.5%. Should we expect your commentary around the first half to be consistent with the full year in terms of most of the growth is coming from golf equipment. And within that between Balls and Clubs, understand you're not going to disclose the difference between the two going forward, but could you just help us understand how you're thinking about Balls versus Clubs in the context of the overall Golf Equipment guide for the year?

Sure. And just to clarify, we will be continuing to give you sales information for Clubs and Balls separately. So you're not losing that. It's really the aggregated segment, P&L through OI that will be aggregated. So as we talk about the guide Balls, again, it's a Pro V1 launch year, so I would expect a large part of the growth in Balls to be first half versus second half. At the same time, the Club business, as David and I talked about, we've got some upcoming launches with the Cameron putters as well as the GT1 and the GT Hybrid. So, and then irons later in the year. So, I would expect the growth in the Club business to be more weighted to the second quarter. But, overall we feel very good about the growth in the Golf Equipment segment for the full year. You didn't ask this question, but again, FootJoy is very much focused on profitability as we've gone and taken some pricing actions, some product line rationalization and really are more focused on driving higher profitability with a more premium appropriate offering in that segment. So I don't know if that's helpful color or context to the overall guide, but those are some of the thoughts that are impacting. Again, the foreign currency headwind is obviously a real one.

Our next question comes from Matthew Boss from JPMorgan. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks. So maybe David, if you could elaborate on current health of the Gulf industry, maybe in the U.S. versus International and just how you see that translating to rounds played in '25 and sustainability of the trends that you're seeing today.

Yes, Matt, so I'll start with rounds of play, right. Really strong year in the U.S. given all the inputs, whether it's new golfers capacity, et cetera. Our general approach, and this wouldn't differ given particularly we're coming off a record year, would be to think about rounds as being flat and then mother nature does what she does and that pushes you up or down. But the golfer supply, the participation rates are healthy. So we've been doing this for a long, long time. In my time here we generally think of rounds as flat and then that informs our planning process. Again, when we get good weather we'll see upward ticks, when we get poor weather we'll see it go downwards. But I will point to just the inputs that inform our thinking, and I made a couple of these comments in my prepared remarks around the golfer supply and the golfer base. So generally a healthy golfer base that is the starting point to our thinking. In terms of Rest of World, the trends are similar, the dedicated golfer behavior is similar, but macroeconomic conditions have not been as robust. They were softer in '23 and '24, and we expect similar conditions in '25. That said, we are planning for growth outside the U.S. in our business. So part of that's new products, part of that share, et cetera. So high level, we like what we see from a golfer perspective. We like what we see from a participation perspective. There's always an element of caution baked into our planning, whether it's U.S. and tariffs and inflation or ex-U.S., particularly in Japan and Korea. And the final area I look at is what does the market look like. Certainly the Greengrass Channel globally is very healthy. Our retail partners, off course, are healthy as well. And inventories are in very much a normal place for this time of year. And we were asked - we've been asked over the last couple of weeks about January sell through. And my key takeaways from January sell through, which was generally positive, was that pricing held up pretty well. And what you sometimes see in January is you see some real price pressure as retailers and OEMs sometimes clear the decks to prepare for new product launches. We didn't see that in January. So Matt, threw a lot at you there, but some review. Golfers still in pretty good shape. The macroeconomic pressures as well as I do. We feel better about the U.S. than we do in Japan and Korea. That's not different from the last couple of years. And again, our retailers are in a generally healthy spot. So I think the summation of all that is our guide. And we're projecting growth in segments and growth in all regions, albeit a little faster pace than the U.S.

Great. Maybe - and then, Sean, just on gross margin, is - could you walk through puts and takes to consider this year and just health of channel inventory in the U.S. versus overseas today?

Yes. Just to add on, I'll take the second one first. I think the health of the channel inventory is very good. We obviously have worked through the FootJoy apparel and footwear that we've been talking about probably for several quarters internationally, but we feel very, very good about the health of the channel inventory for '25. As it relates to gross margin, I'll talk a bit on the top line. Certainly, we didn't raise pricing on Pro V1 in the U.S., but we did take pricing action, I think in three or four of the international markets. You're aware of the pricing we took in the Club business, et cetera, will do similarly in certain product categories within FootJoy. So I think there's an element of higher ASPs coming into 2025 as it relates to cost of goods sold and distribution. As I said, the supply chain feels normalized. I think the freight environment, freight in, freight out, is a little more normalized with no longer the threat of strikes, et cetera. We are continuing to see the benefits and efficiencies of our owned and controlled distribution center here domestically in Massachusetts, which I expect would continue to drive incremental efficiencies and leverage in the business. So overall, we feel about the gross margin environment, as I said, meeting and expanding relative to '24 in the 2025 period.

Thanks, Matt. Operator, next question.

Yes. Our next question comes from Mike Swartz from Truist Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, guys. Maybe just to follow up to Matt's last question, I think with the global outlook, it sounds like you're thinking kind of flattish status quo. Sounds like you're taking some pricing. How do you think about just in that organic growth outlook, just the view between maybe unit volume and pricing? Is most of that pricing, or are you looking for some unit volume growth as well?

Yes, I would say it's a combination of the two. I often refer to our product launch life cycle calendars. It's a Pro V1 year. If I look back, I think we were up double digits in '23. We had a nice ball year last year, which is not always the case in a year following a launch year. But we would certainly see a combination of unit growth and pricing, particularly on the equipment side, Mike, maybe a little bit of a different story in the rest of our business, which would be probably more level volumes, but a bit more price on the gear and wearable side.

Okay, that's helpful. And then just with the tariff commentary, just maybe a little more context there. I think you had said your guidance doesn't include any potential tariffs or retaliatory actions. But then I think you also said that it's about a $10 million or, sorry, a $7 million hit on the incremental 10% coming out of China. Does the guidance actually include that $7 million or not include that $7 million?

Yes, Mike. It does not include. I just think the environment is fairly dynamic right now. So we thought to be reasonable and prudent was to highlight what we saw as the potential risk and isolate it for everyone as opposed to baking it in. So as we go forward here, we can update you each quarter. But again, I think that the important points for the investor base is that we have minimal exposure to Canada and Mexico, given our operations. We've done a wonderful job with our supply chain in having, for one example, moving to Vietnam with the footwear production, which was completed and is fully operational here in '25. So I think to have 6% exposure of cost of goods sold to China, I think is a good place for us to be. You can imagine we're working with the teams to evaluate the supply chain, other geographic sourcing options, as well as any potential pricing actions to mitigate that. So that's our best outlook today and felt best to exclude it from the guide. And, we've quantified it for you, and we're hard at work looking for ways to mitigate.

Okay. Helpful. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Operator, next question, please.

Thank you. Our next question comes from JP Wollam from ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. If we could maybe just start kind of assessing the ball here, I just wanted to maybe click in on - I know you said that, I think it was – [technical difficulty] what else can we talk about kind of how that held up in the year and where that growth came from? And it's really just as I think about kind of how well it could do in the launch year going forward [technical difficulty] new channel - new opportunity that arose in 2024?

JP, you just broke up a bit. So I don't know that we got your entire question.

I'm sorry. Can you hear me all right?

Yes, that's a little bit better.

Perfect. Really. Just assessing the Pro V1 strength in 2024, and kind of what that can tell us about, just how strong of a launch year we can have in 2025.

Yes. Okay, JP, thanks. As I said, this just to walk it back a bit, we're in year '25 of Pro V1, which we're incredibly excited about, and I said it earlier, it's a journey of innovation and continuous improvement. We take that initiative in charge very seriously. So on the product side, we're very excited about Pro V1. Counts around the worldwide tours are up to 77% which is higher than we would typically see. And we point to the performance and quality of the Pro V1 as a key driver to that. In terms of the last couple of years and what it means for 2025, it starts with product. It is followed by we talk a lot about expanding our fitting networks. That's not just clubs, that's balls too. We've got a whole lot of ball fitting happening around the world that we think pays off. It's the positioning of AVX within the line. It's our performance model. So it's not just Pro V1. And again, it was a terrific year for us to grow on the heels of a 13% increase in 2023 in golf balls, to do so in '24 when you think about the pipeline realities that happen in a launch year that don't repeat in a non-launch year. So I'll get to 2025 and really it's a product story. It's a fitting story. It's a - the team is committed to really telling our story well, part of our investment in 2025 is in A&P to tell the great story that we think we have to tell as we look to expand our reach in the golf ball marketplace. So we are anticipating and planning for growth. As Sean said, a lot of that will be first half. But we're anticipating and planning for growth in 2025. It won't be the double digit level. We're not planning for the double digit level we saw in 2023, our last launch, but we're certainly planning for nice growth in the golf ball franchise. It's - if there's one takeaway from today, it's the health and vibrancy of our equipment segment, balls and clubs and our willingness to continue to invest behind those franchises, to continue to grow them.

Great. Thank you. And one follow up just on FootJoy. I know you mentioned kind of a skew rationalization and maybe some price, but can you just share what else gives you confidence that maybe we've kind of troughed in that business?

Yes, I think it starts, you hit it. It's what we're - the actions we're taking and there's some skew reduction, there's some line rationalization, but more than anything it's the new product pipeline we have on the footwear side. We've had some outsized growth in apparel. We that business is in really good shape. So the things we're controlling we think are very positive. This also underscores the reality that the last couple of years in footwear have been very tough. I think global footwear, or at least footwear sell-through in the U.S. was down upwards of 10% last year. And I think that we're at a point where the footwear marketplace has corrected. I think it's going to normalize a bit in 2025, which should provide a better backdrop for us to execute our strategy. And again, the strategy really leads with premium performance product. I mentioned Premiere. We're launching Hyperflex next week. We launched Quantum a few weeks ago. High performance products that we think have meaningful points of difference both in terms of performance benefit and style. So like the actions we're taking, and I think the marketplace is going to be healthier. And we see that in inventory data. We called that out in the U.S. We saw it improve last year. We thought it would take longer ex-U.S. to improve and it has. But we're approaching 2025 for the first time in a couple years as though the footwear market will be normalized.

Great. Thank you and best of luck going forward.

Thanks, JP.

Thanks, JP. Operator, next question.

Our next question today is from Noah Zatzkin from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is now open. Please proceed.

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first, just wondering if you could kind of provide any thoughts around the competitive environment looking out to 2025. I know some others have kind of pointed to maybe a more robust launch calendar in terms of industry product launches than in recent prior years. So just wondering if you had any thoughts there. I know you also kind of pointed to maybe promo kind of in-check in January, but just any thoughts on promo looking out as well? Thanks.

Yes. Real time data promos in check in January. That's the best way to think about it. We're on a little bit of a different calendar than most of the market. We launched our driver in Q3. A lot of our competitors launched products in the first part of the year. We see the market as very competitive as it always is. So I'm not sure I see it meaningfully different from years past. It does sort of prompt me to remind everybody of our dedicated golfer focus and that we're a bit more narrow in our approach and reach and sometimes that allows us to be less susceptible to the broader market. The broader market competitive forces in terms of going after a broader base of the marketplace. But it's competitive, it's competitive in drivers, it's competitive in Balls. I'm not sure it's any more or less competitive than it's been in years prior. What we will watch, given all this, is what happens to pricing in the months ahead. And really in Q2, Q3, when all the product that arrived in the market, right, the winners will march forward and hold price and others will maybe has to take some pricing action. So again, I don't see this as an extreme outlier year. I see this as a typically competitive environment and that's how we're approaching things. And again, data point of one month, but promotional activity seems to be in check and normalized and at minimum, no worse than what we saw a year ago.

Great. That's really helpful. And then maybe just one on Korea. I think the results were pretty strong during 4Q, but you kind of flag that as kind of a market that you are watching. Just maybe any update there in terms of kind of the state of play on the ground and how you're thinking about that piece of the business. Thanks.

Yes, so Korea is a terrific market, right. Rounds up 20 some odd - 22% since 2019. I think they were down 2% or 3% last year. They had some tough weather early, but it's a resilient, vibrant golf market, yet their consumers under some duress, it has been for a little bit and they've got some political unrest that just we're watching. As we think about Korea, I would characterize it this way. We're bullish on equipment as we have been. A lot of our Korea commentary has been built around the wearable space and that market went through a ride in the early 2020, '21, '22, some exponential growth in premium, super-premium apparel, and we've seen a correction in that space. So as you know, we have a sizable apparel presence in Korea, our Titleist Apparel franchise and that entire segment of premium apparel has been soft the last couple of years. So as we think about Korea, feel stronger about equipment than we do apparel. And it is an outsized apparel market just for the size of it. That said, we think another year of correction should put it back to a path of normalcy. But in terms of the dedicated golfer in that market alive and well and we're confident in their continued resilience, but there are some macro forces and really the outsized impact of wearables in that market. And that's really been the root of our caution in the last couple of years and into 2025.

Great. Thank you.

Thanks, Noah.

Thanks, Noah, and everybody. We appreciate your time and interest and attention on the call. Hope you have a great spring. And we look forward to catching up on our next call.

That concludes today's call. You may now disconnect your line.