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DATE

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Vice President of Financial Reporting and SEC Compliance - Shelly Mokas
• Interim Chief Executive Officer - Lionel Conacher
• Chief Financial Officer - Peter Stratton
• Chief Growth Officer - James Olsson

TAKEAWAYS

• Net Sales -- $111.6 million, representing a 3.4% decrease compared to the second quarter of the prior year.
• Comparable Sales -- -3.5%, reflecting a 4.3% decline in physical stores and a 1.6% decrease in the direct business.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $7.7 million or 6.9% of sales, compared to $4.7 million in the same period last year.
• Adjusted EPS -- $0.05, representing an improvement from $0.01 in the second quarter of the previous year.
• GAAP Net Income -- $2.0 million or $0.04 per diluted share, driven by a tariff refund and lower incentive-based accruals.
• Gross Margin -- 47.9%, increasing 270 basis points primarily due to a refund for previously paid tariffs.
• Tariff Refund -- $4.6 million, which benefited the merchandise margin by 410 basis points in the second quarter.
• Direct Sales -- $30.9 million, accounting for 27.8% of total sales compared to 27.5% in the prior year.
• Inventory -- $75.5 million, a decrease of $3.4 million from $78.9 million at the end of the second quarter last year.
• Clearance Inventory -- 9.8% of total inventory, which remains consistent with the company's 10% benchmark.
• Cash and Investments -- $20.1 million as of Aug. 1, 2026, with the company reporting zero outstanding debt.
• Available Credit -- $61.7 million under the existing credit facility, which does not mature until Aug. 13, 2030.
• SG&A Expenses -- $45.7 million or 41.0% of sales, reflecting a $1.8 million decrease in dollar terms due to lower incentive compensation and healthcare costs.
• Marketing Spend -- 6.1% of sales, while full-year expectations are set at approximately 5.8%.
• CapEx Guidance -- $8.0 million to $10.0 million for the full year, a reduction from the previous estimate of $9.0 million to $12.0 million.
• Monthly Sales Trends -- sequential improvement during the quarter with comps down 5.7% in May, 2.8% in June, and 1.9% in July.
• Fit Technology Adoption -- 150,000 customers scanned via the FITMAP platform, with scanned customers showing higher average order values and lower return rates.
• Private Brand Demand -- 56% increase in year-to-date demand for the THERMACHILL product line.
• Brand Awareness -- 49% in the core demographic of 35- to 64-year-olds with household incomes above $100,000, up from 40% over the last seven months.

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RISKS

• Conacher stated that the Board recommended voting against the FullBeauty merger because "FullBeauty's operating performance, financial results and balance sheet positioning to deteriorate," since the agreement was signed.
• Olsson stated that the company is "behind the pace we'd like on both new customer acquisition and reactivation right now," identifying traffic as the primary underlying challenge.
• Stratton reported that store traffic "remains our most significant challenge," as consumers remain cautious due to inflation and economic uncertainty.
• Olsson noted that regarding GLP-1 medications, customers "stop buying apparel altogether for a period" during their weight-loss journey before returning to stable sizing.

SUMMARY

Destination XL Group, Inc. (DXLG -1.60%) reported a sequential improvement in monthly comparable sales trends despite persistent traffic challenges in physical and digital channels. The company formally withdrew its recommendation for the merger with FullBeauty, citing a decline in the target's operating performance and concerns regarding substantial economic dilution for existing stockholders. Management is focused on a "Fit for Growth" strategy that emphasizes private brand expansion, fit technology adoption, and a multiyear store rationalization program. The company maintains a debt-free balance sheet and has reduced its capital expenditure guidance to prioritize essential technology and distribution center upgrades.

• Interim CEO Conacher reported that the Board unanimously recommends stockholders vote against the FullBeauty merger due to the target company's increased indebtedness and negative equity value concerns.
• Chief Growth Officer Olsson indicated that the company improved its Trustpilot sentiment score from 1.5 to 4.4 by focusing on agentic and AI-initiated search discoverability.
• The company is reallocating its marketing budget from bottom-of-funnel conversion to mid- and upper-funnel tactics, including testing in YouTube and programmatic channels.
• CFO Stratton stated that the company has "paused all nonessential uses of cash" to preserve working capital while comp trends remain volatile.
• Management is tracking GLP-1 medication usage within its customer file, developing communication journeys via FITMAP segments to reengage customers once they reach a stable size.
• The store rationalization project, set to accelerate in 2027 as leases expire, targets markets where volume from closed stores can be transferred to nearby locations to improve return on assets.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• FITMAP: A proprietary 3D fit technology platform used to provide personalized sizing recommendations for big and tall customers.
• THERMACHILL: A private brand technology featuring dual temperature regulation designed for comfort in varying weather conditions.
• GLP-1: A class of medications used for weight loss that the company monitors for its structural impact on customer sizing and apparel demand.
• IEEPA: The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, under which the company secured a refund for previously paid import tariffs.
• Four-wall profit: A metric representing the profitability of an individual retail location before corporate overhead and shared expenses are applied.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good day, everyone, and welcome to Destination XL Group, Inc.'s conference call to discuss our second quarter fiscal 2026 financial results. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Ms. Shelly Mokas, Vice President of Financial Reporting and SEC Compliance at DXL. Please go ahead, Shelly.

Shelly Mokas: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your joining us on Destination XL Group's Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call. Joining me today are Lionel Conacher, our Interim Chief Executive Officer; Peter Stratton, our Chief Financial Officer; and Jimmy Olsson, our new Chief Growth Officer. During today's call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures that we will -- that we believe provide useful supplemental information regarding our performance. Please refer to our earnings release, which was filed this morning and is available on our Investor Relations website for additional information and reconciliation of those measures.

Today's discussion will also include forward-looking statements regarding the company's strategic initiatives, marketing strategies, store rationalization work, expectations for comparable sales, the impact of tariffs, update regarding the merger and other expectations for fiscal 2026. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Additional information regarding those risks and uncertainties is included in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I will turn the call over to our Interim CEO, Lionel Conacher. Lionel?

Lionel Conacher: Thank you, Shelly, and good morning, everyone. I'm honored to join today's call as DXL's Interim Chief Executive Officer at an important time for the company. I want to begin by recognizing Harvey Kanter for his leadership and contributions to DXL over more than 7 years as CEO. Harvey helped strengthen DXL's position as the leading specialty retailer in men's big and tall. And on behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire management team, I want to thank Harvey for his service and wish him well in retirement. Just a few words about myself. I've been involved with DXL as a director since 2018 and have served as Chairman since 2020.

During my time with DXL, I have developed a deep appreciation for the company, its people and most importantly, the big and tall customer. We have a strong brand, a loyal customer base, a clear understanding of our customers' priorities. The differentiated leadership position that we have established in this underserved market gives us a strong foundation on which to build, grounded in our commitment to serving the big and tall customer. Our priorities from here are straightforward. We are focused on increasing traffic and revenue, strengthening customer engagement, improving profitability and advancing strategic initiatives that can support long-term growth. The second quarter earnings results we reported today are a testament to progress we are already making in these efforts.

Our business continues to improve, and we see clear signs that a resumption in sales growth is imminent. Q2 sales performance was consistent with the progress we reported in the first quarter, which is a significant improvement over our prior year's results. I'm incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead for DXL and proud to be speaking with you all about our momentum today. Before we dive into the quarter, I'd like to introduce Jimmy Olsson, who has worked with DXL in a consulting role for the past 12 months and recently joined us as full-time as Chief Growth Officer.

Jimmy comes to DXL with a deep background in retail strategy, brand elevation and scaling omnichannel platforms through marketing, merchandising and product development. This newly created role of Chief Growth Officer brings together the customer-facing levers of the business, and Jimmy's perspective will be instrumental as we execute against the traffic, assortment, promotional and store experience opportunities in front of us. Jimmy has held leadership positions at a number of blue-chip retailers, including Walmart, American Eagle, Tommy John, Todd Snyder and -- the Gap. On behalf of the DXL Board of Directors, I am thrilled to welcome Jimmy to DXL. You will hear directly from Jimmy for a deeper dive into our growth priorities and initiatives.

To frame up the balance of today's remarks, in just a moment, I'm going to turn the call over to Peter to give you an update on our second quarter performance, sales trends, margin and liquidity. After that, Jimmy is going to talk about our go-forward strategy and priorities before I come back to close things out. So with that, I'm going to ask Peter to give you an update on our financial results. Peter?

Peter Stratton: Thank you, Lionel, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter sales were generally in line with our expectations and remain consistent with the year-over-year improvement in trends that we saw in Q1. Net sales were $111.6 million, down 3.4% from last year, and our adjusted EBITDA was $7.7 million or 6.9% of sales compared with $4.7 million last year, while adjusted earnings per share was $0.05 compared with last year's $0.01 result. Comparable sales were down 3.5% for the quarter, with stores down 4.3% and our direct business down 1.6%. Monthly comps improved sequentially from negative 5.7% in May to negative 2.8% in June and then negative 1.9% in July.

Store traffic remains our most significant challenge, although we continue to be encouraged by strong conversion and dollars per transaction, which helped offset some of that traffic pressure. In direct, we saw improvement in conversion driven by enhancements to the app and overall site experience, and we also benefited from solid performance in clearance product, primarily through the direct channel. More broadly, the direct business generated demand through paid search, paid social and programmatic marketing, while ongoing improvements in app performance, site experience and speed supported better conversion.

We continue to evaluate our marketing allocation carefully to strike the right balance between attracting new customers, where we have seen acquisition rate increases since the fourth quarter and reengaging repeat and lapsed customers where spending remains more cautious. Encouragingly, when new customers discover DXL, they continue to respond well to our assortment, fit and value proposition. Based on customer surveys and related insights, the overall slowdown in customer traffic appears to reflect a combination of weight loss journeys, shifting spending priorities and delayed purchasing decisions. Importantly, we believe the underlying affinity for the DXL experience remains strong.

Although we still have meaningful work ahead, we are encouraged by the improvement in the quarter and confident that our turnaround efforts are beginning to gain traction. Our merchandising efforts remain focused on sharpening value, strengthening private brands and improving inventory flow to better align with current demand. We are leaning further into private brands, particularly Harbor Bay as an opening price point and value driver, while continuing to improve storytelling around quality, fit and value across channels. Our creative and messaging have become more focused on essentials, cost per wear and trusted fit, reinforcing our position with a more value-conscious customer.

We are also rebalancing the promotional calendar toward higher margin and higher inventory risk categories so that promotions can help drive demand while protecting profitability and reducing future inventory exposure. Another topic that I'd like to touch on quickly is IEEPA tariff refunds. Towards the end of the first quarter, we submitted a claim to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection online portal, and I'm pleased to report that we received a refund of $4.6 million during the second quarter, which benefited merchandise margin and improved adjusted EBITDA versus plan. Gross margin, inclusive of occupancy costs, was 47.9%, up 270 basis points from last year, primarily driven by this refund.

Excluding the tariff refund, merchandise margin would have been approximately 70 basis points worse than last year, primarily due to a higher markdown rate to move through slower-moving seasonal product and increased shipping costs due to fuel surcharges. Occupancy costs were flat in dollars, but deleveraged versus last year due to lower sales. Selling, general and administrative expenses were 41% of sales with advertising expense coming in at 6.1% of sales, generally in line with last year. We continue to look very carefully at SG&A across the organization, reducing corporate expenses where appropriate and rationalizing our store base over the next several years as leases expire or kickout rights become available.

The punchline here is we need to improve our return on assets. Targeting stores that have a high probability of transferring volume to another store allows us to make the total store portfolio more productive. In certain markets, we believe there are opportunities to rationalize high occupancy stores and redirect customers to other stores in the market. The store rationalization work will have limited impact in 2026, but it is expected to reduce occupancy and store operating costs beginning in 2027 and beyond. This is a multiyear project that should improve sales per square foot and 4-wall profit over time. I'll close with an update on the continued strength of our balance sheet.

We ended Q2 with $20.1 million of cash and investments on hand, no debt and excess availability of $61.7 million. Most importantly, our balance sheet gives us flexibility. Our inventory levels are clean and stable. Inventory turnover is strong and clearance levels are in line with our 10% targets. Preserving working capital remains a priority, and we have paused all nonessential uses of cash while funding only the most important and required initiatives for the business. These targeted growth initiatives are already bearing fruit as evidenced by this quarter's comparable sales result of negative 3.5%, the strongest we have delivered in the past 3 years.

I'd now like to turn it over to Jimmy to talk more about those initiatives and elaborate on our marketing and merchandising strategies. Jimmy?

James Olsson: Thank you, Peter, and good morning, everyone. I'm excited to join DXL and be leading our growth agenda across merchandising, marketing, direct and stores. The second quarter reinforced both the strength of the DXL proposition and the work still ahead to drive more traffic, sharpen product storytelling and create stronger reasons for customers to shop with us. I want to organize my comments on today's call around the internal growth strategy we are calling Fit for Growth. In the simplest terms, this strategy consists of 4 strategic pillars: supercharging our Fit Authority, fueling growth in our private brands, building our brand awareness and go-to-market strategy, and lastly, driving new customer acquisition. Our first priority is supercharging our Fit Authority.

This is the foundation of what makes DXL different, and it starts with the initiative that has positioned DXL at the leading edge of fit centricity, FITMAP. We've now scanned more than 150,000 customers and our most recent 12-month cohort shows scanned customers spending more than they did before scanning with stronger conversions, higher AOV, increased visits and a meaningfully lower return rate than non-scanned customers. Scan penetration, simply getting more of our customer file measured, remains our single largest lever inside this program. Fit Authority is also the right lens for how we're addressing a genuine structural shift in our customer with GLP-1 medication adoption.

Based on our customer surveys, a meaningful portion of our customer base is currently using GLP-1 medications and it is indicated while they are on their weight loss journey, they stop buying apparel altogether for a period, but a majority tell us that they intend to come back to DXL once they reach a stable size. We believe being the authority on fit means staying with this customer through that transition, not just at a single point in time. And we're building a specific communication journey tied to FITMAP scan segments to do exactly that. Our second priority is fueling growth in our private brands. Private brand penetration continues to grow year-over-year.

Our THERMACHILL franchise, which is a new product development technology built into our tech pants, shorts and button-down shirt is one of our cleanest growth bets inside this priority. THERMACHILL features dual temperature regulation to keep you cool when it's hot outside and warmer when it cools down. Our year-to-date demand for THERMACHILL product grew 56% over last year, proof that when we invest choice count and marketing behind a private brand franchise that's genuinely working, it scales. We also continue to see that targeted product-specific promotions outperform broad discounting.

That discipline is protecting merchandise margin even as we work through a softer traffic environment, and it's a direct extension of what fueling private brand growth actually means in practice, winning through product and value, not through the depth of the discount. Our third priority is building our brand awareness and evolving our go-to-market strategy. As we continue to evolve our marketing investment from lower funnel spend toward mid- and upper funnel tactics, we're running tests in select markets to get in front of him where he consumes media. Our brand awareness remains below the category average and the current marketing mix has been heavily weighted toward bottom-of-funnel conversion.

We are reallocating, not adding to, the advertising budget over time to support a more balanced funnel, including incremental testing in YouTube and programmatic channels. We're already seeing early proof points. Awareness in our core demographic of 35- to 64-year-olds with household incomes above $100,000 has moved from 40% to 49% in 7 months. This priority is also where our AI discoverability work sits. Through a focused effort on generative and answer engine optimization, we've moved our Trustpilot sentiment score from 1.5 to 4.4, a concrete, inexpensive proof point that the go-to-market investment behind agentic and AI-initiated search is paying off before the larger infrastructure is even fully built. Our fourth priority is driving new customer acquisition.

I want to be direct and transparent with you that this is the priority most exposed by this quarter's traffic miss. We are behind the pace we'd like on both new customer acquisition and reactivation right now. This is why priorities 1 through 3 matter so much. Fit Authority and FITMAP give customers a differentiated reason to choose us and stay. Expanding private label lets us deliver more value, helping attract new customers and grow our base. And brand awareness is what actually gets a new or lapsed customer to notice us in the first place. Acquisition doesn't happen in isolation.

It's the output of the other 3 priorities working together, and it's the priority we're most focused on moving over the balance of the year. Before I turn the call back over to Lionel, I want to leave you with this one thread. Traffic and customer acquisition are the challenge underlying essentially everything I just described and this Fit for Growth strategy is our coordinated response, not 4 separate initiatives, but one solution viewed through 4 distinct lenses. I'd like to thank Lionel and the Board of Directors for this opportunity. I'm so excited to be working on solutions that are going to move the needle for DXL and the big and tall customer we are proud to serve. Lionel?

Lionel Conacher: Thanks, Jimmy. Before we open the line for questions, I want to provide a brief update on the status of our proposed merger with FullBeauty. On September 2, DXL filed an updated preliminary proxy statement with respect to the merger. As detailed in this filing, conditions have changed since we first entered into the merger agreement in December, causing FullBeauty's operating performance, financial results and balance sheet positioning to deteriorate. Our Board takes its fiduciary duties to our stockholders seriously and to that end, has continued to evaluate the merger in light of these developments. Based on this evaluation, the Board determined that the merger is no longer in the best interest of DXL and its stockholders.

Accordingly, the Board has withdrawn its prior recommendation in favor of the merger and now unanimously recommends that stockholders vote against the issuance proposal. There were several factors that contributed to this decision. The increasingly challenging consumer environment since 2025 of December. FBB's continuing decline in operating performance and financial results, including lower-than-expected net sales, earnings, EBITDA and cash flow. The corresponding heightened risk that FBB will not achieve its projections for the current fiscal year. Their increased level of indebtedness, concerns regarding the potential negative equity value and the substantial economic dilution that our stockholders would experience if the merger were consummated on its current terms.

In terms of next steps in this process, we are currently awaiting SEC review of the amended preliminary proxy statement. Once we receive SEC clearance, we will file and mail definitive proxy materials to all stockholders eligible to vote at the special meeting, which will be held in 20- to 25-day window following the definitive proxy filing. The proxy statement can be found on the landing page of our investor web page at investor.dxl.com. We encourage stockholders to read the proxy statement carefully and in its entirety. Beyond that, we are not commenting further on the merger at this time. We ask that you keep your questions on today's call focused on second quarter operational and financial performance.

In closing, as you just heard, we are taking focused steps to advance the strategic priorities we believe can meaningfully strengthen the business over time. Three of the most important are FITMAP, our application of AI and our work to better understand GLP-1-related customer behavior. What connects these priorities is that each reflects a meaningful shift in how our customer shops, how he discovers products and how we need to evolve to serve him more effectively. Together, these are strategic growth levers that we believe can improve customer engagement and sharpen our competitive position and create more durable long-term value.

We have a differentiated position in an underserved market, a powerful relationship with the big and tall customer and a team that understands how to serve him. The actions we are taking to strengthen the business, drive growth and improve profitability are beginning to translate into encouraging improvements in our performance. And our fortress balance sheet provides us with a strong underlying foundation for the growth engine we are building. I am confident in our ability to capture the meaningful value creation opportunities ahead. With that, operator, we will now take questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [Joseph Midkiff] of [226 B] Capital Partners.

Unknown Analyst: There was mention of reviewing store base as leases come due, particularly in markets with multiple locations. I was curious if we could clarify how many leases would be coming up for renewal in total over the next 24 months? And how many or what percentage of those might be potential candidates for closure or consolidation?

Peter Stratton: Sure. I'll take that one. This is Peter. So we've been spending a fair amount of time taking a look at the portfolio. And as I mentioned in my remarks, we need to make our assets more productive. So in instances where we have more than one store in a market that we believe we can eliminate a store, drive that volume to the nearby sister store, it improves our return on assets. And that's really the big focus. For this year, there's a handful of stores that are closing. I want to say, 3 stores this year.

Next year, the stores that are coming up for lease and renewal, there's going to be a few dozen that are coming up. Now those are not all closing. We are going to be looking at those on a case-by-case basis, and we'll be developing those plans really over the next 6 months to figure out how many more we'll be closing. But ultimately, it's about improving our sales per square foot in the existing portfolio and making sure that we can get the most return out of those assets.

Unknown Analyst: Fantastic. Excited to hear about the return on asset focus there. If I could follow up, you mentioned as well the potential for pausing any cash investments that can be deferred. Is that something that you could quantify the impacts of or speak at all to what specifically -- what areas specifically have been targeted for pausing or removing?

Peter Stratton: So the majority of our capital spend this year is in our technology upgrades and improvements. Our distribution center, and there's a small amount in stores. The majority of that is going to be in distribution and in technology. So we are -- we have a number of projects going on right now to make sure we're staying current with the latest releases of all of our software platforms. But in some cases, we're going to try to push those out a little further. When our vendors start taking platforms to end of life and we're required to upgrade, well, those are the situations that we're going to have to deal with.

But we're trying to avoid any upgrades that will burn cash until we see more stability in our comp trends in the near future.

Unknown Analyst: I appreciate the tone of the call shifting to a realization of what's happening in the business, and I'll jump back in the queue. Thanks again, guys.

Operator: I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn it back to Lionel Conacher for closing remarks.

Lionel Conacher: Thank you, operator, and thank you, everybody, for listening in today, and we appreciate your interest in DXL. And with that, we'll close out the meeting. Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.