Sally Beauty (SBH) 10-K2022 FY Annual report

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED: SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

-OR-

For the transition period from _______________ to __________________

Commission File No. 1-33145

SALLY BEAUTY HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(940) 898-7500

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

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 provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

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

The aggregate market value of registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing price of a share of the registrant’s common stock on March 31, 2022, was approximately $1,670,074,000. At November [11], 2022, there were 107,044,981 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement relating to the registrant’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i

In this Annual Report, references to “the Company,” “Sally Beauty,” “SBH,” “our company,” “we,” “our,” “ours” and “us” refer to Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires.

cautionary notice regarding forward-looking statements

Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the documents incorporated by reference herein which are not purely historical facts or which depend upon future events may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which we refer to as the Exchange Act. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “target,” “can,” “could,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “might,” “anticipates” or similar expressions may also identify such forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as such statements speak only as of the date they were made and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements. The most important factors which could cause our actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements are set forth in our description of risk factors in Item 1A to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which should be read in conjunction with the forward-looking statements in this report. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

The events described in the forward-looking statements might not occur or might occur to a different extent or at a different time than we have described. As a result, our actual results may differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements.

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PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Our Company

Sally Beauty Holdings is a leading international specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies. As experts in hair color and care, we aim to empower our customers to express themselves through their hair and beyond. We operate two business segments that offer beauty products in key categories, including hair care, hair color, styling tools and nails.

Sally Beauty Supply (“SBS”) – An omni-channel retailer that offers professional-quality beauty supplies at attractive prices and provides education to retail consumers and salon professionals throughout North America, South America and Europe. SBS operates primarily through retail stores (generally operating under the Sally Beauty banner) and digital platforms, including our www.sallybeauty.com website and a mobile commerce-based app. We believe SBS, with its nationwide network of retail stores, is the largest open-line distributor of beauty products in the U.S.

Beauty Systems Group (“BSG”) – A leading full-service omni-channel distributor that offers professional beauty supplies exclusively to salons and salon professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada. These salon professionals primarily rely on just-in-time inventory due to capital constraints and limited warehouse and shelf space. BSG operates through company-operated stores (generally operating under the Cosmo Prof banner), franchised stores, distributor sales consultants (“DSCs”) and digital platforms, including our www.cosmoprofbeauty.com website, a mobile commerce-based app and chain portals.

The breadth, depth and professional quality of our hair color and care assortment provides us with a differentiated core business in an industry which is otherwise fragmented. Due to our long presence, brand heritage, product and process-specific knowledge and training of associates, we provide unmatched hair color and care expertise to consumers. We also have strong positioning with suppliers given our focus and economies of scale of purchasing. By operating in a variety of channels, we are able to reach broad, diversified geographies and customer segments using a variety of product assortments and tactics.

Operating and Growth Strategy

Our operating and growth strategy is guided by our vision to own professional hair color and care for both the do-it-yourself” (“DIY”) enthusiast and professional stylist. SBS’s differentiation is to offer a vast array of hair color and care solutions for in home use, and this is supported by the content and education we provide our customers. While at BSG, we are the largest North American distributor of professional hair color and care, offering stylists and salons the most extensive portfolio of third party brands in the market.

For fiscal 2023, we will be leveraging and building upon the modern retail infrastructure we’ve built in recent years and focusing on three key strategic initiatives to drive growth and profitability:  

We believe focusing in these areas will position our company for future growth and further enhance our ability to meet our customers where they are.

Store Design and Locations

Sally Beauty Supply

SBS has retail stores in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico), Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Chile. Stores are designed to highlight our extensive product offerings and differentiated position in hair color and care. We apply strong category management processes, including store specific planograms, to maintain consistent merchandise presentation across our store base. In the U.S. and Canada, our average store offers an average of 7,000 beauty products and is approximately 1,700 square feet in size. Stores are typically located in strip shopping centers, which are occupied by other high traffic retailers such as grocery

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stores, mass merchants and home improvement centers. Store formats, including average size and product selection, vary by marketplace to meet the needs of the customer.

We calibrate store renewals, remodels and expansions between new and existing geographies. In existing marketplaces, we add stores to provide additional coverage and strategically close or relocate underperforming stores as necessary. In new marketplaces, SBS selects geographic areas and store sites on the basis of demographic information, the quality and nature of neighboring tenants, store visibility and location accessibility. SBS generally seeks to expand in geographically contiguous areas to leverage its experience.  

SBS’s store count for the last three fiscal years is summarized in the following table:

Beauty Systems Group

BSG stores, including franchise-based Armstrong McCall stores, are designed to highlight our extensive product offerings to salons and salon professionals. Our stores on average offer approximately 8,000 professional beauty products tailored to the territory and are segmented into distinctive areas arranged by product type, with certain areas dedicated to leading third-party brands. Our company-operated stores average approximately 2,800 square feet and are located primarily in secondary strip shopping centers, being a destination exclusively for licensed cosmetologists.

BSG’s store count for the last three fiscal years is summarized in the following table:

In fiscal 2022, the Board approved the planned closure of 330 SBS and 35 BSG stores mostly over the next fiscal year, which was the result of a strategic evaluation that included a market analysis of certain locations where we believe we are able to recapture demand and improve profitability. For more information on the Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan, see Note 16, Restructuring, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 contained in this Annual Report.

Merchandise

We believe our product offerings, led by our hair color and care categories, provides us a competitive advantage. During the last three fiscal years, our hair color and care products made up between 60% and 70% of our total consolidated sales. Key products included within our sales categories are as follows:

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Additionally, as a top destination to shop for professional color and care, our goal is to be in stock in these core categories at every opportunity. To accomplish this, we have made great strides in fiscal 2022 toward increasing speed to market and improving our in-stock levels - notwithstanding macro-related supply chain disruptions.

Sally Beauty Supply

SBS carries an extensive selection of leading third-party, owned and exclusive-labeled brand professional beauty supplies across a variety of product categories. As leaders in the beauty industry, we believe we are uniquely positioned to adapt and innovate within our brands, partnerships and product offerings to provide the looks customers want. We believe this focus helps us attract new customers and keep long-term relationships with existing customers. During fiscal year 2022, we launched Strawberry Leopard, a new exclusive vivid color line, which resonates to a growing Gen Z customer base. Additionally, in the beginning of fiscal year 2023, we will be launching bondbar, a new owned brand hair repair line, to meet the demand for powerful hair repair solutions at an accessible price. Furthermore, we continue to expand our selection of textured hair products, including over 50 Black-founded brands, and offer innovation in the nails category that we believe further differentiates us from our competitors.

We believe that our owned and exclusive-labeled brands, available only at SBS, offer equal or better quality than higher-priced leading third-party brands. During the last three fiscal years, our owned and exclusive-labeled brands accounted for approximately 45% of our U.S. and Canada product sales.

Beauty Systems Group

BSG carries an extensive selection of leading third-party branded products, many of which are under exclusive distributions rights, at competitive prices across a variety of product categories. We have exclusive and non-exclusive distribution rights with several key vendors for well-known brands in certain geographies and continue to pursue the acquisition of additional distribution rights. As the largest North American distributor of professional hair color and care, carrying an extensive selection of branded merchandise is critical to maintaining relationships with our professional customers.

During the fiscal year, a large wholesale competitor, continued to transform their business to a third-party distribution model. In connection with their transformation, we acquired certain inventories and began servicing a large number of their storefronts.  

Marketing and Advertising

Sally Beauty Supply

We target existing and potential customers through an integrated marketing approach designed to reach the customer through a variety of media channels, including digital advertising, e-mail, social media, text messaging, mobile app push notifications, direct mail and print advertising.

SBS’s marketing initiatives are designed to drive customer traffic through added education, content and community building. In recent years, we revealed “Sally Crew” and launched “DIY University by Sally Beauty” to educate customers on a wide range of topics from the latest trends in hair color, textured hair, hair styling and nails and to make customers feel confident about mastering DIY hair color, hair care and nails. Our Sally Crew Ambassadors consist of content creators and/or professional stylists who are DIY experts in their areas of focus and aim to inspire, educate and empower beauty enthusiasts. This year, we expanded our DIY University content to provide easy-to-follow tutorials with convenient access to different product assortments discussed. Additionally, we launched the Sally Beauty Associate Affiliate Program to encourage our associates to share their unique expertise with customers on social media to curate a community of inspiring, diverse creators who are using SBS merchandise for their DIY beauty, nails, hair and self-expression.

Beauty Systems Group

BSG’s marketing programs are designed to promote its extensive selection of brand name products at competitive prices and to educate, motivate and empower existing and potential customers. We typically work closely with our vendors to provide customers promotional offers for certain products to target existing and potential customers. We distribute promotional material through multiple channels, including print mail, e-mail, SMS, mobile app push notifications, social media, trade shows, educational events, store personnel and DSCs. As of September 30, 2022, we had a network of 718 DSCs which personally consults, supports and sells directly to salons and salon

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professionals. In addition, we believe that our digital platforms enhance other efforts intended to promote awareness of our products by salons and salon professionals.

Customer Loyalty

In the U.S. and Canada, our Sally Beauty Rewards Program is driven to earn SBS customer loyalty and was recognized as one of “2022 America’s Best Loyalty Programs” by Newsweek & Statista. The program is free to join, and it provides our loyalty customers the ability to earn points on their SBS purchases, that convert to Sally Beauty Rewards when certain thresholds are attained. Through the program, these customers may also receive exclusive savings and personalized marketing offers.

In the U.S., we also offer our SBS customers the opportunity to apply for the Sally Beauty Rewards Credit Card that provides additional benefits to being a Sally Beauty Rewards member. Additionally, we offer our SBS professional-customers and BSG customers the opportunity to apply for the Cosmo Prof Rewards Credit Card, which provides discounts on Cosmo Prof purchases or points through the Sally Beauty Rewards Program on SBS purchases.

Through these programs, we are able to collect valuable point-of-sale customer data as a means of increasing our understanding of customers and enhancing our ability to personalize our marketing. We will continue to monitor and evolve our Sally Beauty Rewards Program in an effort to further enhance the customer experience and promote repeat sales from both retail customers and salon professionals. Outside the U.S. and Canada, our customer loyalty and marketing programs vary by marketplace.

Digital Strategy

We continue to grow our digital footprint not only through our marketing and customer relationship efforts, but also through our digital platforms in each segment. We believe we are uniquely positioned to continue expanding our digital sales penetration thanks to our omni-channel business model, which enables us meet our customers where they are; in store or online, or through a hybrid approach such as our “buy online, pick up in store” (BOPIS) option. Additionally, our digital strategy of enhancing our customer centricity aims to expand our services ecosystem to support professional stylists as well as increase education and expertise to inspire and support all of our customers. To that end, we are excited to continue our digital expansion through new initiatives such as a stylist platform powered by Salon HQ and Studio by Sally. The stylist platform is a BSG initiative with a customizable digital storefront platform that gives our stylists the ability to curate a product selection from thousands of choices and enable clients to purchase directly from their shops without having to hold inventory. Whereas Studio by Sally, a pilot store program set to kick off in fiscal 2023, will have a digital-first focus, from virtual check-in and digital education throughout the store, to DIY demos streaming at the store-front and take-home videos from individual salon sessions. Studio by Sally will allow for personalized appointments with a licensed stylist who will train and educate the consumer on how to color their own hair and achieve their desired results.

Distribution

We currently receive our merchandise through nine U.S. distribution centers and several distribution centers in various other countries. Our distribution centers service our stores, orders from our DSCs and ship-to-customer orders through various freight carriers. We procure our owned-branded merchandise through domestic and foreign vendors. We work closely with our overseas vendors to fulfill production orders and schedule ocean and freight carriers to deliver to our distribution centers.

Over the past several years, we have made significant investments in our end-to-end supply chain systems and processes to build a best-in-class merchandising and supply chain platform for the future. As we leverage these new systems and processes, we expect to more effectively and efficiently manage and forecast our inventory to ensure appropriate in-stock levels.

Additionally, customers are looking for more convenient options for receiving merchandise and it is helping drive their purchasing decisions. As such, we have made significant investments to “meet them where they are.” When ordering through our digital platforms, our customers can select different fulfillment options, including: BOPIS;

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deliver by common carrier (from-store or distribution centers); and 2-hour delivery. During the fiscal year, we expanded our partnership with DoorDash for both SBS and BSG, and we added a 2-hour delivery option to the Sally and BSG mobile apps.

Seasonality

Our business is generally not seasonal, but typically has higher sales in our first quarter related to the holiday sales period.

Our Competition

The primary competitive factors in our industry are: the price of branded and owned-brand products; exclusive distribution contracts; the quality, perceived value, brand name recognition, packaging and variety of the products sold; customer service; efficiency of distribution networks; and the availability of desirable store locations.

SBS competes primarily with beauty product wholesale and retail outlets, including local and regional open-line beauty supply stores, professional-only beauty supply stores, mass merchandisers, online retailers, drug stores, department stores and supermarkets as well as salons that sell hair care products. BSG competes primarily with beauty product wholesale suppliers, including online retailers and manufacturers selling their products directly to salons and salon professionals.

We face competition from certain manufacturers that use their own sales forces to distribute their professional beauty products directly or that align themselves with our competitors. Some of these manufacturers are vertically integrated through the acquisition of distributors and stores. We also face competition from authorized and unauthorized retailers as well as internet sites offering professional salon-only products.

Our Suppliers

We purchase our merchandise directly from manufacturers through supply contracts and purchase orders. For fiscal year 2022, our five largest suppliers – Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Wella Company, the Professional Products Division of L'Oreal USA S/D, Inc., or L’Oreal, John Paul Mitchell Systems, and Olaplex Inc. – accounted for approximately 42% of our consolidated merchandise purchases. We have developed a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship, some exclusive, with these suppliers and many others, which we believe is core to our competitive advantage. We purchase products from these and many other manufacturers on an at-will basis or under contracts which can generally be terminated without cause upon 90 days or less notice or expire without express rights of renewal.

Intellectual Property

In the U.S. and in other countries where we operate, we have registered or legally protected trademarks, copyrights, internet domain names, service marks and tradenames that are used to promote and market our business, stores, digital platforms and products. We believe many of these are well recognized and have significant value, including but not limited to: Sally®, Sally Beauty®, Cosmo Prof®, Armstrong McCall®, ION® and Beyond the Zone®.

Our Company Purpose & Values

Our Company Purpose & Values are intended to establish our rallying cry and focus our teams on the impact we intend to have in the world.

Our Purpose:  TO INSPIRE A MORE COLORFUL, CONFIDENT AND WELCOMING WORLD

Our Values:

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More information on our Purpose & Values can be found at: https://www.sallybeautyholdings.com/our-company/purpose-and-values.

Human Capital Management

As of September 30, 2022, we had approximately 29,000 global associates, including approximately 13,000 full-time associates. We believe they are our greatest asset with their combined skills, knowledge, work/life experiences and capabilities. At the front line interacting with our customers or behind-the-scenes supporting our field teams, our associates play a major role in our business. While we often emphasize our technology-based transformations and our wide variety of professional beauty products as key attributes, nothing happens or succeeds without our people.

In return for what they do for us, among many other things, we strive to:

Associate Health & Safety

We strive to create a safe and healthy work environment for all associates

We place a high value on the health and safety of our associates, customers, suppliers and vendors. This commitment is evidenced, in part, by our background check policy for new hires, training and policy implementations related to handling both associate and customer incidents, partnerships to maintain the stores and make necessary repairs, recent actions taken to protect our customers and associates against COVID-19 as well as ongoing support in the field and at the support center.

Additionally, we value our partnerships with suppliers and vendors and understand the impact they can have on our associates. Thus, SBH has included rules governing their conduct, both with respect to expectations while interacting with our associates and, with our foreign suppliers, assurances that they too are providing a safe and healthy working environment for their associates.

Labor Practices

We provide competitive wages and benefits in a positive work environment where we focus on doing what is right

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer with up-to-date policies, procedures and practices with respect to such important issues as safety, discrimination, harassment and retaliation. We provide focused training on these issues to our associates and managers.

We clearly communicate that any concerns related to issues such as discrimination, harassment, retaliation – and other issues such as wage law compliance and fraud – should be reported immediately. We also communicate the avenues available to our associates to do so through our “SBH CARES” communications and posters. The reporting avenues include options to do so by phone or online through our “Employee Concern Line” and to do so anonymously if an associate prefers to take that approach.

We ensure compliance with other important labor and employment law issues through a variety of processes and procedures, using both internal and external expertise and resources.

We also emphasize the importance of taking care of our associates in our Company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, the standard of conduct that applies to all of our associates, executive officers and Board of Directors. The Code reflects the core principles of conducting our business as a good corporate citizen in compliance with all laws, rules and regulations applicable to us and the conduct business with regard for the welfare of our associates and providing equal opportunity to all associates and job applicants. You can review this important document at http://investor.sallybeautyholdings.com.

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Associate Engagement, Development and Culture

We live our values, listen to our associates and take action

We make significant efforts to ensure our associates are informed, engaged and excited about the work they are doing and contributions they are making to our Company and our customers. We are committed to providing associates with what they need to thrive and grow their career. We significantly invest in our talent processes and set clear expectations around leadership competencies and our cultural values at all levels in the organization. At SBH, we consider the whole end-to-end talent cycle of an associate to ensure we select exceptional people to represent our business and best serve our customer. This includes robust interviewing processes as well as comprehensive onboarding programs to ensure new hires are set up to succeed in their early stages of joining SBH. There is also a strong cadence on completing regular cycles of performance management, linked to our Company values and leadership competencies, as well as regular reviews of our talent and succession pipelines.

Importantly, we devote significant effort and resources to the development of our associates, including providing almost all of our associates access to state-of-the-art learning management systems. We use these platforms to provide specifically designed and interactive award-winning e-learning courses in sales and service, product and hair knowledge, compliance training, and health and safety.

We also place significant value and attention on responding to feedback and input from associates. This includes surveys regarding issues such as Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging and our annual engagement survey. We review our team’s input and comments, identify common themes and set out action plans to respond. We believe listening is crucial, but taking action and making commitments are even more important.

A core focus of our associate engagement and culture are our efforts focused on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, discussed below.

Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

At Sally Beauty we celebrate differences, inclusivity and self-expression.  This fundamental aspect of SBH’s culture is rooted in our belief that beauty is for everyone and everyone should find their own path to beauty. Our associates and our customers care about celebrating diversity and self-expression. We want our Company and our stores to be places where all of our associates and customers feel valued for who they are and experience a sense of belonging.

We come together to create a culture for “One & All”

Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging are at the heart of who we are as a Company – at the Board level, throughout our global workforce and in our shared commitment to serving a diverse customer base and their communities.

Our Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Mission Statement:

We find beauty in YOU!

Finding beauty in diversity is in our DNA because our differences are what make us beautiful. Our diversity, inclusivity and self-expression are what fuel our innovation and growth.

At SBH, we come together to create a culture for ONE & ALL.

At the Board Level: Our Board’s composition leads the Company’s commitment to Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Having diverse voices on our Board enhances the Board’s expertise, broadens its viewpoint and sets the tone to encourage leaders at all levels of the Company to listen to the concerns of our associates and customers alike. Our Compensation & Talent Committee provides hands-on oversight and guidance of our Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging initiatives. Our Board believes listening and responding to diverse voices is crucial to the Company’s success and long-term sustainability.  

In Our Workforce: Our SBH Team in the U.S. & Canada is over 90% women and over 48% people of color. In 2019 and 2020, Forbes named our Company one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity. In 2021, Forbes named SBH as one of America’s Best Employers for Women. We recognize and celebrate the bedrock values of workforce diversity, inclusion, belonging and engagement within our teams. For us, these are key drivers of the success of the business, as our associates should – and do – reflect the various qualities of our customers and what they desire and expect from SBH.

During the fiscal year, we proudly launched our first Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), starting with four groups that represent out Black, Hispanic, Women and LGBTQ+ associates. These ERGs are off to a strong start, and we look forward to embedding our ERGs within how we do business, both internally and externally, then expanding to other groups and focus areas in the future.

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In Our Customer Base: Our customers span the entire continuum of gender and ethnic diversity. We sell beauty products to treat and style every kind of hair; we deliver a tailored assortment of beauty products that serve the local communities where our over 4,000 U.S. and Canada stores are located. Serving the diverse demographics and needs of our customers drives a culture and workforce that embraces and reflects the communities we serve.

We will continue to develop and evolve how we enhance Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging throughout SBH. We recognize the value these initiatives bring to our Company, our associates, our customers and the communities we serve.

More information on our approach to Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging can be found at:  https://www.sallybeautyholdings.com/our-company/diversity-inclusion-and-belonging.

Regulation

We are subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations, which historically have not had a material effect on our business. For example, in the U.S., most of the products sold and the content and methods of advertising and marketing utilized are subject to both federal and state regulations administered by a host of federal and state agencies, including, in each case, one or more of the following: the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Products Safety Commission. The transportation and disposal of many of our products are also subject to federal and state regulation. State and local agencies regulate many aspects of our business. We also face comprehensive regulation outside the U.S., focused primarily on product labeling and safety issues.

As of September 30, 2022, we supplied franchised stores primarily located in the U.S. As a result of these franchisor-franchisee relationships, we are subject to regulation when offering and selling franchises. The applicable laws and regulations affect our business practices, as franchisor, in a number of ways, including restrictions placed upon the offering, renewal, termination and disapproval of assignment of franchises. To date, these laws and regulations have not had a material effect upon our operations.

Access to Public Filings

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to such reports are available, without charge, on our website, www.sallybeautyholdings.com, as soon as reasonably possible after they are filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, under the Exchange Act. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains our reports, proxy and information statements, and other information we file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov. We will provide copies of such reports to any person, without charge, upon written request to our Investor Relations Department at our principal office. The information found on our website shall not be considered to be part of this or any other report filed with or furnished to the SEC.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Important risk factors that could materially affect our business, financial condition or results of operations in future periods are described below. These factors are not intended to be an all-encompassing list of risks and uncertainties and are not the only risks and uncertainties we face. Additional risks not currently known to us or we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations in future periods.

Operational, Strategic and General Business Risks

The beauty products distribution industry is highly competitive and is consolidating.

The beauty products distribution industry is highly fragmented and competitive, with few significant barriers to entry into the marketplaces for most of the types of products we sell. We face significant competition from other beauty stores and outlets, salons, mass merchandisers, online retailers, drug stores and supermarkets. The primary competitive factors in the beauty products distribution industry are price, quality, perceived value, consumer brand name recognition, packaging and variety and availability, customer service, desirable store locations, in-stock inventory and, with respect to e-commerce, look and feel of website and delivery times and costs. Competitive conditions may limit our ability to maintain prices or may require us to reduce prices in efforts to retain business or channel share, particularly because customers are able to quickly and conveniently comparison shop and determine

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real-time product availability using digital tools, which can lead to decisions driven solely by price, the functionality of the digital tools, or a combination of these and other factors. Some of our competitors have greater financial and other resources than we do and are less leveraged than our business and may therefore be able to spend more aggressively on advertising and promotional activities and respond more effectively to changing business and economic conditions. We expect existing competitors, business partners and new entrants to the beauty products distribution industry to constantly revise or improve their business models in response to challenges from competing businesses, including ours. If these competitors introduce changes or developments that we cannot address in a timely or cost-effective manner, our business may be adversely affected.

In addition, our industry is consolidating, which may give our suppliers and our competitors increased negotiating leverage and greater marketing resources. For instance, we may lose customers if those competitors which have broad geographic reach attract additional salons (individual and chain) that are currently BSG customers, or if professional beauty supply manufacturers align themselves with our competitors or begin selling direct to customers. Not only does consolidation in distribution pose risks from competing distributors, but it may also place more leverage in the hands of certain manufacturers, resulting in smaller margins on products sold through our network.

If we are unable to compete effectively in our marketplace or if competitors divert our customers away from our networks, it would adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be unable to anticipate and effectively respond to changes in consumer preferences and buying trends in a timely manner.

Our success depends in part on our ability to anticipate, gauge and react in a timely manner to changes in consumer spending patterns and preferences for specific beauty products. If we do not timely identify and properly respond to evolving trends and changing consumer demands for beauty products in the geographies in which we compete, our sales may decline significantly. Furthermore, we may accumulate additional inventory and be required to mark down unsold inventory to prices that are significantly lower than normal prices, which would adversely impact our margins and could further adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, a large percentage of our SBS product sales come from our owned and exclusive-label brand products. The development and promotion of these owned and exclusive-label brand products often occur well before these products are sold in our stores. As a result, the success of these owned and exclusive-label brand products is largely dependent on our ability to develop products that meet future consumer preferences at prices that are acceptable to our customers. Furthermore, we may have to spend a significant amount on the advertising and marketing of our owned and exclusive-label brands to drive customer awareness of these brands. There can be no assurance that any new owned and exclusive-label brand will meet consumer preferences, gain acceptance among our customer base or generate sales to become profitable or to cover the costs of its development and promotion.

We expect continuously changing fashion-related trends and consumer tastes to influence future demand for beauty products. Changes in consumer tastes and fashion trends can have an impact on our financial performance. If we are unable to anticipate and respond to trends in the marketplace for beauty products and changing consumer demands, our business could suffer.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to successfully implement our strategic initiatives to improve the customer experience, attract new customers and improve the sales productivity of our stores.

We are continuing the implementation of a significant number of strategic initiatives designed to ‘play to win’ by focusing on our key product categories, improving our retail fundamentals, enhancing our digital capabilities,  balancing our cost structure, including closure of underperforming stores and consolidation of distribution centers. There can be no assurance that these or future strategic initiatives will be successful. Furthermore, we are investing significant resources in these initiatives and the costs of the initiatives may outweigh their benefits. If these strategic initiatives are not successful, our comparative sales will suffer and our growth prospects, financial results, profitability and cash flows will also be adversely impacted.

Our restructuring plans may not be successful or we may not fully realize the expected cost savings and/or operating efficiencies.

Our ability to grow profitably depends in large part on our ability to successfully control or reduce our operating expenses. In furtherance of this strategy, we have engaged and continue to engage in activities to reduce or control

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costs, some of which are complicated and require us to expend significant resources to implement. Over the past several years, we have implemented, and plan to continue to implement, plans to transform the Company for the future and support long-term sales growth and profitability. These programs are intended to touch all aspects of the business, enhance operating capabilities and create greater efficiencies. These strategic plans present potential risks that may impair our ability to achieve anticipated operating enhancements and efficiencies and/or cost reductions.

We depend upon manufacturers who may be unable to provide products of adequate quality or who may be unwilling to continue to supply products to us.

We do not manufacture any products we sell and instead purchase our products from recognized brand manufacturers and private label fillers. We depend on a limited number of manufacturers for a significant percentage of the products we sell.

Since we purchase products from many manufacturers and fillers under at-will contracts and contracts which can be terminated without cause upon 90 days’ notice or less, or which expire without express rights of renewal, manufacturers and fillers could discontinue sales to us immediately or upon short notice. Some of our contracts with manufacturers may be terminated if we fail to meet specified minimum purchase requirements. If minimum purchase requirements are not met, we do not have contractual assurances of continued supply. In lieu of termination, a manufacturer may also change the terms upon which it sells, for example, by raising prices or broadening distribution to third parties. For these and other reasons, we may not be able to acquire desired merchandise in sufficient quantities or on acceptable terms in the future.

Changes in SBS’s and BSG’s relationships with suppliers occur often and could positively or negatively impact the net sales and operating earnings of both business segments. Some of our suppliers may seek to decrease their reliance on distribution intermediaries, including full-service/exclusive and open-line distributors like BSG and SBS, by promoting their own distribution channels. These suppliers may offer advantages, such as lower prices, when their products are purchased from distribution channels they control. If our access to supplier-provided products were to diminish relative to our competitors or we were not able to purchase products at the same prices as our competitors, our business could be materially and adversely affected. Also, consolidation among suppliers may increase their negotiating leverage, thereby providing them with competitive advantages that may increase our costs and reduce our revenues, adversely affecting our business, financial condition and results of operations. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the impact of these developments, if they were to occur, will not adversely impact revenue or margins or that our efforts to mitigate the impact of these developments will be successful.

Any significant interruption in the supply of products by manufacturers and fillers or disruptions in our supply chain infrastructure could disrupt our ability to deliver merchandise to our stores and customers in a timely manner, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Manufacturers and owned and exclusive-label brand fillers of beauty supply products are subject to certain risks that could adversely impact their ability to provide us with their products on a timely basis, including inability to procure ingredients, industrial accidents, environmental events, strikes and other labor disputes, union organizing activity, disruptions in logistics or information systems, loss or impairment of key manufacturing sites, product quality control, safety, licensing requirements and other regulatory issues, as well as natural disasters, pandemics and other external factors over which neither they nor we have control.

In addition, we directly source many of our owned and exclusive-label brand products, including, but not limited to, styling tools, salon equipment, sundries and other promotional products, from foreign third-party manufacturers and many of our vendors also use overseas sourcing to manufacture some or all of their products. Any event causing a sudden disruption of manufacturing or imports from such foreign countries, including the imposition of additional or increased import restrictions, duties or tariffs, political instability, local business practices, legal or economic restrictions on overseas suppliers’ ability to produce and deliver products or acts of war or terrorism or pandemics, could materially harm our operations to the extent they affect the production, shipment or receipt of merchandise. Our operating results depend to some extent on the orderly operation of our receiving and distribution processes, which depend on manufacturers’ adherence to shipping schedules and our effective management of our distribution facilities and capacity.

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Fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of inventory may result in higher cost of goods, which we may not be able to pass on to the customers.

Our suppliers frequently attempt to pass on higher production costs, which may impact our ability to maintain or grow our margins. The price and availability of raw materials may be impacted by demand, regulation, weather and other factors. Additionally, manufacturers have and may continue to have increases in other manufacturing costs, such as transportation, labor and benefit costs. These increases in production costs result in higher merchandise costs to us. We may not always be able to pass on those cost increases to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our e-commerce businesses may be unsuccessful or, if successful, may redirect sales from our stores.

We offer many of our beauty products for sale through our e-commerce businesses in the U.S. (such as www.sallybeauty.com, www.cosmoprofbeauty.com, www.cosmoprofequipment.com and mobile commerce-based apps) and abroad. We have recently undertaken a number of initiatives, including in response to changing shopping patterns accelerated by COVID-19, to significantly advance our digital commerce capabilities and grow our e-commerce businesses. As a result, we are more susceptible to risks and difficulties frequently experienced by internet-based businesses, including risks related to our ability to attract and retain customers on a cost-effective basis and our ability to operate, support, expand and develop our e-commerce operations, websites and software and other related operational systems.  Furthermore, our e-commerce businesses face significant competition from larger retailers with more established e-commerce platforms as well as online retailers, including Amazon, and on-line store e-commerce platforms such as Shopify.

Although we believe our participation in both e-commerce and physical store sales is a distinct advantage for us due to synergies and the potential for new customers, supporting product offerings through both of these channels could create issues that have the potential to adversely affect our results of operations. For example, growth in our e-commerce business relative to in-store sales may result in dilution of operating margin and profit due to higher delivery expenses incurred in our e-commerce sales. Furthermore, if our e-commerce businesses successfully grow, they may do so in part by attracting existing customers, rather than new customers, who choose to purchase products from us online rather than from our physical stores, thereby reducing the financial performance of our stores. In addition, offering different products through each channel could cause conflicts and cause some of our current or potential internet customers to consider competing distributors of beauty products. In addition, offering products through our e-commerce channels (particularly directly to consumers through our professional business) could cause some of our current or potential vendors to consider competing internet offerings of their products either directly or through competing distributors. As we continue to grow our e-commerce businesses, the impact of attracting existing rather than new customers, of conflicts between product offerings online and through our stores, and of opening up our channels to increased internet competition could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations, including operating margin, profit, future growth and comparative sales. Furthermore, our recent initiatives to upgrade our e-commerce platforms may not be successful in driving traffic to our websites and increasing our online sales in the long term, which could adversely impact our net sales.

Diversion of professional products sold by BSG could have an adverse impact on our revenues.

The majority of the products that BSG sells, including those sold by our Armstrong McCall franchisees, are meant to be used exclusively by salons and individual salon professionals or sold exclusively to their retail consumers. However, despite our efforts to prevent diversion, incidents of product diversion occur, whereby our products are sold by these purchasers (and possibly by other bulk purchasers such as franchisees) to wholesalers and ultimately to general merchandise retailers, among others. These retailers, in turn, sell such products to consumers. The diverted product may be old, tainted or damaged and sold through unapproved outlets, all of which could diminish the value of the particular brand. In addition, such diversion may result in lower net sales for BSG should consumers choose to purchase diverted products from retailers rather than purchasing from our customers, or choose other products altogether because of the perceived loss of brand prestige.  Furthermore, in many instances, BSG is subject to certain anti-diversion obligations under these manufacturers’ contracts, that if violated may result in the termination of such contracts. In addition, our investigation and enforcement of these anti-diversion obligations may require us to cease selling to customers suspected of diversion which could impact BSG’s net sales.

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The loss of exclusive distribution rights with key vendors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have exclusive and non-exclusive distribution rights with several key vendors for well-known brands in certain geographies. If key vendors ceased granting us exclusive distribution rights, or decided to utilize other distribution channels for their products, therefore widening the availability of these products in other channels, the revenue we earn from the sale of such products could be negatively impacted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

BSG’s financial results are affected by the financial results of BSG’s franchised-based business (Armstrong McCall).

BSG receives revenue from its sale of products to Armstrong McCall franchisees. Accordingly, a portion of BSG’s financial results is dependent upon the operational and financial success of these franchisees, including their implementation of BSG’s strategic plans. If sales trends or economic conditions worsen for Armstrong McCall’s franchisees, their financial results may worsen. Additionally, the failure of Armstrong McCall franchisees to renew their franchise agreements, any requirement that Armstrong McCall restructure its franchise agreements in connection with such renewals, or any failure of Armstrong McCall to meet its obligations under its franchise agreements, could result in decreased revenues for BSG or create legal issues with our franchisees or with manufacturers.

Furthermore, our franchisees may not run the stores and sales teams according to our standards, which could have a material adverse effect on our brand reputation and our business.

We may not be able to successfully identify acquisition candidates or successfully complete desirable acquisitions, and any acquisition could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business or have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

In the past several years, we have completed multiple acquisitions and we intend to pursue additional acquisitions in the future. We actively review acquisition prospects we believe would complement our existing lines of business, increase the size and geographic scope of our operations or otherwise offer profitable growth and operating efficiency opportunities. There can be no assurance we will continue to identify suitable acquisition candidates. Furthermore, due to, among other things, increasing competition for suitable acquisition candidates, our ability to reach agreement with acquisition candidates or finance such acquisitions on favorable terms, we may not be able to consummate such acquisitions on favorable terms or at all.  

Any acquisitions we do make may be difficult to integrate profitably into our business and entail numerous risks.  As a result, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions.

If we are unable to optimize our store base by profitably opening and operating new stores and closing less profitable stores, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our future growth strategy depends in part on our ability to optimize and profitably operate our stores in existing and additional geographic areas, including in international geographies, and to close underperforming stores. While the capital requirements to open an SBS or BSG store, excluding inventory, vary from geography to geography, such capital requirements have historically been relatively low in the U.S. and Canada. Despite these relatively low opening costs, we may not be able to open all the new stores we plan to open and we may be unable to optimize our store base by closing stores that are underperforming or open stores that are profitable, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.  Furthermore, we may incur costs associated with the closure of underperforming stores and such store closures may adversely impact our revenues.

In addition, as we continue to open new stores, our management – as well as our financial, distribution and information systems – and other resources will be subject to greater demands. If our personnel and systems are unable to successfully manage this increased burden, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially affected.  

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We may not be successful in utilizing social media platforms as part of our advertising campaign and social media could adversely impact our reputation.

There has been a substantial increase in the use of social media platforms – including blogs, social media websites and other forms of digital communications – and the influence of social medial influencers in the beauty products industry. Furthermore, social media advertising and marketing continues to increase in importance as consumers are paying less attention to more traditional media.  As a result, we have agreements with a variety of industry influencers, and we feature industry influencers in our advertising and marketing efforts and may include them in some of our branding. Further, many industry influencers use our products and feature our products through their own platforms. Actions taken by these individuals could harm our brand image, net revenues and profitability. Our marketing efforts through social media platforms and influencers may not be successful and the availability of these platforms may make it easier for smaller competitors to compete with us.

We also use social media platforms as marketing tools. For example, we maintain Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest accounts. As laws and regulations rapidly evolve to govern the use of these platforms and devices, the failure by us, our employees, or third parties acting at our direction to abide by applicable laws and regulations in the use of these platforms and devices could adversely impact our business, financial condition, profitability and cash flows.

Negative commentary regarding us or the products we sell may be also posted on social media platforms or other electronic means at any time and may be adverse to our reputation or business. Customers value readily available information and often act on such information without further investigation and without regard to its accuracy. Any harm to us or the products we sell may be immediate without allowing us an opportunity for redress or correction.

If we fail to attract and retain highly skilled management and other personnel at all levels of the Company, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

Our success has depended, and will continue to depend, in large part on our ability to attract and retain senior executives who possess extensive knowledge, experience and managerial skill applicable to our business. Significant leadership changes or executive management transitions involve inherent risk and any failure to ensure the effective transfer of knowledge and a smooth transition could hinder our strategic planning, execution and future performance. In addition, from time to time, key executive personnel leave our Company and we may not be successful in attracting, integrating and retaining the personnel required to grow and operate our business profitably. While we strive to mitigate the negative impact associated with the loss of a key executive employee, an unsuccessful transition or loss could significantly disrupt our operations and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are also dependent on recruiting, training, motivating, managing and retaining our store employees that interact with our customers on a daily basis. Many team members are in entry-level or part-time positions with historically high turnover rates. Competition for these types of qualified employees, especially in light of recent labor shortages among entry-level workers, is intense and the failure to attract, retain and properly train qualified and motivated employees could result in decreased customer satisfaction, loss of customers and lower sales. In addition, our ability to meet our labor needs while controlling labor costs is subject to numerous external factors, including market pressures with respect to prevailing wage rates, unemployment levels, and health and other insurance costs; the impact of legislation or regulations governing labor relations, immigration, minimum wage and healthcare benefits; changing demographics; and our reputation within the labor market. Our inability to control our labor costs could affect our results of operations and result in lower margins in our two segments.

General Economic, Market and Foreign Risks

The political, social and economic conditions in the geographies we serve may affect consumer purchases of discretionary items such as beauty products and salon services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our results of operations may be materially affected by conditions in the global capital markets and the economy and regulatory environment generally, both in the U.S. and internationally. Concerns over inflation, rising interest rates, labor shortages, energy costs, geopolitical issues, including the war in Ukraine, uncertainty with respect to elections, terrorism, civil unrest, the availability and cost of credit, the mortgage market, and the real estate and other financial markets in the U.S. and Europe have contributed to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the

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U.S. and certain foreign economies. We appeal to a wide demographic consumer profile and offer an extensive selection of beauty products sold directly to retail consumers and salons and salon professionals. Continued uncertainty in the economy could adversely impact consumer purchases of discretionary items such as beauty products as well as adversely impact the frequency of salon services performed by professionals using products purchased from us. Factors that could affect consumers’ willingness to make such discretionary purchases include: inflation, general business conditions, levels of employment, interest rates, tax rates, the availability of consumer credit and consumer confidence in future economic conditions. A prolonged economic downturn or acute recession can adversely affect consumer spending habits and result in lower than expected net sales. The economic climate could also adversely affect our vendors. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the disruption to the global economy and to our business, along with any sustained decline in our stock price, could lead to triggering events that may indicate that the carrying value of certain assets – including inventories, accounts receivables, long-lived assets, intangibles and goodwill – may not be recoverable, which could lead to impairment or other asset write-downs in the future.

Price inflation for labor, materials and services, further exacerbated by volatility in energy and commodity markets by the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We experienced considerable price inflation in costs for labor, materials and services during fiscal 2022. We may not be able to continue to pass through inflationary cost increases and, if inflationary pressures are sustained, we may only be able to recoup a portion of our increased costs in future periods. Our ability to raise prices to reflect increased costs may also be limited by competitive conditions in the market for our products. The contributory effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and prolonged geopolitical conflict globally may continue to result in increased inflation – including in labor costs – escalating energy and commodity prices and increasing costs of materials and services (together with shortages or inconsistent availability of materials and services), which may also have the effect of heightening many of our other risks, such as those relating to cyber security, supply chain disruption, store optimization, volatility in prices and market conditions, our ability to forecast demand and our ability to successfully implement our global business strategies, any of which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The occurrence of natural disasters or acts of violence or terrorism could adversely affect our operations and financial performance.

The occurrence of natural disasters or acts of violence, terrorism or civil unrest could result in physical damage to our properties, the temporary closure of stores or distribution centers, the temporary lack of an adequate work force, the temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of products (or a substantial increase in the cost of those products) from domestic or foreign suppliers, the temporary disruption in the delivery of goods to our distribution centers (or a substantial increase in the cost of those deliveries), the temporary reduction in the availability of products in our stores and/or the temporary reduction in visits to stores by customers. If one or more natural disasters or acts of violence or terrorism were to impact our business, we could, among other things, incur significantly higher costs and longer lead times associated with distributing products. Furthermore, insurance costs associated with our business may rise significantly in the event of a large scale natural disaster or act of violence or terrorism.

Currency exchange rate fluctuations could result in higher costs and decreased margins and earnings.

Many of our products are sold outside of the United States. As a result, we conduct transactions in various currencies, which increase our exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar and recently these foreign currencies have in general weakened significantly against the U.S. dollar. Our international revenues and expenses generally are derived from sales and operations in foreign currencies, and these revenues and expenses could be affected by currency fluctuations, including amounts recorded in foreign currencies and translated into U.S. dollars for consolidated financial reporting. Currency exchange rate fluctuations could also disrupt the business of the independent manufacturers that produce our products by making their purchases of raw materials as well as transportation and freight, more expensive and more difficult to finance. Foreign currency fluctuations could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

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We are subject to risks related to our international operations.

We operate on a global basis, and approximately 9.7% of our net revenues from continuing operations in fiscal 2022, were generated outside North America. Non-U.S. operations are subject to many risks and uncertainties, including ongoing instability or changes in a country’s or region’s economic, regulatory or political conditions, including inflation, recession, interest rate fluctuations, sovereign default risk and actual or anticipated military or political conflicts, labor market disruptions, sanctions, boycotts, new or increased tariffs, quotas, exchange or price controls, trade barriers or other restrictions on foreign businesses, our failure to effectively and timely implement processes and policies across our diverse operations and employee base and difficulties and costs associated with complying with a wide variety of complex and potentially conflicting regulations across multiple jurisdictions. Non-U.S. operations also increase the risk of non-compliance with U.S. laws and regulations applicable to such non-U.S. operations, such as those relating to sanctions, boycotts and improper payments.

In addition, sudden disruptions in business conditions as a consequence of events such as terrorist attacks, war or other military action or the threat of further attacks, including the war in Ukraine, pandemics or other crises or vulnerabilities or as a result of adverse weather conditions or climate changes, may have an impact on consumer spending, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows as well as the trading price of our securities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had and may continue to have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a material impact on our business and results of operations.  For part of fiscal year 2020 we temporarily closed all U.S. and Canadian retail and wholesale store fronts to customers and temporarily idled a number of our distribution centers.  In addition, COVID-19 significantly changed consumer shopping patterns with consumers increasing on-line purchases and decreasing consumer traffic in our stores.

We also took and continue to take actions to help protect employees, customers and others in the communities we serve in response to the impact of COVID-19.  Furthermore, we also experienced worker shortages from time to time throughout the pandemic due to COVID-19 illnesses among our team members.  

While the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a material impact on our supply chain, future pandemics or a material worsening of COVID-19 could impact our supply chain if the factories that manufacture our products, the distribution centers where we manage our inventory, or the operations of our logistics and other service providers are disrupted, temporarily closed or experience worker shortages. We may also see disruptions or delays in shipments and negative impacts to pricing of certain products as a result of such disruptions.

A reduction in traffic to, or the closing of, other retailers in shopping areas where our SBS stores are located could significantly reduce our sales and leave us with excess inventory, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, profitability and cash flows.

As a result of our real estate strategy, most of our SBS stores are located in strip shopping centers. These strip shopping centers are occupied by other high traffic retailers such as grocery stores, mass merchants and home improvement centers. As a consequence of most of our SBS stores being located in strip shopping centers, our sales are derived, in part, from the volume of traffic generated by the other high traffic retailers where our stores are located. Customer traffic to these strip shopping centers may be adversely affected by the closing of stores in the strip shopping center, or by a reduction in traffic to such stores resulting from a regional or global economic downturn, an outbreak of flu or other viruses (such as COVID-19), a general downturn in the local area where our SBS store is located, or a decline in the desirability of the shopping environment of a particular strip shopping center. Such a reduction in customer traffic could reduce our sales and leave us with excess inventory, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, profitability and cash flows.

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Regulatory, Legal and Cybersecurity Risks

If products sold by us are found to be defective in labeling or content, our credibility and that of the brands we sell may be harmed, marketplace acceptance of our products may decrease and we may be exposed to liability in excess of our products liability insurance coverage and manufacturer indemnities.

We do not control the production process for the products we sell. We may not be able to identify a defect in a product we purchase from a manufacturer or owned and exclusive-label brand filler before we offer such product for resale. In many cases, we rely on representations of manufacturers and fillers about the products we purchase for resale regarding the composition, manufacture and safety of the products as well as the compliance of our product labels with government regulations. Our sale of certain products exposes us to potential product liability claims, recalls or other regulatory or enforcement actions initiated by federal, state or foreign regulatory authorities or through private causes of action. Such claims, recalls or actions could be based on allegations that, among other things, the products sold by us are misbranded, contain contaminants or impermissible ingredients, provide inadequate instructions regarding their use or misuse, or include inadequate warnings concerning flammability or interactions with other substances. Claims against us could also arise as a result of the misuse by purchasers of such products or as a result of their use in a manner different than the intended use. We may be required to pay for losses or injuries actually or allegedly caused by the products we sell and to recall any product we sell that is alleged to be or is found to be defective. Furthermore, such claims could have an adverse impact on our reputation.

Any actual defects or allegations of defects in products sold by us could result in adverse publicity and harm our credibility or the credibility of the manufacturer, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we may have indemnification rights against the manufacturers of many of the products we distribute and rights as an “additional insured” under the manufacturers’ insurance policies, it is not certain that any manufacturer or insurer will be financially solvent and capable of making payment to any party suffering loss or injury caused by products sold by us or if all losses would be covered by such indemnification rights or insurance policies. If we are forced to expend significant resources and time to resolve such claims or to pay material amounts to satisfy such claims, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We could be adversely affected if we do not comply with current laws and regulations or if we become subject to additional or more stringent laws and regulations.

We are subject to a number of federal, state and local laws and regulations in the U.S. as well as applicable laws and regulations in each foreign marketplace in which we do business. These laws and regulations govern the composition, packaging, labeling and safety of the products we sell as well as the methods we use to sell and import these products and other aspects of our business. Non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations of governmental authorities, including the FDA and similar authorities in other jurisdictions – by us or the manufacturers and fillers of the products sold by us – could result in fines, product recalls and enforcement actions and otherwise restrict our ability to market certain products, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the laws and regulations applicable to us or manufacturers of the products sold by us may become more stringent. Failure to comply with these new and existing regulations could result in significant fines or damages, in addition to costs and expenses to defend claims related thereto. Legal compliance could also lead to considerably higher internal regulatory costs. Manufacturers may try to recover some or all of any increased costs of compliance by increasing the prices at which we purchase products, and we may not be able to recover some or all of such increased cost in our own prices to our customers. We are also subject to state and local laws and regulations that affect our franchisor-franchisee relationships. Increased compliance costs and the loss of sales of certain products due to more stringent or new laws and regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The risks associated with climate change and other environmental impacts and increased focus by stakeholders on environmental issues, including those associated with climate change, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.  

Climatologists predict the long-term effects of climate change and global warming will result in the increased frequency, intensity and duration of weather events, which could significantly disrupt supply chains, potentially

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impacting our vendors’ raw material costs and the production of products we sell. These weather events could also lead to an increased rate of temporary store closures and reduced customer traffic at our stores.

In addition, concern over climate change may result in new or increased regional, federal or global legal and regulatory requirements to reduce or mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases. These requirements may lead to an increase in tax, transportation and utility expenses.

Lastly, there is increased focus, including by governmental and non-governmental organizations, investors, customers and consumers on these and other environmental sustainability matters, including deforestation, land use, climate impact and recyclability or recoverability of packaging, including plastic. Our reputation could be damaged if we or others in our industry do not act, or are perceived not to act, responsibly with respect to our impact on the environment.

Failure to meet evolving expectations for reporting on ESG matters could adversely affect our sales and results of operations.

Expectations from investors, customers, team members and other third parties concerning ESG reporting have increased, and our ability to meet those expectations is dependent on a variety of factors, including cooperation from sourcing vendors and other third parties and having access to consistent and reliable data. Negative customer perceptions regarding the safety and sourcing of the products we sell and the sufficiency and transparency of our reporting on ESG matters and events that give rise to actual, potential, or perceived compliance and social responsibility concerns could hurt our reputation, result in lost sales, cause our customers to seek alternative sources for their needs and make it difficult and costly for us to regain the confidence of our customers.  Furthermore, costs associated with ESG initiatives may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights or if our products are found to infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, it could materially and negatively impact our business.

We rely upon trade secrets and know-how to develop and maintain our competitive position. Our trademarks, certain of which are material to our business, are registered or legally protected in the U.S., Canada and other countries in which we operate. The success of our business depends to a certain extent upon the value associated with our intellectual property rights. We protect our intellectual property rights through a variety of methods, including, but not limited to, applying for and obtaining trademark protection in the U.S., Canada and other countries throughout the world in which our business operates. We also rely on trade secret laws, in addition to confidentiality agreements with vendors, employees, consultants and others who have access to our proprietary information. While we intend to vigorously protect our trademarks against infringement, we may not be successful. In addition, the laws of certain foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. The costs required to protect our intellectual property rights and trademarks are expected to continue to be substantial.

Furthermore, the industry in which we operate is characterized by the need for a large number of copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks and by frequent litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. A third-party may at any time assert our products violate such party’s intellectual property rights. Successful intellectual property claims against us could result in significant financial liabilities and/or prevent us from selling certain of our products. In addition, the resolution of infringement claims may require us to redesign our products, to obtain licenses to use intellectual property belonging to third parties, which may not be attainable on reasonable terms, or to cease using the intellectual property altogether.

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We may be adversely affected by any disruption in our information technology systems.

Our operations are dependent upon our information technology systems, which encompass all of our major business functions. A substantial disruption in our information technology systems for any prolonged time period (arising from, for example, system capacity limits from unexpected increases in our volume of business, outages or delays in our service) could result in delays in receiving inventory and supplies or filling customer orders and adversely affect our customer service and relationships. In addition, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including, without limitation, fire, natural disasters, power outages, systems disruptions, system conversions, security breaches, cyberattacks, phishing attacks, viruses and/or human error. In any such event, we could be required to make a significant investment to fix or replace our information technology systems, and we could experience interruptions in our ability to service customers. Such delays, problems or costs may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We continuously need to improve and upgrade our systems and infrastructure while maintaining their reliability and integrity. The expansion of our systems and infrastructure will require us to commit substantial financial, operational and technical resources before the volume of our business increases, with no assurance the volume of business will increase. The development and implementation of new systems and any other future upgrades to our systems and information technology may require significant costs and divert our management’s attention and other resources from our core business. There are also no assurances these new systems and upgrades will provide us with the anticipated benefits and efficiencies. Many of our systems are proprietary and, as a result, our options are limited in seeking third-party help with the operation and upgrade of those systems. There can be no assurance the time and resources our management will need to devote to operations and upgrades, any delays due to the installation of any upgrade (and customer issues therewith), any resulting service outages, or the impact on the reliability of our data from any upgrade or any legacy system, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, control environment or results of operations.

Unauthorized access to confidential information and data on our information technology systems, security and data breaches and/or failure to comply with rapidly evolving data privacy laws could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

As part of our operations, we receive and maintain information about our customers, employees and other third parties. We have physical, technical and procedural safeguards in place that are designed to protect information and protect against security and data breaches as well as fraudulent transactions and other activities. Despite these safeguards and our other security processes and protections, we cannot be assured that all of our systems and processes are free from vulnerability to security breaches (through cyber-attacks, which are evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated, physical breach or other means) or inadvertent data disclosure by third parties or us.

A significant data security breach, including misappropriation of our customers’ or employees’ confidential information, could result in significant costs to us, which may include, among others, potential liabilities to payment card networks for reimbursements of credit card fraud and card reissuance costs, including fines and penalties, potential liabilities from governmental or third-party investigations, proceedings or litigation, legal, forensic and consulting fees and expenses, costs and diversion of management attention required for investigation and remediation actions, and the negative impact on our reputation and loss of confidence of our customers, suppliers and others, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

There can be no assurance that our security upgrades and other measures will be effective, we will not suffer a criminal attack in the future, unauthorized parties will not gain access to confidential information, or any such incident will be discovered promptly. In particular, we understand that the techniques used by criminals to obtain unauthorized access to sensitive data change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target; accordingly, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. The failure to promptly detect, determine the extent of and appropriately respond to a significant data security breach could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are also subject to an evolving body of federal, state and non-U.S. laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and principles regarding data privacy and security, the scope and impact of which are uncertain. Several governments, as well as the EU, have regulations dealing with the collection and use of personal information obtained from their citizens, and regulators globally are also imposing greater monetary fines for privacy violations, and there is an increase in allowing private rights of action. In 2023, changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act are coming in the form of the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which will expand consumer privacy rights and extend

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application to our California employees. In addition, a number of U.S. states have enacted consumer privacy laws that are expected to take effect in 2023, or have revived existing state laws with new meaning, potentially subjecting retailers to privacy-based class action lawsuits. We also expect to see rapid changes and corresponding regulator action and private rights of action related to the use of text messaging to communicate with customers, the collection and use of biometric data and dark patterns. We continue to monitor our compliance with the European privacy regulation, General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which applies to how organizations are required to handle the personal data of EU citizens and individuals residing in the EU as well as the UK GDPR post-Brexit.  Data privacy is, and may continue to be, a rapidly evolving area of law. Any potential inability to comply with such laws, rules, regulations, guidelines and principles or to quickly adapt our practices to reflect them as they develop, could potentially subject us  to significant fines, damages, liabilities and reputational harm, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Financial Risks

Our comparable sales and quarterly financial performance may fluctuate for a variety of reasons.

Our comparable sales and quarterly results of operations have fluctuated in the past and we expect them to continue to fluctuate in the future. A variety of factors affect our comparable sales and quarterly financial performance, including:

Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may also affect our quarterly financial performance. Accordingly, our results, including comparable sales, for any one fiscal quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any other quarter, and may even decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A portion of our indebtedness is subject to floating interest rates.

Outstanding borrowings under our ABL facility and our term loan B are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates were to increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness referred to above would increase even if the principal amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows will correspondingly decrease. We are currently party to, and in the future, we may enter into additional, derivative instruments, such as interest rate caps, to reduce our exposure to changes in interest rates on our term loan B. However, we may not maintain derivative instruments with respect to all of our variable rate indebtedness, and any instruments we enter into may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk.

We have substantial debt and may incur substantial additional debt, which could adversely affect our financial health, our ability to obtain financing in the future and our ability to react to changes in our business.

As of September 30, 2022, certain of our subsidiaries, including Sally Holdings LLC, which we refer to as Sally Holdings, had an aggregate principal amount of approximately $1.2 billion of outstanding debt.

Our substantial debt could have significant consequences. For example, it could:

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Any of the foregoing impacts of our substantial indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Each of our ABL facility, institutional term loan and senior notes contain certain covenants and restrictions that we are required to comply with. Our ability to comply with these covenants and restrictions may be affected by economic, financial and industry conditions beyond our control. The breach of any of these covenants and restrictions could result in a default under either the ABL facility, the institutional term loan or the indentures that would permit the applicable lenders or senior note holders, as the case may be, to declare all amounts outstanding thereunder to be due and payable, together with accrued and unpaid interest. If we are unable to repay debt, lenders having secured obligations, such as the lenders under the ABL facility, could proceed against the collateral securing the debt. In any such case, our subsidiaries may be unable to borrow under the ABL facility and may not be able to repay the amounts due under the senior notes and the institutional term loan. This could have serious consequences to our financial condition and results of operations and could cause us to become bankrupt or insolvent.

In addition, we and our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. As of September 30, 2022, our ABL facility provided us commitments for additional borrowings of up to approximately $412.9 million, subject to borrowing base limitations, outstanding letters of credit and limitations on cash hoarding above certain balances, once utilized. If new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks we face would increase, and we may not be able to meet all our debt obligations.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Substantially all of our stores and a number of our warehouse and remote office locations are leased while our corporate headquarters in Denton, Texas and three warehouses/distribution centers are owned. The average store lease is for a term of five years with customary renewal options. The following table provides the number of stores per state in the U.S. and certain international locations, as of September 30, 2022:

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The following table provides locations for our significant offices and warehouses and our corporate headquarters, as of September 30, 2022:

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are involved, from time to time, in various claims and lawsuits incidental to the conduct of our business in the ordinary course. We carry insurance coverage in such amounts in excess of our self-insured retention as we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances and may or may not cover any or all of our liabilities in respect of these matters. We do not believe the ultimate resolution of these matters will have a material adverse impact on our consolidated financial position, cash flows or results of operations.

We are subject to a number of U.S., federal, state and local laws and regulations as well as the laws and regulations applicable in each foreign country or jurisdiction in which we do business. These laws and regulations govern, among other things, the composition, packaging, labeling and safety of the products we sell, the methods we use to sell these products and the methods we use to import these products. We believe we are in material compliance with such laws and regulations, although no assurance can be provided that this will remain true going forward.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity

Market Information

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SBH.”

Holders

As of November 11, 2022, there were 530 stockholders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

We have not declared or paid dividends at any time during the two fiscal years prior to the date of this Annual Report. We currently anticipate we will retain future earnings to support investments in our business, to repay outstanding debt or to return capital to shareholders through share repurchases. Any determination to pay dividends will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, contractual restrictions, cash requirements and other factors our Board of Directors deem relevant.  Furthermore, as a holding company we rely on cash from our subsidiaries to pay dividends. The terms of our debt agreements and instruments significantly restrict the ability of our subsidiaries to make certain restricted payments to us and our ability to pay dividends. Additionally, we and our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future that may severely restrict or prohibit our subsidiaries from making distributions, paying dividends or making loans to us.  

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Performance Graph

The following performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

The following graph illustrates the five-year comparative total return among Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc., the S&P 500 Index (“S&P 500”) and the Dow Jones U.S. Specialty Retailers Index (“DJ US Specialty Retailers”) assuming $100 was invested on September 30, 2017, and dividends, if any, were reinvested. The DJ US Specialty Retailers is a non-managed index and provides a comprehensive view of issuers, including our common stock, that are primarily in the U.S. retail sector.

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following section discusses management’s view of Sally Beauty’s financial condition and results of operations for fiscal year 2022 compared to fiscal year 2021. See Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, for a discussion of the financial condition and results of operations for fiscal year 2021 compared to fiscal year 2020. This section should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements of Sally Beauty and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section may contain forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these forward-looking statements that could cause results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking statements.

Executive Summary

Fiscal 2022 was a successful year, delivering strong gross margins and positive net earnings amidst a highly dynamic and challenging macro environment. Our Company navigated inflationary pressures and supply chain headwinds, while remaining focused on serving our customers.

For fiscal 2023, we will be leveraging and building upon the modern retail infrastructure we’ve built in recent years and focusing on three key strategic initiatives to drive growth and profitability:

We believe focusing in these areas will position our company for future growth and further enhance our ability to meet our customers where they are.

Financial Results Summary of the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2022:

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Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan

The Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan’s core strategy is accelerating store closures in various markets where we believe we can successfully recapture sales and improve profitability. By optimizing our large store portfolio, we can further focus on our customers’ shopping experience and our product offerings, while returning value to our shareholders.  In addition, the Company will also be optimizing its supply chain by closing two small distribution centers in Oregon and Pennsylvania and transferring the volumes to larger distribution centers, effective in December 2022.

Trends Impacting Our Business

Inflationary pressures started to impact consumer spending behavior in fiscal 2022 as cautious shoppers stalled discretionary spending due to the higher cost for products and services. Moreover, there was still volatility in the global supply chain, as freight carriers passed higher fuel prices to customers. During the fiscal year, these headwinds resulted in lower traffic and conversion in our business and increases in certain operating costs, including inbound freight and delivery expenses. Additionally, due to general labor shortages in the U.S. during the year, especially among retail and hourly employees, we experienced an increase in our compensation costs in order to attract and retain associates. We continue to monitor these challenges and implement measures to help mitigate their impacts, including managing our inventory levels to reduce out-of-stock items, adjusting our promotional activities, optimizing our store base through our Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan (see Note 16, Restructuring) and expanding our partnerships with delivery service providers. Although these initiatives have helped mitigate ongoing macro-headwinds we cannot reasonably predict the long-term effects of inflation and supply chain disruptions.

Furthermore, in a measure to curb inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve has continued to increase the federal funds effective rate. In turn, these increases have raised the cost of debt borrowings. We currently have approximately $476.0 million in variable rate debt, with $407.5 million hedged with interest rate caps to help mitigate the impact of rising rates. Future increases in the federal funds effective rate could have a material adverse impact to our cost of debt, including any future changes in our debt structure.

Impact of COVID-19 on Our Business

During the fiscal year, we experienced disruptions to our business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and we took certain actions in order to protect our customers and associates. In particular, our store operations faced challenges and disruptions related to COVID-19 surges and variants. While we have seen signs of stabilization, we cannot reasonably predict the effects of new variants or expect improving trends to continue. Therefore, our future performance may partially depend on impacts of COVID-19 such as decreased customer in-store traffic, temporary store closures, and continued labor and supply chain disruptions.

Refer to Item 1A. “Risk Factors,” for further discussion on the risks and uncertainties created by COVID-19.

Comparable Sales

The Company’s initiative to invest in our digital platforms support our omni-channel strategy to provide customers an enhanced shopping experience. As such, we believe that comparable sales is an appropriate performance indicator to measure our sales growth compared to the prior period. Our comparable sales include sales from stores that have been operating for 14 months or longer as of the last day of a month and e-commerce revenue. Additionally, comparable sales include sales to franchisees and full service sales. Our comparable sales excludes the effect of changes in foreign exchange rates and sales from stores relocated until 14 months after the relocation. Revenue from acquisitions are excluded from our comparable sales calculation until 14 months after the acquisition. Our calculation of comparable sales might not be the same as other retailers as the calculation varies across the retail industry.

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Results of Operations

Key Operating Metrics

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, information concerning key measures we rely on to assess our operating performance (dollars in thousands):

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The Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2022, compared to the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2021

Net Sales

SBS.  The decrease in net sales for SBS was primarily driven by the following (in thousands):

The decrease in SBS’s net sales was driven by the impact of store closures, the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates and lower comparable sales. SBS’s comparable sales were lower due to fewer transactions, impacted by lower traffic, partially offset by a higher average ticket. The average ticket increase resulted from higher average unit retail prices, led by our hair color and care categories, partially offset by lower average unit volume.

BSG.  The increase in net sales for BSG was driven by the following (in thousands):

The increase in BSG’s net sales was driven by higher comparable sales, partially offset by the impact of closed stores and the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates. BSG’s comparable sales increase was driven by a higher average ticket, partially offset by lower traffic. The higher average ticket resulted a from higher average unit retail prices, led by color, care and styling tools categories, partially offset by lower average unit volume.

Gross Profit

SBS.  SBS’s gross profit decrease was driven by a decrease in sales, partially offset by a higher gross margin. SBS’s gross margin increase was driven by improvement of pricing leverage and the impact of fewer write-downs of obsolete personal-protective equipment. This improvement to margins was partially offset by the impact of inventory write-downs resulting from our Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan, higher distribution and freight costs and an unfavorable sales mix shift between the U.S. and international markets, resulting from the temporary closing of certain international operations in the prior year due to COVID-19.

BSG.  BSG’s gross profit increased due to the increase in sales in the current fiscal year. BSG’s gross margin was flat when compared to the prior year, however, BSG’s gross margin includes improvements from pricing leverage and fewer write-downs of personal-protective equipment, offset by the impact of inventory write-downs resulting from our Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan and higher distribution and freight costs.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

SBS.  SBS’s SG&A expenses increased $22.1 million, or 2.5%, to $923.0 million for fiscal year 2022, which includes the unfavorable impact from foreign exchange rates of $13.2 million due to the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar compared to currencies in our foreign operations. As a percentage of SBS net sales, SG&A for fiscal year 2022 was 42.1% compared to 39.5% for fiscal year 2021. The increase as a percentage of sales was driven by higher wage expenses, as a result of higher wages within general labor markets and store re-openings in certain international markets.

BSG.  BSG’s SG&A expenses increased $22.1 million, or 5.1%, to $451.9 million for fiscal year 2022. As a percentage of BSG net sales, SG&A for fiscal year 2022 was 27.9% compared to 26.9% for fiscal year 2021. The increase as a percentage of sales was driven primarily by higher delivery expense, advertising expense and depreciation expenses.

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Unallocated.   Unallocated SG&A expenses, which represent certain corporate costs that have not been charged to our reporting segments, decreased $20.6 million, or 10.3%, to $179.1 million. This decrease was as a result of lower COVID-19 expenses of $26.3 million, including the impact of $31.2 million in donation expense in the prior year, partially offset by higher information technology expense of $6.7 million.  

Restructuring

For fiscal year 2022, we incurred $27.6 million in restructuring charges, which includes $24.8 million in asset impairments related to our Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan and other expenses in connection to our Transformation Plan. For fiscal year 2021, we incurred $4.6 million in restructuring charges related to our Transformation Plan and Project Surge. See Note 16, Restructuring, for more information on our restructuring plans.

Interest Expense

Interest expense was flat due to the interest savings from the repayment of our 2025 Senior Notes in fiscal year 2022 offset by the impact of debt extinguishment cost, including a redemption premium of $13.1 million in connection with repayment of the 2025 Senior Notes, higher interest rates on our variable debt and increased borrowings on our ABL facility during the current fiscal year.

Provision for Income Taxes

For fiscal year 2022 and 2021, our effective tax rate was 24.8% and 26.2%, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the release of $19.9 million of valuation allowance against foreign subsidiary net operating losses, offset by $7 million in expense arising from uncertain tax positions. See Note 14 for more information on our effective tax rate.

Our effective tax rate may fluctuate on a quarterly and/or annual basis due to various factors including, but not limited to, total earnings and the mix of earnings by jurisdiction, new tax laws, as well as changes in valuation allowances and uncertain tax positions.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

At September 30, 2022, we had $483.5 million in our liquidity pool, which includes amounts available for borrowings under our ABL facility and cash and cash equivalents of $70.6 million. Based upon the current level of operations and anticipated growth, we anticipate existing cash balances (excluding certain amounts permanently invested in connection with foreign operations) as well as cash expected to be generated by operations and funds available under the ABL facility will be sufficient to fund working capital requirements, potential acquisitions, anticipated capital expenditures (including information technology investments and store projects) and debt repayments over the next 12 months.

Working capital (current assets less current liabilities) decreased $254.2 million to $464.5 million at September 30, 2022, compared to $718.7 million at September 30, 2021. This decrease was driven by the repayment of our 8.75% Senior Notes through the use of excess cash and additional borrowing on our ABL facility. Additionally, cash was further reduced by stock repurchases during the fiscal year. The decrease to working capital was partially offset by higher inventory as a result of inflationary cost increases and additional inventory purchases related to BSG's growth through distribution partnerships, partially offset by the inventory mark-downs in connection with our Distribution Center Consolidation and Store Optimization Plan. The ratio of current assets to current liabilities was 1.70 to 1.00 at September 30, 2022, compared to 2.08 to 1.00 at September 30, 2021.

We utilize our ABL facility for the issuance of letters of credit, for certain working capital and liquidity needs and to manage normal fluctuations in our operational cash flow. In that regard, we may from time to time draw funds under the ABL facility for general corporate purposes including funding of capital expenditures, acquisitions, interest payments due on our indebtedness, paying down other debt and opportunistic share repurchases. The amounts drawn are generally paid down with cash provided by our operating activities. As of September 30, 2022, we had $68.5 million outstanding and $412.9 million available for borrowings under the ABL facility, subject to borrowing base limitations and outstanding letters of credit of $18.6 million. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022, the weighted average interest rate on our borrowings under the ABL facility was 3.5%.

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Share Repurchase Programs

During fiscal year 2022, we repurchased and subsequently retired approximately 6.8 million shares of our common stock under a share repurchase program a cost of $130.3 million. During fiscal year 2021, we did not repurchase any of our common stock. We funded these share repurchases with cash from operations and borrowings under the ABL facility. As of September 30, 2022, we had approximately $595.8 million of additional share repurchase authorization remaining under our Share Repurchase Program. In fiscal year 2021, the Board approved a term extension of the program through September 30, 2025.

Historical Cash Flows

For the fiscal years 2022 and 2021, our primary sources of cash have been funds provided by operating activities and when necessary, borrowings under our ABL facility, as appropriate. The primary non-operating uses of cash during the past two years were for share repurchases, debt repayments and capital expenditures.

The following table shows our sources and uses of cash for the periods presented (in thousands):

Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased for fiscal year 2022, compared to fiscal year 2021, primarily due to the reduction in our accounts payable and accrued liabilities, which was mostly attributable to the timing of payments for inventory, personal-protective equipment donations in the prior year and the impact of a lower bonus accrual for the current year. Additionally, the decrease in our operating activities was driven by lower net earnings and the increase in our inventory balance for fiscal year 2022.

Net Cash Used by Investing Activities

Net cash used by investing activities was higher for fiscal year 2022, compared to fiscal year 2021, primarily due to investments in technology and store leasehold improvements.

Net Cash Used by Financing Activities

Net cash used by financing activities decreased as a result of fewer debt repayments during the fiscal year, compared to prior fiscal year, partially offset by share repurchases.

Debt and Guarantor Financial Information

At September 30, 2022, we had $1,087.5 million in outstanding principal under a term loan B and senior notes, not including finance leases, unamortized debt issuance costs or debt discounts, in the aggregate, of $4.3 million. Additionally, there was an outstanding balance of $68.5 million under our ABL facility at September 30, 2022. See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 contained in this Annual Report for additional information about our debt.

We are currently in compliance with the agreements and instruments governing our debt, including our financial covenants.

Guarantor Financial Information

We are providing the following information in compliance with Rule 13-01 of Regulation S-X for guaranteed issued securities that have been registered under such regulation. Currently, our issued securities consist of the 5.625% Senior Notes due 2025. This debt instrument was issued by our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Sally Holdings LLC and Sally Capital Inc. (the “Issuers”), under a shelf registration statement.

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The notes are unsecured debt instruments guaranteed by us and certain of our wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries (together, the “Guarantors”) and have certain restrictions on the ability to pay restrictive payments to Sally Beauty. The guarantees are joint and several, and full and unconditional. Certain other subsidiaries, including our foreign subsidiaries, do not serve as guarantors.

The following summarized consolidating financial information represents financial information for the Issuers and the Guarantors on a combined basis. All transactions and intercompany balances between these combined entities has been eliminated.

The following table presents the summarized balance sheets information for the Issuers and the Guarantors as of September 30, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):

The following table presents the summarized statement of earnings information for fiscal year 2022 (in thousands):

Capital Requirements

During the fiscal year ended 2022, we had total capital expenditures of approximately $95.1 million, excluding amounts paid in connection with the prior year, primarily in connection with our information technology projects and store improvements.

Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations at September 30, 2022 (in thousands):