Kontoor Brands, Inc. Common Stock Investor Day 2026

All right. Good afternoon to all of those who are joining us here in Oslo. To those that are on the webcast, good morning and good evening. Welcome to Helly Hansen's 2026 Investor Day. We are so glad that you are here. My name is Erinn Murphy, and I lead finance and operations for Helly and corporate investor relations. I joined Kontoor a few months ago, and some of you have already asked, "What were the things that made you join?" The answer has been very simple. It is three things. It has been about the team, which I know you spent time with this morning. It is the culture, and it is the opportunity. My hope is that today you come away with a deeper understanding of all three of those things.

But before we get going, as a matter of formality, I need to remind everyone that the following presentation includes forward-looking statements that are based on the information available to Kontoor and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the information presented today. In addition, the presentation will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please see Kontoor's investor website for a full reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures. Unless otherwise stated, the numbers you will see in the presentation today are for the Helly Hansen brand on a standalone basis and exclude Musto. With that out of the way, we have got a full agenda this afternoon. In the first hour, you are going to hear the clear purpose that Helly Hansen fits within the broader Kontoor Brands portfolio.

Our leaders will then share more about the Helly Hansen brand, our DNA and our heritage, our product and innovation engine, as well as our consumer. Following a brief break, we will discuss the commercial drivers of both the sport as well as the workwear business, and we will wrap our prepared remarks with the levers that underpin our 2030 financial plan. We will then conclude by inviting all of our speakers to the stage for a Q&A session. As important as the plan is the team here behind the plan. I know you have had an opportunity to meet everyone in the last couple of days, but I am particularly proud to introduce the Helly Hansen leadership team, Børre, Tor, and Patrik, who collectively have been here for 60 years.

For those in the room, before we get going, just a reminder to silence your cell phones and no applause in between sections. At this time, I would like to welcome to the stage Joe Alkire, Kontoor's President and Chief Financial Officer.

Joe? Well, thank you, Erinn, for that warm introduction.

Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Norway. What a beautiful day for an investor day. Good morning to those of you joining us on the webcast from the U.S. and good evening to our audience in Asia Pacific. Today is a very exciting day for Kontoor Brands and for Helly Hansen. This is a day we've been looking forward to for some time. We're thrilled to be here and to have the opportunity to share with you our long-term strategy and growth plan for the Helly Hansen business over the next 5 years. What an honor to be able to do so from Oslo, the heartbeat and soul of the Helly brand and its people, a place our Helly colleagues call paradise.

The more time that we've spent here as a Kontoor management team, the more we're beginning to appreciate why. We've got a great agenda for today. Over the next few hours, I believe you'll have a better appreciation for why we have so much confidence in this team here at Helly, the business we're building together, and the tremendous growth and value creation opportunity that we have right in front of us. Before we dive into Helly Hansen, I want to spend a few minutes on Kontoor the enterprise, what's been accomplished over the past several years, and the way we see the evolution of our strategy shaping our business moving forward. Kontoor has delivered exceptional outcomes since the spin-off in 2019. We've delivered an annualized total shareholder return of 15%. Over the past 3 years, our total returns have been even stronger at over 20%.

We've generated over $1.8 billion of cumulative free cash flow, and we've returned over $1 billion to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends. With our planned ASR in the fourth quarter, our capital returns will approximate $1.5 billion. We've significantly improved the profitability of the business. We've delivered 600 basis points of gross margin improvement, 300 basis points of operating margin improvement. We've further improved our return on invested capital to close to 30%, which remains among the highest in our sector. These numbers reflect the operational discipline, the execution excellence, and the disciplined capital stewardship that have become hallmarks of Kontoor Brands. Our performance is something that we're incredibly proud of. In addition to our financial performance, we've evolved the Kontoor portfolio, and we continue to strengthen the business.

Over the past several years, we've sold non-core and other underutilized assets, such as the Rock & Republic brand a portion of our manufacturing operations in Mexico. We announced the acquisition of Helly Hansen and the divestiture of Lee, significantly improving our financial profile and the growth outlook of a more focused portfolio anchored by Wrangler and Helly Hansen. We executed the first iteration of our Project Genius transformation program, delivering more than $100 million of gross annualized savings. We greatly simplified our organizational structure and our operating model to enable faster, more streamlined decision-making. We've significantly increased the level of investment behind our business. While much has been accomplished, our work is not done. In fact, we think we're at the beginning of a step change in our growth and TSR algorithm.

With the unveiling of our growth plan for Helly Hansen today, you are going to see a significant piece of our go-forward mosaic. Where do we go from here? The moves we have made over the past several years have been very deliberate steps to position Kontoor for more accelerated growth and investment and stronger returns moving forward. Our strategy has evolved, and we are building from a position of strength. We are building from the bedrock foundation that has been established, and the acquisition of Helly Hansen was a key pillar on our journey and a significant piece of our go-forward value creation potential.

The guiding principles that fuel our success, I would like to spend a few minutes on this because it is important context for the approach we took to the strategy and provide some insight into the core tenets we hold true as a management team and how they influence the way in which we run the company. The first is our culture. Our culture is a competitive advantage. It is part of our magic. We will go to great lengths to protect it and to preserve it. What we have at Kontoor, what we have at Helly Hansen is not easy to create, and we believe it is something that differentiates us. The importance of the TAM and in category leadership, we believe strongly in the addressable markets in which we operate. We have anchored our portfolio around three foundational categories, denim, outdoor, and workwear.

These markets are large, have attractive growth characteristics, and our brands are well positioned to continue to capitalize on growth opportunities within these markets. We believe in the power of a multi-brand portfolio and in the importance of brand strength. This is a model when managed with focus and resource allocation discipline that can deliver superior long-term shareholder returns. Acquisitions in our core categories will play an important role in our long-term strategy. We have an unwavering commitment to becoming a more growth-oriented organization and to our transformation. Our growth and transformation strategy is bold. It will require us to move out of our comfort zone and push the boundaries of what is possible, while at the same time respecting the foundation that has been built and acknowledging that what got us here will not get us to where we want to go. Disciplined capital stewardship. The strength of our balance sheet and our cash flow are competitive advantages.

We have put ourselves in an enviable position to play offense when the majority of our industry is on its heels. The cash flow component of our TSR delivery model and the healthy balance between earnings growth and cash flow capital returns is a differentiator. Talent is a big part of our strategy. Our people are our number 1 asset. We are committed to elevating our talent, developing our talent, and empowering our talent. Our people will drive and enable the success of our strategy. Lastly, operating with transparency. This is part of our culture. We operate with a high degree of transparency and integrity. That is both within our organization as well as the institutions we partner with outside of our organization, including our investors.

We've earned credibility for consistent execution and maintaining a high say-do ratio, which in turn leads to a high degree of trust in our leadership team. As part of our growth acceleration and transformation, we've defined a new North Star for Kontoor Brands. Our iconic brands are woven together by a deep authority in the denim, outdoor, and workwear categories. We empower consumers to pursue their passions with confidence and authenticity through innovative design, exceptional products, and compelling performance. These words were chosen very carefully. By 2030, we aspire to be recognized not only for our financial performance and our operational excellence, but for category leadership with inspiring products, compelling consumer experiences, and world-class capabilities. We've sharpened our portfolio focus around three core categories: denim, outdoor, and workwear. Each is large, growing, and supported by tailwinds such as casualization, Western outdoor lifestyle, and cultural relevancy driving denim.