Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Gildan Activewear Investor Update call. Please advise that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Jessy Hayem, Vice President, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you very much for joining us. Our team looks forward to sharing an update on key focus strategic priorities as Vince completes 90 days in his role. Earlier today, we've issued a press release summarizing the key highlights of today's update. Please remember that during this webcast event, you can follow our presentation, which will also be made available in the investor section of our corporate website. We'll take you through the update, and a Q&A session will follow. Before we begin, please take note that certain statements included in this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements which involve unknown and known risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We refer you to the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian Securities Regulatory Authorities.
During this call, we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Now I'll turn it over to Vince Tyra, President and CEO of Gildan.
Thanks, Jessy, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to be here today with our executive officers: Rod Harries, our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer; Chuck Ward, President, Sales, Marketing, and Distribution; Benito Masi, President, Manufacturing; and Arun Bajaj, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Legal Affairs. Today is a very exciting day. As a former customer and competitor of Gildan, I've always held the company in high regard, so it's an honor to speak on behalf of the company today. So let's talk about my initial 92 days as CEO. I've been immersing myself in our business with the goal of giving our people, our customers, and our partners a better idea of who I am as a leader. It has also helped me to build a more informed perspective of what I see the future of Gildan to be.
I'm looking forward to sharing these reflections with you all today as I outline my strategic priorities. These reflect feedback that I've received from shareholders based upon their desire for us to continue sustainably growing Gildan. They also reinforce our team's desire to continue delivering on the ambitions of the Gildan Sustainable Growth Plan presented during our 2022 Investor Day while looking to a new chapter of Gildan's growth journey. In my first few months, I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to visit nearly all of Gildan's sites, both manufacturing hubs and sales and marketing offices. This has given me a firsthand and in-depth look at the company's inner ways of working and core capabilities.
Visiting Honduras multiple times, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Barbados, our yarn mills in North Carolina, and one of our primary distribution centers in the U.S., all while making Montreal my home base, has shown me a clear focus on cost containment. At the same time, these visits have provided me with a view of opportunities to prepare for growth in the years to come. In parallel, I've enjoyed reconnecting with customers and major partners to hear what is most on their mind. We've discussed how Gildan can best help them, and I've reinforced our commitment to provide them with best-in-class service. Moving up my start date to attend our industry's two main trade shows was incredibly valuable in reconnecting with industry leaders, meeting with key customers, and engaging with our talented team of customer-facing employees.
I'm now shifting my schedule to accommodate more customer visits and get their view of where we can add greater value to their business, both today and in the future. Gildan has a strong history of value creation. In the past 2.5 decades, Gildan increased its top line by nearly 10 times while expanding its operating margins by nearly 400 basis points. If we break down this period into the various strategic phases, we can see distinct shifts in Gildan's growth and shareholder returns. The initial years post-IPO were Gildan's organic growth years, when total return to shareholders was 26% on average compared to 17% for peers. The second phase, from about 2010 to 2018, was focused on growth through inorganic acquisitions and expanding our product categories.
During that time, Gildan maintained strong top-line growth but partially eroded margins due to the extra complexity that was added across our entire business. While growth outweighed margin erosion, allowing us to return on average 11% to shareholders per year, Gildan still trailed peers by 6 percentage points. As a result, there was a push to go back to basics. From 2018 to 2022, Gildan refocused on the fundamentals of the business, recapturing and improving margins while still growing top line. Over this period, shareholder returns were low but still outperformed peers by 12 percentage points despite challenges posed by COVID and the resulting inflation that followed and remains prevalent today. That brings us to our most recent strategic area, which is the Gildan Sustainable Growth Strategy, or GSG for short.
Gildan officially embarked on this phase of growth in 2022 and has been characterized by a focus on production capacity, innovation across the entire organization, and a continued focus on ESG. Since 2022, growth has been modest and TSR weak. I believe that the GSG strategy is sound as it focuses on the business fundamentals that we know drive value, and with strategic enhancements, I believe that it has the potential to deliver strong returns to our shareholders. As CEO, my goal for Gildan is to revitalize our performance as a reliable source of shareholder returns. Specifically, I envision Gildan delivering strong returns as we will do this through a renewed focus on the fundamental attributes of our business, such as our manufacturing capability, our drive to innovate, and our ingrained respect for our people and the environment.
Over the past 2 years, we have achieved significant progress on each of the 3 pillars of our GSG plan, with more progress to come. We are diversifying and increasing capacity through the first phase of an integrated manufacturing hub in Bangladesh, which will increase in-region capacity by about 350%. In phase 1, we developed infrastructure that could also double the capacity of the Kohinoor Complex to maximize the use of our land. In parallel, we are optimizing our yarn-spinning assets in the U.S. through the integration of Frontier into Gildan Yarns while adding sewing capacity in the Dominican Republic to mitigate political instability in Haiti and high regional inflation. On the innovation front, we improve fabric softness while revising cuts and fits to match market demands. These innovations will allow us to consolidate share in the open-end fabric products and gain share in ring-spun and fleece products.
Looking ahead, we are deeply committed to innovation across our business, from manufacturing to IT to brand management to talent development and beyond. Finally, we continue to stay true to our 20-year track record of strong corporate citizenship. Our ESG goals act as a compass to help us reduce energy and water intensity while increasing our use of sustainable cotton and recycled materials. These initiatives are also alongside our diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments, which include our goal to achieve 40% gender parity at the director level and above by 2027. While the GSG plan continues to lay the foundation for our next phase of growth, I've spent the last 90+ days developing the priorities to enhance and evolve the plan in order to drive profitable growth and maintain our competitive advantage. I've identified five priorities that will help us achieve our goals over the next few years.
First, we will successfully execute the supply chain initiatives that were previously launched. That includes delivering on Bangladesh, optimizing production in the Western Hemisphere, and continuing to innovate our processes. These projects cannot be taken for granted. We need to rigorously focus on execution to deliver these projects on time and on budget. Therefore, maintaining availability, cost leadership, and industry-leading margins is my number one priority. Second, we will leverage the power of our unique brands and further develop our commercial capabilities. We've done enough product research to know that we have the best products on the market across categories. Unlocking this power can bring our product quality and innovation front and center, with distinct messaging and stronger partnerships helping Gildan continue to gain share across all channels.
Third, I'm convinced that there is still untapped potential to deepen our relationships with existing and prospective retail partners, strengthening our position as the supplier of choice. Gildan has historically been under-indexed in the Retail Activewear channel, and we see an opportunity to leverage our strengths in our manufacturing footprint to better address retailer needs through our flexibility and collaborative creation with key customers to drive growth in this channel. Fourth, we will complement our strong North American position with renewed focus on select international markets. We have continued to perform well in the U.S., and we can use our new capacity and proximity to international markets as a launching point for further growth. To be clear, we cannot take our foot off the ball in the U.S. because there's ability to grow there too. What I'm talking about here is very focused targeting on select international markets.
More importantly, we need to be local as we grow globally, through select product introductions, tailored pricing, and closer customer presence. And finally, we cannot execute on any of these priorities without empowering and building our world-class talent and leadership to ensure long-term resilience of our business. Our people are the greatest asset we have. With respect for the past, I see an opportunity to transition to a more collaborative and inclusive leadership model. This will foster the incredible potential of our global team to drive efficiency in our ways of working while providing our talent base with the right opportunities to thrive and grow, making Gildan an employer of choice in every market in which we operate.
Now, as I mentioned, supply chain excellence and vertical integration is what made Gildan the company that we know today, and delivering on the execution of our supply chain initiatives remains priority number one for our team. We are on track with phase one of our Bangladesh expansion and expect to reach 75% exit capacity by the end of 2024. This will enable us to further reduce cost, diversify our supply, and provide a valuable foothold in Asia from which to serve our global markets. Alongside this, we will make sure we are ready to activate phase two, but at the right time, leveraging most of the shared infrastructure already developed. In addition, our footprint in the Western Hemisphere remains critical to our business.
While we build out Bangladesh, we will continue to optimize our yarn-spinning, textile, and sewing capacity in North and Central America and Caribbean Basin, helping us to maintain our practice of strategically shifting production capacity to lower cost and lower-risk jurisdictions. There are several initiatives already underway, including shifting some of our sewing capacity from Honduras to Nicaragua, and I will work with Benito and his team to continue identifying new opportunities to further optimize our supply chain and diversify risk. Lastly, our vertical integration enables us to improve coordination across the value chain. Through the implementation of digital tools, we will enhance the way we design and forecast, from sales to manufacturing and sourcing. This will support our efforts to exchange market signals and manufacturing developments more seamlessly with customers, resulting in more productive and speedy innovation of products and processes.
Moving on to my second strategic priority, leveraging our unique brands and further developing commercial capabilities. There are several key purchasing criteria in the blank apparel space: availability, price, comfort and fit, quality, and brand awareness. Gildan's commitment to manufacturing excellence has firmly established us as a leader in availability and price. At the same time, our consumer research has shown that there is an opportunity to improve the association of our brands with comfort, quality, and fit. Brand association with high quality and high comfort isn't particularly strong for our main Gildan brand. As for Comfort Colors, it is a brand that is very highly regarded and associated with attributes such as cool, fun, and fashionable, but only with consumers that have direct experience with the brand, leaving an opportunity for us to expand awareness of these brands' strengths with other users or market segments.
In the early 2000s, American Apparel had a passionate and devoted brand following, and that brand equity still exists today. However, the brand has changed since, both in availability and identity. We must update customers on what the brand represents today while reconnecting American Apparel with its roots. Overall, our goal here is to listen to our customers' feedback and take the necessary steps to increase brand awareness on Comfort Colors, re-energize the passion in American Apparel, and close the quality perception gap between Gildan and its closest competitors. To unlock the full value of our brands, we need to sharpen the unique value propositions and customer appeal of each one. For the Gildan brand, the gap between actual quality versus perceived quality is significant. Our core products meet or exceed the quality of our competitors, and it is not just an opinion. It's proven in research.
We have been investing heavily in improving our core products through fabric enhancements from yarn, finishing, and dyeing, as well as improvements to cuts. This has already helped us improve our share in the basics category, and I will continue to work with Chuck and his team around increasing awareness of the innovation, quality, and sustainability of our Gildan brand products. For Comfort Colors, the gap we must close is really one of broader market awareness. The brand has performed exceptionally well in collegiate resort segments, where customers demonstrate a willingness to pay a premium. However, Comfort Colors are relatively unknown in other segments. We are convinced that fabric softness, comfort, and brand strength pave the way to expand into new market segments such as event merchandise or up-market corporate gifting. Lastly, when considering American Apparel, there is a different gap to address.
Here, it is key to leverage the significant brand awareness that still exists. This will include re-energizing the brand through partnerships such as brand ambassadors and large national event organizers, with curated product innovations to add to the brand's fashion appeal. These efforts will create the pull-through that is necessary to drive revenue in the Printwear segment. Overall, we will ensure that our messaging is aligned to each brand's identity and is laser-focused on addressing the identified gaps. We will be open to thoughtful changes to product lines to make sure that each SKU is a seamless part of the brand. We will also develop new partnerships while, of course, further building existing relationships. Lastly, we will consider the commercial levers that are available to us, such as the incentives we are willing to offer, and ensure that they support the brand's image in the right way.
Shifting gears to my third priority, Gildan is deeply rooted in a partnership-driven business model. I see an opportunity to further apply that model and deepen our relationships with retail partners. In doing so, we will increase our collaboration with them, proactively adapting to their evolving needs, and solidify our position as the supplier of choice. The foundation of our approach to retail partnerships needs to be centered around personalized engagement and best-in-class service. We need to make sure that we are top of mind when retailers discuss apparel programs that are coming to market. We are one of the few apparel manufacturers that can offer a dual-sourcing model and service retailers from East Asia for cost competitiveness, as well as from Central America for flexibility and quick turnaround times.
That model allows our retail customers to benefit from nearshoring, which has been a strong trend post-COVID without sacrificing price competitiveness. Our manufacturing model has historically been focused on large volume runs with little to no change-ups, which allowed us to maintain our cost leadership position. That model is not fully adapted to global brands, which favor flexibility above all. To that effect, we will develop pockets of flexible sewing capacity that would benefit from Gildan's expertise and complement our large-scale textile manufacturing. I was in Nicaragua this past week and witnessed the amazing agility of one of our sewing facilities producing Gildan product alongside three different GLB brands. The visit only validated my belief that we can further expand these capabilities and win additional opportunities within our GLB and retail customers going forward.
Finally, our vertical integration provides us with a unique competitive advantage that allows us to innovate with our retail partners at every step of the production process, from yarn to finished goods. Through closer collaboration, we believe we can win additional programs while improving input traceability and helping our customers achieve their ESG goals. As our capacity in Bangladesh comes online, Gildan has the opportunity to regain share in international markets while also growing in select geographies. Rest assured that Gildan will approach international expansion in targeted fashion. To prioritize international markets, we have analyzed global markets both broadly and, for several reasons, also very deeply. Our research has shown that no other market is like the United States, with a large customer base, favorable consumer behaviors, and high purchasing power.
We have also found that factors such as population and GDP are not sufficient to determine the attractiveness of a new market. Many international markets are fragmented and work differently than the U.S., which makes them more difficult for Gildan to serve. But, as I alluded to earlier, we must be local with our global moves. Being local means following a tailored approach when it comes to surgical product introductions, pricing, and partnership development. Given this, we will carefully prioritize select regions for international growth, focusing on those with adequate market sizes that are accessible to Gildan through our current operating model so that we leverage our strengths to win where we do play while maintaining our leading cost position. Of course, the U.S.
market is and will continue to be the most significant part of our business, but we are not capturing our fair share in Europe given our superior product and cost position. Over the past years, sales outside the U.S. and Canada ranged from 7%-10% of total Gildan revenue. International markets were pursued opportunistically, often prioritizing available product to the U.S. and shorting international deliveries. Going forward, while we continue to service our current partners across the globe with our increased capacity, I see an opportunity to double down on a select number of regions in pursuit of profitable growth using the factors I discussed as a compass to do so. We need to fully commit to deploying the inventory, personnel, and other resources to succeed and to ensure we maintain world-class product availability we are known for, which our additional capacity and cost advantage in Asia will provide.
We will also need to bolster our market presence in priority regions by growing existing partnerships and developing new ones to regain share. In doing so, we will bring a consistent message to our customers and increase our sales footprint to capture a greater market position. Finally, as I said earlier, we must remember that no market is like the U.S. Therefore, a big part of how we operate to satisfy customer demand is ensuring that we fully understand local needs and tastes so that we don't commit inventory that would just stay on the shelf. This includes surgical product introductions to meet these needs, and I emphasize the word "surgical." We need to be more deliberate on the product features we develop to grow in new markets rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. My fifth key priority is our people.
We have an amazing bench of 43,000 employees in 12 countries with specific expertise and leadership capabilities. Employee and leadership development are near and dear to my heart and are key dimensions to address in this transition phase of Gildan. I bring with me 30+ years of experience in shaping talent through influence rather than control, which I am convinced raises accountability, empowerment, and performance. Rigorous development of leaders not only ensures speedy and expert decision-making at the right levels but also drives stability and sustainability for future succession, no matter what leadership role.
I appreciate the importance of leadership development after taking the reins of several long-time and even founder-led businesses, from taking over for Rick Davis at Fruit of the Loom as the original head of Activewear to succeeding Harold Broder, who ran Broder Bros. for 45 years, and Tom Jurich at the University of Louisville after 20 years.
I deeply understand the need to balance their legacy while cultivating the next generation of leaders. Next, I want to focus on ensuring cross-functional collaboration. Over the near term, we will benefit from more collaborative ways of working. I believe that putting in the right level of trust and respect in our people will increase the speed of decision-making, ensuring we harness the collective intelligence of our team to drive performance. Third, we are focused on remaining an employer of choice in every market in which we operate, and this means ensuring our people feel supported, secure, and valued at work. To do so, I will continue to provide transparency on our goals and progress and work to improve communication across our organization. This includes my listening tours and two-way feedback approach to directly incorporate the input of our people into our practices.
In light of these priorities and the associated revenue and margin opportunities we are executing on, we are highly confident in the financial targets we are presenting here today. Firstly, we are reconfirming our 2024 guidance, as previously disclosed, including flat to low single-digit top-line growth, an adjusted operating margin slightly above the upper end of our 18%-20% annual target range, adjusted diluted EPS between $2.92 and $3.07, and a 5% of sales CapEx allocation. As we look ahead to the medium term over the 2025-2028 period, we are aiming for a top-line compounded annual growth rate of mid-single digits, adjusted operating margins within a range of 18%-21%, and high single to low double-digit growth of adjusted diluted EPS per annum. We are also maintaining CapEx at roughly 5% of sales on average, inclusive of growth opportunities.
As always, these priorities will be executed in line with our capital allocation guiding principles. That includes a primary focus on driving organic, profitable growth. In parallel, we will continue to grow our dividend along with sustained share buyback in line with the leverage framework 1.5-2x Adjusted EBITDA. Finally, we will also continue to consider select value-accretive tuck-in M&A opportunities to supplement growth and strengthen our market position, as you might expect. We believe that through this balanced, responsible capital deployment approach, we can deliver strong shareholder return and continue to be a strong investment choice. To conclude, I hope you sense my excitement about Gildan's position and the opportunities ahead. Over the past few months, I've immersed myself in our business and have gotten close to our extraordinary employees, customers, and partners, and I believe we are starting a new and exciting era at Gildan.
I look forward to discussing a more comprehensive strategic plan for Gildan with investors in the fall, but for now, let me summarize my priorities after being in the role for 92 days. We will continue to focus on our supply chain excellence and focus on driving successful execution of our investments in Bangladesh while remaining true to our back-to-basics principles and our commitment to innovation and ESG. I'm truly energized with what's to come. We will have a renewed focus on our brands and enhance our commercial capabilities to deliver the best offering to customers across the board. We will further increase our emphasis on serving our retail partners. We will apply a focused approach to growth and international markets to make sure we win wherever we decide to play.
Lastly, we will make people and their development a priority, ensuring that the next generation of leaders has the space and support to grow to their full potential. My team and I are convinced that these priorities will enable us to enjoy a new chapter of sustainable growth with strong cash flow generation and strong shareholder returns. And now, I'll pass it back to Jessy.
Thank you, Vince. Before moving to the Q&A session, I'd ask you to limit the number of questions to two, and we'll circle back for a second round of questions if time permits. Operator, you may begin the Q&A session.
As a reminder, the floor is now open for your questions. To ask a question, please press *1 on your telephone keypad now. We'll now take a moment to compile our roster. Our first question comes from George Doumet from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, Vince. I just wanted to talk a little bit about your leverage target, 1.5x-2x. You've mentioned it's the right leverage for the business, but given the strong free cash flow generation, do you think perhaps the business could support a higher level of kind of longer-term leverage?
Yeah, I appreciate the question. I think, for now, we think that's a really thoughtful, balanced approach on the 1.5x-2x. I mean, I recognize that we've obviously moved past the post-pandemic area and so forth, but I just think about when we weigh our capital allocation on dividend and share buyback, it just feels like a comfortable level for us and the appropriate level for this business.
Okay, thanks. My second one is on the medium term, 18%-21% adjusted operating margin. Just wondering why that lower end isn't necessarily higher than this GSG range.
It looks like we're going to have kind of lower cost manufacturing capacity coming online. Presumably, we're going to have a stronger operating leverage. Just wondering why that lower end is not higher. Thanks.
Yeah, I'll let Rod take a shot with that.
Yeah, George, good afternoon. If you look at our operating margin, we are very pleased with the way we have been operating and performing. So our operating margin very definitely has improved as we've moved through the back-to-basics and into GSG. And as we've indicated this year, we believe our operating margin will be above the high end of our previous target range, which was 18%-20%. And as we go forward, we think that we can continue to build on that, and that's why we've notched up the higher end of the range to 21%.
Some of that also will be driven by the fact that we do believe Global Minimum Tax will be enacted as we go forward, and that will benefit our SG&A and, therefore, our operating margin. So we are effectively pushing up the higher end, George. And I would say, as we go forward here, we probably will look to tweak the lower end, but right now, we've just got to move through this period where we actually get into the enactment of Global Minimum Tax, and we run I would say with GSG unfolding well and all of the various initiatives that Vince has outlined. So I think we are very pleased with our operating margin performance. If you look at our margins, they are industry-leading margins, and as we go forward, we'll continue to focus on driving them.
Great. I appreciate the answers. Thank you.
Operator, do you have a next question for us?
Yes. Our next question comes from Chris Li with Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you hosting the call. Maybe just the first one on the international opportunity, Vince. If you successfully execute on your strategy, just curious to see how big will international be maybe as a percentage of your total revenues over the longer term compared to our 7% today? And then maybe if you can also talk about the margin profile for the international business. Is this similar to North America? Thank you.
Yeah. I mean, I think historically, you've seen us in the 7%-10% range. Our hope is that we're growing continue to grow the U.S. and North American market at the same pace. We got great opportunities in the retail, so.
But I think we'd love to keep that at pace with what we're doing in North America, where the international market continues to grow, and we regain by one by regaining the share that we feel we've lost. But in terms of the margin profile, Bangladesh is going to avail us an opportunity there at lower cost and certainly closer. So as I think about our ability to commit manufacturing capacity right there, it's certainly going to bode well with customers and how they feel about committing to us as much as we're committing to them. So I think we'll see as we get out there, but I think the margin profile that we expect is one that we have today.
When we talk about being local with price, I think if you move further into Asia, you're certainly going to see you have currency fluctuations there, and we may have to be a little more local there where you're going to have some moving up and down. But I think we're in pretty good shape in terms of thinking about where we're going to go in the international market.
And maybe, Chris, I'll just add on on international. If you think about international, if you think about pre-pandemic, we had a target to grow the business probably low double-digit. And I think, really, as we go forward, we think that we could probably get back on that pace with Bangladesh and products that we're focused on.
So, I think if you look overall, the target for the business is to grow mid-single-digit top line, but with international business growing faster at that sort of, I would say, low double-digit type pace.
Okay, thank you. And my second question is, I was wondering if it's possible if you can provide an update just on where the Special Committee is at in terms of evaluating potential interest for friendly transaction. I think that was announced about a month ago. Are you able to provide sort of where the process is right now? Thank you.
Yeah, no, that yeah, I would just tell you that that's in the hands of the Special Committee, and it's not something that management has itself involved in, so there's no update to provide there.
No worries. I thought I would try. Thank you.
Next question, please.
Operator, we're ready for the next question, please.
Our next question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS. Please go ahead.
Thanks so much. I saw you gave an update on Q1 sales. I didn't see an update on Q1 margins or EPS. Can you just give us a little bit of an idea of how that's looking?
Yeah, Jay, I appreciate the question. Since our earnings call is two weeks out, since we're doing this update, we did have a snapshot of the revenue. We're not at a point now to give a full lowdown. So, unfortunately, those details are going to follow in a couple of weeks.
Okay, then maybe just related to that, we are a couple of weeks into the second quarter.
Any sense on how your order book is coming together for the second quarter and sort of what you're seeing currently in the marketplace on POS? Thank you.
Yeah, Jay, as we said, yeah, we get and as Vince just highlighted, we did give you the revenue number for the first quarter at around $695 million, which came in, I would say, around what we expected. We expected the quarter to be down low single digit, and effectively, that's where we're landing. As Vince said, a little early yet to give you the profitability numbers and to give you a view effectively with respect to the second quarter. But I think what you should focus on is the fact that we have confirmed for the full year.
So as you look at where we stand and how things are unfolding and how we're delivering, we do feel comfortable to confirm our full-year guidance, and I think that gives you a real sense of how things are effectively unfolding, basically in line with how we outlined on our Q4 call.
Okay, sounds great. Thanks, Rod.
All right, our next question comes from Luke Hannan from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks. Good afternoon, Vince. I wanted to ask about the retail channel. In particular, you mentioned Gildan is under index there. You think that's an area of opportunity for the business. When you were going out and meeting with customers, what was the biggest piece of feedback that you got from customers that, I guess, reinforced your belief that this is something of an opportunity for Gildan going forward?
Well, I think one is I think we do have the ability to leverage our manufacturing, the textile side of things. But I think what was different is the flexibility that's needed on the sewing side. As most of the retailers, the large retailers, as you guys know, post-COVID had high inventories, and they weren't excited about that and obviously worked them down, they're not looking to work them back up. So they're looking for more of a flexible nearshoring supplier, and we can avail them that with the East and Western Hemisphere.
And so I think, as I mentioned when I was in Nicaragua last week, just checking on that with our GLB brands, seeing what we can do and how nimble we are, whether it's tubular open width fabric and having the ability to sew those there, really provides what I think they're looking for, and certainly, we're going to be there on cost.
Got it. Understood. And then as my follow-up here, I think it was in the international piece. You talked about being surgical when it comes to introducing new products. And I guess my question is, how do you ensure that you're balancing adding these new opportunities, adding a little bit of complexity in the business, but then not straying from some of that high-volume business that allowed Gildan to realize the operating margins that it has over the course of the last few years?
So how do you balance those two priorities?
Yeah, it's a great question because that's why I say surgical, because you want to get into things that really fit in our current operating model. We're doing that as we speak. We got one. We got a product developed on the fly that better fits the market in terms of the weight and the price point for us to compete. It's a lower-weight open-end T-shirt product that we're just getting ramped up and shipping to the market. But I will tell you that was done through collaboration with customers. We've provided a like product to our national accounts in North America, and in sharing a like product to those customers internationally, it's been well received. So as you can imagine, we quickly are turning that on, and we'll be delivering that during this year.
That's great. Thank you very much.
Next question, please. Operator, we're good for the next question, please. Please hold a moment with us while we check with the operator. So just reconnecting with the operator won't be long. Just checking if the operator's on the line. Could you please move on to the next question, please?
Our next question comes from the line of Stephen MacLeod with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Great. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I just wanted to ask a question about the medium-term targets and specifically around the sales CAGR, which is in the mid-single-digits range. That's a little bit lower than what was originally targeted under the GSG strategy. So I'm just curious if you can talk a little bit about why that number is where it is versus where it was previously in that 7%-10% CAGR range.
Stephen, it's Rod. I'll take that question.
I'll start with that question, and Chuck may want to also jump in. So if you look at the GSG strategy, effectively, in what we laid out for the 2022-2024 period, we laid out a CAGR of 7%-10%. Obviously, as we've moved over the last few years, we've moderated that back. But I would say, effectively, a mid-single-digit growth target for the medium term, which takes us out to 2028, we think is a good actually, it's an ambitious target overall. And if you look at that target, it is being driven by volume growth for the most part. We do believe there will be some mixed benefit that will come through, especially as we drive ring-spun sales and we drive fleece sales. But we're not assuming any price as we move forward.
I think you know, and I think everybody on the call knows that for our business, effectively, as we look at the way we run, what our competitive advantage is, it is driven off of volume growth. And so as we move forward, and especially as we think of the 2025 to 2028 period, mid-single-digit, we think, is a very good target, an ambitious target, especially if you think about what's going on with the underlying growth in the markets and effectively how that has moderated back a bit. So if we look at the mid-single-digit target, we're assuming underlying growth in the various markets, but we're also assuming market share growth. And that's, I think, critical, a key part of the overall plan.
We expect to grow with the markets but take share as we effectively drive our Ring-spun business, we drive our fleece business, as we grow in retail, and as we grow in international. So overall, we think a strong target for the 2025 to 2028 period.
Yeah, I think, Rod, you hit the key points there. And Stephen, is that, again, macro's changed a little bit over time, but we, again, think we can continue to grow above the market. And I think Vince pointed out a little earlier on the call, it's going to be a little different in each market. And or I think may have been Rod. He was talking about double-digit growth on the international side. We're going to continue to see growth in the retail side that Vince has been talking about as well.
And again, tracking above, especially on ring-spun and fleece in the imprintables market, we'll continue to take share there. But I think that lands us in that mid-single-digit area.
Okay, no, that's great. Thanks, Rod. Thanks, Chuck. Appreciate the color. Just quickly, just talking about the incremental sales growth initiatives that Vince, you talked about, I'm thinking like investing behind brands, expanding retail, and also expanding international. Just wondering, presumably, there are costs associated with those three sort of growth strategies, but obviously, the higher end of the margin target has been lifted. So just wondering if you can talk a little bit about sort of your confidence that those incremental costs, if there are any, will be levered by incremental sales and leading to margins where they are in that 18%-21% range.
Yeah, no, it's a great question.
I think that our intention is to maintain the SG&A where it is today as percentage of revenue. It's not to bump that up because we don't want to explode the SG&A with marketing. I don't think it's required. I mean, just my experience in the activewear market and what we see today, I think marketing is your trade show booth and your value props that you're doing there. You talk about your products, your features, your colorways that you have each time you go out, sampling programs. Social media is certainly an area that we need to look at and then just think about where we're spending our money today to create pull-through, to your point, of driving demand.
So obviously, I've been able to meet with our marketing and merchandising team and talk about what we can do there and how we do it in a very cost-effective manner to stay within our DNA.
Okay, that's great. Thanks, Vince. Appreciate it.
Next question, please.
Your next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hey, everyone. This is Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. Thanks for taking our question. Just real quick on the EBIT margin range, the medium-term target that you put out there, the 18%-21%, does that include the new global minimum tax? And I think there's a contra-SG&A rebate that might not make that a like-for-like comparison to your previous range of 18%-20%. So I was just wondering if we could get a little bit of clarity there.
Hi, Brandon. It's Rod. Yes, it does.
If you look at our medium-term targets, they do assume that Global Minimum Tax is enacted. Effectively, we will, as a result of that, see about an 80 basis points reduction in our SG&A. Effectively, you would see, on a like-for-like basis, our 18%-20% target move up a bit. That's why, effectively, we have moved up that high end to 21%. Fundamentally, what we want to do as we go forward is we want to drive that top-line growth and continue to deliver these industry-leading operating margins. So we have taken the margin up to reflect that. I think, again, as we go through over the next five years, it is about getting the top line, driving effectively the margin performance, which ultimately then will drive the free cash flow.
Because if you think about from our CapEx, effectively, we've laid out a 5% CapEx target as we go forward. And then if you look at free cash flow, we are expecting very strong free cash flow. And as a result of that, we do see the ability to be very strong on return of capital with our share buybacks and dividends, for that matter. I think dividends shouldn't be overlooked. And as a result of that, we can drive that high single-digit to low double-digit EPS growth. So I would say the whole, I would say, framework or algorithm that we have put in place is intended to deliver, I would say, the complete results of that mid-single-digit top-line growth as we go forward.
Gotcha.
I mean, anything that could drive the bottom end of the range is all else equal, a little bit lower than what you guys had previously stated. How should we frame that? Built in some conservatism, or maybe some of these other changes in the business might partially weigh on EBIT margin?
No, I think what we've done, Brandon, just to be very practical, is the Global Minimum Tax has not been enacted yet. So effectively, we've left the low end at the 18%. But as we go forward, what we've said is, look, I mentioned that earlier, we'd look to tweak. So we've given ourselves, I would say, the full range of what you might expect here.
And as we move forward, as we see the enactment of Global Minimum Tax, again, which we fully expect now that the Canadian budget will be released tomorrow, we probably will receive a little bit more information on it. But I would say, and that's an area you would probably see us tweak it up a bit. So we've effectively tried to give you a range that we can deliver in. Global Minimum Tax comes in, we're going to be in the high end. If it doesn't come in, we're going to be in the low. But we can deliver in this range on a go-forward basis.
Got it. Understand. Okay. And just one follow-up for me. On the expansion in international markets, I think that all makes sense. Has that caused you to rethink where you're going to allocate some of the Bangladesh facility capacity?
Is that going to be a little bit more Europe-focused than you initially thought?
Well, I don't know that it's as much thinking about there's going to be more Europe that we thought. We just think that that provides us a dedicated manufacturing base, that that capacity is there now that is more convenient to the market. Where my past experience in this industry and even today is that as we opportunistically have excess availability in Central America, we serve the market well. If we don't have it, we don't serve it as well. And that causes, with your partnerships over there, they want to know that you're fully committed. And seeing this investment in Bangladesh shows them we're fully committed to the products that we serve in that market and to them.
So I think it's a great start in terms of thinking about just regaining that share and certainly thinking about the product that I mentioned earlier and some of the things we're doing in those end markets. And in talking to some of those customers, we feel like we're really getting ourselves primed up to compete well in Europe.
Got it. I appreciate that. Thanks, guys, and good luck.
Next question, please, operator.
Your next question comes from the line of Tom Callaghan with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good afternoon, guys. Maybe just one follow-up on the capital allocation side. Vince, you did mention the potential for tuck-in M&A over the medium term there. Just curious your thoughts here. And is there a particular area of the value chain you'd be looking for or just any thoughts on that front?
Yeah, I would say there's nothing in the value chain per se that I would point out. I'd leave that open in terms of being flexible. But I'll be honest with you, it's not in the near term. It's not sitting on the table to really look at it. For us, we got a lot going on. It's one thing it didn't take me long to figure out when I joined the company. There's a lot of initiatives going on. I said it in my opening comments. I do not want to take for granted what's going on in Bangladesh. That's a big, big move for a company.
I just think when you got so much of your talent bandwidth focused on some key initiatives around how we're going out and kind of launching some of these innovations around fabric, we have other projects going on in the company, improving systems and forecasting and demand planning. It's just not, it's one thing I've learned in my past and in my private equity days. You just got to make sure you got the talent bandwidth and the ability. It's not about the capital as much as it is making sure that you can properly execute when there is an opportunity. Today, there's not one. We're not looking for one. If one showed up, I'm not saying we wouldn't take a peek at it, but it's not at the top of the list, as you can tell.
Priority number one is to really make sure we're executing on what we have in front of us today to produce the numbers we're talking
about. Perfect. Thanks. Helpful color. Turn it back.
Your next question comes from the line of Vishal Shreedhar with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Obviously, as you mentioned, a lot going on over the next few years. Wondering how you think about the remaining tenure of your executive team. I know that developing people is a priority, but as we look out the next one year, two years, do you think you have the depth within Gildan to accomplish your initiatives considering possible attrition?
Early days, I'm trying to sort out where we are, not only at the NEO level, but the next level and so on.
And it's clear, in spending a great amount of time in our manufacturing and supply chain area, we got great depth and breadth in those areas. I think the team overall is very strong, as you probably well know. And that's something that nobody seems to be in a rush to go. And we haven't had any turnover. And I'm really pleased with the way we're having very open conversations about where we are based upon what occurred here when I arrived. So I think we're sitting in a good spot. And I can't speak for all the individuals on the call and those that directly report to them.
But I would just say in my one-on-ones, which I've done one-on-ones, I think with probably, I'm going to guess, in the 30-40 of our senior VPs and certainly the NEOs, feel pretty good about the commitment to the company and the people that they're working for today and talking about how we're going to improve their leadership skills to be ready for their next opportunity.
Okay. Thank you for that. And with respect to marketing spend, how do you feel about the level of marketing spend and where that needs to trend in order to achieve your objectives?
Yeah, I think it's not the level of spend. It's how we spend it.
And I just think that those are the things that when you're looking at kind of where do we get the biggest return on investment, certainly we've invested a great deal in our fabrics and some of the features and things that are out there. I've got my own ideas, too, about what we should be doing to enhance our product line and thinking about features that fit within our capabilities. And that's where I think about there's easier methods on the pull-through, whether it's at events, at customer events, having reps travel with our key customers' reps. And then in particular, with the retail customers, we don't need false starts. We need to be really connected with them to know what programs are coming up or what's happening in their current programs.
If we do the proper investment in the analytics and working with them, that osmosis is a pretty amazing thing when you're sitting with our key retailers to know what's happening in their business. I think that also mitigates your ability to overspend and keep it inside the 10% SG&A th at we're targeting.
Thank you.
That is all the time we have for question and answer. I will now turn the call over to Jessy for closing remarks.
Once again, we'd like to thank everyone for joining us for this update. We look forward to sharing our first quarter results with you on May 1st. Have a good evening.
This concludes today's conference call. We thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.