Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI)
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Earnings Call: Q4 2012

Feb 7, 2013

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Levi Strauss & Co.'s fourth quarter 2012 earnings conference call. All parties will be in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session, at which time instructions will follow. This conference is being recorded and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the company. A telephone replay will be available through February 14th, 2013 by calling 800-585-8367. Please input the ID code of 9079 2730, followed by the pound key. This conference call also is being broadcast over the Internet, and a replay of the webcast will be accessible for one month on the company's website, levistrauss.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Chris Ogle, Senior Director of Finance, SEC Reporting and Investor Relations at Levi Strauss & Company.

Chris Ogle
Senior Director of Finance, SEC Reporting and Investor Relations, Levi Strauss & Co.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our conference call. I just quickly want to apologize for the short delay we had here. We're having some technical difficulties with the streaming portion of our presentation. I am pleased today to introduce members of our Levi Strauss & Company management team. With us are Chip Bergh, our President and CEO, and Harmit Singh, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, let me briefly remind you of a few items. Our discussion today may include forward-looking statements that are based on our current assumptions, expectations, and projections about future events.

Although these statements reflect the best judgment of our senior management, they involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the statements, as more fully described in our annual report on Form 10-K, our registration statements, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on our future results, performance, or achievements. We provide information on our website about how we compile various measures used to describe our business performance. Finally, today we filed our annual financial report on Form 10-K with the SEC. You can link to our SEC filings from our website. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Chip Bergh.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Thank you, Chris, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce our new Chief Financial Officer, Harmit Singh. He joined the company three weeks ago in January and is participating on today's call. Harmit has spent about 30 years working at companies with consumer-facing brands, and he has extensive global retail operations experience. Most recently, he served as the CFO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, where he successfully led the global financial and technology functions. Prior to Hyatt, Harmit held various management positions at Yum! Brands, including CFO of Pizza Hut. His combination of financial and operational expertise, global experience, and deep understanding of Asia make him a strong addition to our leadership team. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Harmit, who will discuss the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012 performance. Harmit, welcome.

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Thank you, Chip, and a warm welcome to everybody on the call. I'm excited to be part of a company with such a rich and established heritage. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you better. Today, my comments will focus on fourth quarter 2012, and I will reference comparisons on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise indicated. Total consolidated net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2012 were $1.3 billion, down 2% on a constant currency basis. Revenue declines in Asia outpaced growth in Europe and the Americas. Revenue from our retail stores grew, both from improved performance and expansion. This improvement was outpaced by the impact of challenging market conditions in Asia and Southern Europe, as well as the loss of wholesale revenues from the conversion of the Levi's boys business to a licensed model in the United States.

Additionally, we moved less product through the discount channel in 2012, reflecting the tighter inventory position we maintained throughout the year. Fourth quarter consolidated gross profit was $649 million, up $25 million from prior year, despite lower net revenues and unfavorable currency effects. This was driven by an improvement in gross margin, which rose to 50% as compared to 46% last year, reflecting our higher retail revenues, lower sales to discount channels, and the declining cost of goods. Fourth quarter SG&A and expense rose 5% from prior year to $558 million, primarily reflecting increased A&P spend for activities which we re-timed to the fourth quarter, as well as increased costs related to our retail investments. As discussed on our last call with you, the fourth quarter is where we generally have a higher concentration of A&P spend.

Operating income for the quarter was down less than 1% to $91 million, and our fourth quarter operating margin of 7% was a slight improvement compared to last year. We reinvested the benefits of a gross margin improvement into SG&A, primarily A&P and retail expansion. Fourth quarter net income improved 20% to $53 million, primarily reflecting an income tax benefit we recorded due to reaching an agreement with the state of California on refund claims for the past tax years. We have been in discussions with the state for some time on this matter, and we are pleased to have this resolved. In accordance with the agreement, we received a $29 million cash tax refund subsequent to year-end. I'll share more detail on the fourth quarter revenue results for the regions. For the Americas region, fourth quarter net revenues were up 1%.

Growth in our Levi's retail stores was offset by declines at wholesale, primarily reflecting lower sales to discount channels and the licensing of the Levi's boys business to a third party. As a reminder, we now recognize a royalty rate on the licensee sales of these products in lieu of recognizing the full wholesale revenue and related costs. In Europe, net revenues were up 2% on a constant currency basis. Net revenues in our own stores grew again, sales to franchisees and traditional wholesale customers continued to decline, reflecting the ongoing difficult economic situation in Europe, where northern markets continued to outperform the southern markets. In Asia Pacific, net revenues were down 18% on a constant currency basis, with India accounting for the majority of the revenue decline. Lower sales in the region reflected high channel inventories and a challenging market environment.

Our decision to phase out the Denizen brand in the region also significantly contributed to lower revenues. Turning to cash flows and the progress we made on building a stronger balance sheet. Operating cash flow for full year 2012 was $531 million as compared to $2 million in 2011. The significant increase in cash flows primarily reflected a decline in inventory units. As you know, we manage inventory units down to levels more appropriate for our business. Additionally, the cost of cotton in our products declined during the second half of the year. Improved cash flow also reflects the timing of accounts receivable collections and our lower operating expenses. Capital expenditures for 2012 were $84 million, down from the $131 million we spent in 2011, which included the SAP deployment in Europe.

Our investment and expansion of our company operated retail network continues. We are being cautious with opportunities for capital spending. Improved cash flows enable us to repay more than $200 million of debt, including the borrowings under our credit facility that were outstanding at the end of 2011. We were also successful in completing the refinancing of the 2016 bonds during the year, which enhanced our capital structure by extending the maturity and improving the interest rate on a significant portion of our debt. We paid a $20 million dividend during the second fiscal quarter of 2012. Subsequent to the 2012 fiscal year-end, we also paid a dividend of $25 million in advance of anticipated tax changes going into effect. We do not plan to pay any further dividend in fiscal 2013.

At the end of 2012, our cash balance was $406 million, and we had $534 million available under our credit facility. Net debt was $1.3 billion. With that, I'd like to hand it back over to Chip, who will discuss our strategies.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Thanks, Harmit. Over the past year, we began to transform our company with a goal of driving sustainable, profitable growth and generating shareholder value. 2012 was a year of significant change, making some tough choices in the short term to benefit the business long term. We've assembled an almost entirely new leadership team. We've refined our strategies. We've started executing against these strategies as we roll into fiscal year 2013 with a new organization structure and operating model, a much sharper focus against the things that matter the most. With that, I'd like to walk you through the areas of strategic focus. Driving our profitable core businesses and core brands, expanding beyond the core to create a more balanced portfolio, becoming a best-in-class retailer, making our cost structure more competitive. Let me tick them off one by one. Let's start with driving our profitable core businesses.

We're concentrating on the biggest and most profitable businesses. This includes men's bottoms for both the Levi's brand globally and for the Dockers brand in the United States, as well as key wholesale accounts in the United States and Europe. Collectively, these make up the majority of our revenues and profits. This choice to focus on our profitable core was a key factor in our decision to exit the Denizen brand from Asia, which we announced in the third quarter of 2012. This non-core business was not delivering a sufficient return and was a distraction from the core business. We'll now put our energy and efforts, and resources behind growing the Levi's brand and Dockers brand in the region. In 2013, we'll leverage our timeless iconic items to grow the business.

For example, we've updated the Levi's 501 jean. We're now offering it for the first time ever in colored, non-denim fabrics for the first time ever. The Dockers brand will build on the success of Alpha Khaki camo pant, offering new colors and patterns this spring, as well as offering refined interpretations of other iconic khakis to reach both the traditional and modern consumer. As I said, we also include our big wholesale customers as part of the core profitable business. In 2012, we worked on enhancing our relationships with key customers and expanded and improved the on-floor presence to drive a more consistent brand experience. At JCPenney, consumers responded well to the denim bars. We continue to be pleased with the results. What JCPenney and our denim bars clearly demonstrate is if we elevate the brand experience at wholesale, we can sell more product, more profitably.

In 2013, we'll continue to work with key wholesale customers on fit service and on-floor displays. Most recently, we upgraded our in-store execution at Kohl's. Our second strategy is to expand beyond the core. We're looking at where we may selectively leverage our two strongest brands through either new or existing product categories, consumer segments, or geographic markets. We'll build on the strong brand equity, innovative design, and marketing expertise to extend the brand's appeal globally. For example, we believe there are significant opportunities in the women's business. We have a tremendous asset in the Levi's Curve ID collection. We also see opportunities in tops and outerwear from both the Levi's and Dockers brands. Expanding internationally, we'll continue to concentrate on key emerging markets. Last year, for example, we added several Levi's stores in key cities in Russia. Our Russia business has had double-digit growth.

We're focused on getting the business back on track in India and China by optimizing the retail network and cleaning up inventory. Our third strategy is to become a world-class retailer. This implies more than just opening stores and running a retail network. It will impact everything we do, from supply chain to information technology. Today's consumer is a global consumer, shopping across a variety of channels, both online and in-store. That's why we're concentrating on delivering a globally consistent brand experience across all formats. In 2012, we elevated the service in our stores, training denim experts to assist consumers. We saw continued growth in North America and Europe. Even though some of this falls outside our fiscal fourth quarter, we finished the holiday season strong, outperforming the industry.

In 2012 and 2013, we've been investing in our e-commerce platform to better showcase the brands and drive sales performance. Our e-commerce business is underdeveloped versus most of our competitors and therefore represents short- and long-term upside. The new Levi's and Dockers sites are going live in Europe this spring, and we have plans to expand that globally over the next one to two years. Fourth, we're very focused on getting our costs competitive. We continue to emphasize productivity, managing controllable costs, and driving efficiencies through our global infrastructure and supply chain. Our new leadership team is now mostly in place to move these strategies forward. In 2012, we reorganized the company into a global operating model that better aligns our business processes with these strategies. Harmit will now share the financial implications of our objectives.

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Thanks, Chip. I will now discuss how the strategies we're implementing will impact our future results. While we continue to seek opportunities for revenue growth, we will place an increased emphasis on taking the steps necessary to move the company towards improved profitability, building a stronger balance sheet, and creating higher value for our stakeholders. To accomplish this, we will strive to continue to manage our inventory to appropriate levels and to identify opportunities where we can better leverage and reduce our SG&A costs. Through 2013, we anticipate that higher retail sales and the declining cost of cotton in our products will continue to drive margin improvement. We expect gross margin for full year 2013 to move closer to 50%. While we expect gross margin to improve, it won't entirely drop to the bottom line.

Ongoing expansion of our retail presence around the world will continue to drive higher selling expenses. We're planning our A&P investment to move back to the range you saw prior to 2012 as we concentrate on executing our longer-term brand strategies. Our capital expenditure in 2013 will be in the range of $100 million-$120 million, comprised of the build-out of our retail network and investment in core infrastructure, such as our distribution and IT facilities. We also estimate pension contributions of $33 million during 2013. In the first half of the year, we intend to refinance our 2014 term loan through a combination of deploying cash and access to the credit markets and will make progress on our long-term objective to pay down debt over time.

To summarize, while we are pleased with our ability in 2012 to mitigate revenue declines and hold operating income to prior levels by controlling our expenses, we recognize that the economic environment in certain markets around the globe will continue to be challenging for some time. This underscores the importance of discipline in executing our strategies behind sustainable value creation initiatives over the long term. Now, we'll take your questions.

Operator

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you have a question, please press star, then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing the pound sign. Because of difficulty hearing questions asked on a speakerphone or headset, we ask that you please use your handset. Your first question comes from the line of William Reuter from Bank of America.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hi, Bill.

William Reuter
Analyst, Bank of America

In terms of the SG&A cuts or opportunity there, is there any way you can help us understand the magnitude of how you're thinking about that opportunity or any kind of boundaries to put around it?

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

SG&A has been a focus in the company over the last couple of years and especially this year. As we are thinking about SG&A, Chip talked to you about the new operating model that the company is focused on executing against. As we're thinking about SG&A, we're thinking about realigning or reorganizing the organization to support the operating model, which will support the growth and the turnaround over time. That's one. The second is the question of our advertising spend. In quarter four, you saw the advertising spend tick back, and we ended the year, I think, close to 5.6%. Coming into this quarter four, we were tracking at about 4.4%. Our thinking is, as we think about '13 and beyond, that the advertising spend increases slightly, still remaining below historic levels. We've, over the years, spent over 6%.

Again, as we refine the brand strategies and with the intent of concentrating on growing revenue, we think it's important to spend behind the brand.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Let me take another run at this too, Bill, just to maybe clarify a little bit more. It's a big bucket of spending for us between A&P and all the organization and distribution components. We've got puts and takes in there this year. I guess I wouldn't expect a huge swing in the overall. What you're going to see is a shift in the internals. We do expect to reinvest back in our brands. We cut pretty deep last year to manage the declining revenues. We do anticipate our A&P spending returning back closer to the historical levels. That'll be funded somewhat through cuts elsewhere. The other dynamic that we've got going on is we will continue to build out retail stores, and every retail store you add, you're adding headcount. We will continue to make those kind of investments.

I wouldn't expect a huge swing in the absolute as a % of sales. There will be changes in the insides of it, if that makes sense.

William Reuter
Analyst, Bank of America

That's actually very helpful. Then last call, you had mentioned that you were planning on holding price despite declining cotton prices. Is that still the plan for 2013?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

That is basically the plan, yes. So far, it looks like we're able to do that, particularly in the mid and upper parts of our business. We know we've got to be priced competitively in the marketplace, and if things change, we're going to need to be responsive to the competitive environment.

William Reuter
Analyst, Bank of America

Okay.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Our plan going into the year is to hold pricing.

William Reuter
Analyst, Bank of America

Okay. My last question, I don't know if you would like to comment, you talked about one of the drivers being strong sales in company-operated stores. I didn't hear any mention of a same-store sales number. Did you provide anything like that, or is there anything you could help us with that there?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Well, we don't comment on comp store sales. Our performance was ahead of expectations, and actually, we outperformed our competitors, particularly here in the U.S., in our owned and operated stores.

William Reuter
Analyst, Bank of America

Okay. That's all for me. Thank you.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

I guess, the net is we're pleased with the performance of our retail business.

William Reuter
Analyst, Bank of America

Understood. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Carla Casella from JPMorgan.

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hi, Carla.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Hi. How are you?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hi, Carla. Good.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

I'm wondering if any of your margin improvement is due to the denim bars at JCPenney. It sounds like that business is more profitable. You mentioned that you can sell more product profitably. I'm assuming there's probably some clearance in the JCPenney business last year. Is that part of the driver?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

In the grand scheme of the total global business, it would probably be a rounding error, to be honest with you. We're pleased with the performance of the denim bars. We are selling more product. Our business is up in the stores where they have the denim bars, we're happy with it. It's profitable.

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Carla, just to give a little bit more color on the margin improvement. You saw a 400 basis point improvement. We're conscious of focusing on margin improvements as we think about the business going forward. Basically, I'd say three factors: reduction in cotton, the fact that retail was a bigger piece of the mix relative to a year ago, and the fact that our sales to the discount channels, we consciously reduced that. Those are the factors that contributed to margin growth in the quarter.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay, great.

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Sorry. Just to add that as we think about FY 2013, we're thinking about ending, in terms of margin performance for the year, we've indicated a number closer to 50% on a full year basis.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay. That's great. Just one more question on the Penney business. The company started discounting some products in the store. When they do that, does that change the relationship with you? Are they coming back to you for markdown money, or is it still a one-price sell as originally was contemplated, I guess, when Ron Johnson came in?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

They are executing the program as you see it in their stores. To my knowledge, they've not come back to us for discount money. As I said, we're very happy with the performance of the denim bars.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay. That's great. Then one more.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

They are.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Oops. Go ahead, sorry.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

I was going to say, they are using the sale word. They are bringing back sales. Our business continues on the model that we've got in the store.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay, that's great. Then on the consumer, have you seen any change in buying patterns with the payroll tax?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

It's still really early days. It obviously falls outside of the fourth quarter. I would say in general here in the U.S., January has been really choppy. Whether that's because of the payroll tax or whether that's because of the price of gasoline going up, I don't know. I can't really comment on that. We're definitely seeing a more choppy traffic pattern over the month of January.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay. Then I just think I may have missed it. Did you comment on Dockers in the quarter? Was Dockers up in the quarter? What's the timing of your rollout for the shops on Dockers?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Dockers, it's the same story we've been saying now for pretty much the last couple of quarters. Our core men's bottoms pants business here in the U.S. is up. That's offset by the strategic decisions that we made earlier in the year to license off other parts of the business, which drags the total results down. Then the other thing that impacts the total number is we had dramatically less incented sales to discount channels on that brand as well this past year. Total revenues were down for the year, but we set the brand up for success longer term, and we're happy with the progress that we're making on the core men's bottoms business.

Carla Casella
Analyst, JPMorgan

Okay, great. Thank you.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

You're welcome.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Karru Martinson from Deutsche Bank.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hey, Karru.

Karru Martinson
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Looking at Asia, you guys talked about high channel inventories. Where did we end the quarter in that market?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

I'm actually going to Asia tomorrow night. Our biggest issues are in India and in China. In China in the fourth quarter, we made the decision to mark down a significant amount of inventory to try to move into this year with the inventory in our shop-in-shops and our stores in China a little bit cleaner. The expectation coming into the year, it's probably taking us a month or two to execute some of that cleanup, but the intent is to get fresh product on the floor in China this quarter, I guess, first quarter of 2013. India's a bit more challenging, frankly. There are a couple of dynamics going on in India that you have to take into consideration, aside from the competitive environment, which is also definitely a factor.

Remember, we shut down the Denizen brand, we are flushing a lot of Denizen product in that market. There's a lot of discounted jeans on the market in India today. Our inventory, our channel, our inventory of our product in our stores is also a little bit higher than we would like. It's going to take us a while to work through India. We have some business model things that we need to clean up in India, too. It's not going to turn super fast. I guess I'm patient on India. We're trying to get it right for the long term, and it's going to take us probably the better part of at least the first half of this year and maybe even a little bit longer than that to get those conditions right to set us up for success long term.

Karru Martinson
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Okay. Just switching gears a little bit. You guys have had a successful launch with the Curve ID, the women's business has been historically a challenge for the company. When you look at it with a fresh set of eyes, what are you seeing there that gives you the opportunity to extend that brand globally into that category?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Curve ID is really a story of It's two different tales. Where there is a high-service component, think of one of our stores, Curve ID is a very powerful proposition. I've watched it work with my own eyes. I've sat in stores, watched women being fitted for Curve ID and having one of these "Oh my God" experiences. It works. When consumers buy it, they love it, and they're very loyal to it, and they come back. In lower service environments, though, which is predominantly the wholesale business. Think the big customers, Sears, JCPenney, Kohl's.

It's a much more challenging proposition. It's a hard one to shop on your own. It's a complex proposition, it really needs that high touch. It's had very mixed results in wholesale. As we move forward, the benefit of having the store network that we have is we've got an installed base where we can leverage that type of very proprietary, distinctive concept. We continue to be committed to it and focus on continuing to grow it. You said it. Our women's business is very underdeveloped relative to many of our competitors, it represents significant upside opportunity, we're focused on driving it.

Karru Martinson
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Okay. Just to clarify, in terms of housekeeping, if I was interpreting it correctly, we're definitely going to see more advertising spend here in 2013. Overall, SG&A dollars aren't going to be that far off from where historical levels are because of the various puts and takes in that segment. Correct?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Yeah, that's about right. I guess the only thing I want to just make sure everybody's really clear on is when we say A&P, don't just think television advertising. Right? It's more than just measured media. It includes fixtures in stores, whether our stores or JCPenney or Macy's or Kohl's. Anything that is brand-building, and enhances the equity of the brand goes into that A&P bucket.

Karru Martinson
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Thank you very much, guys. Appreciate it.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Got it.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Grant Jordan from Wells Fargo.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hey, Grant.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Good afternoon. How are you doing? Thanks for taking the questions. It looks like in the quarter, your cash conversion was pretty good, driven by working capital, particularly on the accrued expenses side. Was there anything in terms of timing that drove that?

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Yes. Grant, hi. This is Harmit. There was a bit of timing that drove it. The other thing is lower CapEx spending also kind of helped from a cash flow perspective. The one thing you should consider as you think about cash flows in 2012 relative to 2013. This year, we did tighten on inventory, and that rationalized our inventory management down to tighter levels and adjusted that to what I call demand levels. That was more of a one-time impact. Reduced cotton also kind of helped. As you think about operating cash flows for 2013, just make sure that you incorporate the fact that 2012 had some one-time impacts to it.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

It was mainly inventory units. It was mostly units. It was mainly units that drove it over the course of the year.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Right.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Inventory.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Thinking about 2013, you don't expect to see the same kind of benefit from working capital is what you're saying?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Correct.

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

That's right.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

That's correct.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Okay, great. Two other hopefully brief questions. On Dockers, what is the timing for the launch at JCPenney?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Sometime this calendar year, 2013, in the second half.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Okay, second half. All right. Finally, did you give a CapEx number for 2013?

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Yes. We did indicate the range was $100 million-$120 million. It is a little higher than what we spent in 2012 and is largely driven by spending behind risk mitigation strategies around IT and distribution.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Okay. Is the risk mitigation, is that new systems or?

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Yeah. It's parallel systems. It's investment behind some new systems. We're thinking about, Chip talked about our focus on e-commerce and things like that.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

The risk mitigation, it's a co-location facility.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Okay.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Which most companies are doing. It's just to protect us.

Grant Jordan
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Sure. Okay. Thank you very much.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Welcome.

Operator

Again, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause again for just a moment to compile. One moment. Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Coyne from Goldman Sachs.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hi, Kevin.

Kevin Coyne
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Good afternoon, thanks for taking the questions. Maybe I could start with Harmit. I also cover lodging, so I've worked with you on some of the Hyatt deals. Congratulations on the new spot. I was just wondering-

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Hi, Kevin.

Kevin Coyne
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

What is really exciting you, since you've arrived at the company, in terms of what you've seen and what's really motivating you going forward?

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Sure. Thanks, Kevin. Good to talk to you again. Hopefully, we catch up over time. It's a wonderful brand and brands. The leadership team that Chip has put together is an outstanding leadership team that I'm really encouraged will help turn around performance over time. I think as we think about the opportunity ahead of us and the things that got us here, I would list a major chunk into the controllable bucket as against the uncontrollable bucket, and that really encourages me as I think about driving business performance in a longer term for the brands. Excited to be here.

Kevin Coyne
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Great. No, it's a great opportunity. We certainly, from a credit perspective, loved hearing the near-term target to de-lever with the refinancing of the credit facility. Do you have any thoughts on long-term leverage target?

Harmit Singh
EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.

It's early days, Kevin. Over time, definitely we engage you as we structure our thinking. The one thing you should know, you referred to my experience with Hyatt. The thing you should know creating and driving a stronger balance sheet, improving cash flow is uppermost on my mind.

Kevin Coyne
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Great.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

I think it's fair to say that the senior team and the board of directors is very focused on how we continue to make progress on paying down the debt. It is something that's in our sights, and that is something that we will continue to march against over the next couple of years as we strengthen our cash position.

Kevin Coyne
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Great to hear. Maybe I can just slip one final one in. Certainly, as you think of expanding beyond the core, I know, traditionally, you've only developed things more or less internal, but would you ever consider looking at any M&A opportunities in the expansion plan?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

I get asked this question a lot internally, and I've got a pretty straightforward answer, which is, the first simple answer is yes. Before we do that, we've got to make sure that we're in a position where we're strong enough to be able to bring in an acquisition. I've done bunch of acquisitions in the past. I was the guy at Gillette after P&G acquired Gillette. It's hard, and it doesn't matter if it's big or small, it's hard. We've got a lot of work and a lot of opportunity on our core business and our core brands short term. I think we've got plenty to keep our plate full over the next one, two, maybe three years. We know we're going to need to broaden the portfolio long term.

I don't think we'll be able to do it all internally, and at some point in time, when the time is right, when we've got the debt position right, et cetera, I think an acquisition would certainly make sense if the right one came along.

Kevin Coyne
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from a participant from Sterne Agee.

Speaker 10

For your mid to upper end of your product range, what was the magnitude of the price increases that you took last year?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Last year, most of it was in the prior year. We took one price increase in general last year. It would probably be very low single digits for the full year.

Speaker 10

Okay. With regards to-

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Very low. I'm talking probably one or 2% on the full year, I would imagine.

Speaker 10

With regards to JCPenney under the new denim bar format, and also with your relationship with Kohl's, do you provide any level of margin guarantees? Have you seen an increase in markdown dollars at Kohl's?

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

The latter question, no. I believe the answer to the first question is no as well.

Speaker 10

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor back over to the company for any closing remarks.

Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

All right. I guess I will close and just thank you all for joining us today. I said it earlier, our focus is on delivering sustainable, profitable growth. I've pretty much got the new executive team in place. We've got our new structure and operating model in place, we're beginning to execute against the strategies that will deliver that goal. We will talk with you again in April to give you an update on our first quarter fiscal 2013. Thanks a lot for joining us today.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Please disconnect your lines at this time.