Good morning. My name is Joanne Crevoiserat, and I am the Chief Executive Officer of Tapestry. I will be serving as Chair of this meeting and hereby call the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders of Tapestry, Inc to order. I welcome you to our annual meeting. We are pleased to hold this meeting virtually to allow for greater participation and to give all parties the opportunity to join the live online meeting from any location convenient for you.
If you encounter any technical difficulties accessing or participating in the meeting, please refer to the information provided in the conduct of meeting guidelines on how to reach the technical support team. Before I begin, I must point out that my remarks today will include certain forward-looking statements, including projections for our business in the current or future quarters or fiscal years.
Future results may differ materially from our current expectations based upon a number of important factors, including risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our latest annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a complete list of risks and important factors.
We thank you for joining us today and value your investment in our company and your continued support. Fiscal year 2026, the period covered in our proxy statement, was a defining year for Tapestry. We meaningfully exceeded our expectations, achieving the revenue, operating margin, and earnings per share commitments we established at our investor day in September 2025, two years ahead of plan.
We delivered revenue of $8 billion, growing 17% on a pro forma constant currency basis, fueled by customer acquisition as we welcomed approximately 11 million new customers to our brands globally, led by Gen Z. At the same time, we expanded operating margin by 340 basis points to over 23%, increased earnings per share by 38% to $7.05, and generated $1.9 billion in free cash flow while continuing to invest in our brands, our people, and the capabilities that will shape our future.
We also returned $1.7 billion to shareholders through our dividend and share repurchase programs in fiscal year 2026, driving a one-year total shareholder return of approximately 70%. Throughout the year, we brought to life the Amplify strategy we introduced at our Investor Day in September 2025, building on proven growth strategies.
Our Amplify strategy focuses on four key pillars: building emotional connections with our consumers, fueling fashion innovation and product excellence, delivering compelling experiences to drive global growth, and igniting the power of our people. Through consistent execution of these strategies, we have built a more focused organization with differentiated capabilities and a fortified compounding business model.
Last week, we reported our first quarter results for fiscal year 2027, marking a powerful start to the year with revenue, margin, and earnings growth ahead of expectations and strength around the world. During the quarter, we grew revenue by 12% on a pro forma basis to $1.9 billion, expanded operating margin by 230 basis points, increased earnings per share by 32%, and welcomed 2.6 million new customers to our brands. This outperformance positioned us to raise our outlook for the year, reflecting our confidence in the durability of our growth.
Further, we expect to return approximately $2 billion to shareholders in fiscal year 2027 through our dividend and share repurchase programs, underscoring the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet and confidence in driving sustained value creation. Overall, we remain confident in our bright future, with a proven track record and an unwavering commitment to driving compounding growth and long-term shareholder value.
Our vision, to give more people the power to bring their own style and story into the world, is fueled by our systemic approach to brand building. This is what guides us and drives our success. As always, it is our talented teams who bring this vision to life. They are the driving force behind our results, delivering with creativity and discipline, and building the capabilities that set us apart today and into the future.
I will now make certain introductions, starting with our Independent Directors who, along with me, are standing for re-election. Darrell Cavens, David Elkins, Hanneke Faber, Anne Gates, our Independent Chair of the Board, Tom Greco, Kevin Hourican, Alan Lau, Pamela Lifford, Annabelle Yu Long, and Matthew Madrigal. We are indeed proud to propose this slate of Directors to serve as your representatives.
Also present today are Jonathan Rothman and Julie Talavera of Deloitte & Touche, Tapestry's auditors. If questions arise during the discussion period that the auditors should appropriately address, they will be glad to respond. Also present is Peter Descovich of Broadridge Financial Solutions, who is acting as the independent Inspector of Elections for this meeting. The Inspector of Elections has taken the oath of office, which will be filed with the records of the company. Joining me is David Howard, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary.
David will act as Secretary and will record the proceedings of this meeting. The Board of Directors fixed the close of business on September 16, 2026, as the record date for purposes of this meeting. Only stockholders of record as of the record date are entitled to vote at this meeting. David, let's proceed with the formalities. Will you please advise as to the mailing of the notice for this meeting?
Joanne, I have received an affidavit from Broadridge stating that a notice of Tapestry's annual meeting was mailed on September 25, 2026, to each stockholder of record at the close of business on September 16, 2026. I am inserting this affidavit in the company's records. We are conducting this meeting in accordance with our bylaws and the conduct of meeting guidelines. The meeting guidelines and agenda are available on the meeting website.
We are committed to ensuring that our stockholders have substantially the same opportunities to participate in the virtual annual meeting as they would at an in-person meeting. We have established clear processes around submitting and responding to stockholder questions, and members of executive management and the Board will be available for questions today.
The polls are open, and stockholders attending the virtual meeting can vote their shares online through the closing of the polls by logging into the meeting website as a stockholder and clicking the Vote Here button on their screen. If you have previously voted by proxy and do not wish to change your vote, your vote will be cast as you previously instructed, and no further action is required.
Your proxy card will count even though you are attending the meeting today. At this time, I will advise the meeting regarding the existence of a quorum for the transaction of business. As of the record date, 198,435,342 shares of common stock of the company were outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting.
I am pleased to report that the Inspector of Elections has informed me that present at this meeting, in person or by proxy, are the holders of not less than a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at this meeting. Since a quorum is present, this meeting is duly constituted for the transaction of business. I will now review the procedures for this meeting.
The proposals described in the proxy statement will be brought up for consideration and voted upon, after which we will pause to answer questions received regarding the proposals. We will then announce the preliminary results. After the meeting is adjourned, there will be a period for general questions regarding the company in accordance with the rules of conduct posted on the annual meeting website.
Stockholders attending this webcast will be able to submit questions by typing them into the text box on the meeting website. Please submit any questions regarding a specific proposal while the proposals are being presented. Only questions directly related to the proposals will be addressed at that time. You can submit general questions regarding the company's business through the end of the Q&A session.
Only our stockholders are able to submit questions, and all questions and comments should relate to the company's business. In the interest of time, we ask that you limit your questions to two, and any questions relating to the same subject may be consolidated and responded to as one. This concludes all of the preliminary matters, and I will now proceed with the formal business of the meeting.
The first item for business at the meeting is the election of 11 Directors of the company, each to hold office until the 2027 annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified. The Board of Directors has nominated Darrell Cavens, Joanne Crevoiserat, David Elkins, Hanneke Faber, Anne Gates, Tom Greco, Kevin Hourican, Alan Lau, Pamela Lifford, Annabelle Yu Long, and Matthew Madrigal.
A majority of the votes cast at this meeting is required to elect each Director. Our Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you vote for each of the Directors. No other nominations have been received in accordance with the requirements of the company's bylaws. The second item of business is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year ending on July 3, 2027.
A majority of votes cast at this meeting is required to approve this motion. Our Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you vote for this proposal. The third item of business is the approval on a non-binding advisory basis of the company's executive compensation as described in our proxy statement. A majority of votes cast at this meeting is required to approve this motion. Our Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you vote for this proposal.
We now turn to proposal four, an advisory stockholder proposal submitted by The Accountability Board, Inc regarding stockholder action by less than the unanimous written consent. The full text of the proposal and the supporting statement are on page 34 of the proxy statement. The Board of Directors makes no recommendation on how stockholders should vote on this proposal. I now invite Matt Prescott, a representative of The Accountability Board, to present the proposal. Mr. Prescott, you have up to three minutes to present the proposal. Please go ahead.
Shorter than three minutes for the sake of everybody's time today. Just wanted to say first, we appreciate the Board's consideration of the proposal. We know that it didn't make any voting recommendation one way or the other, and we appreciate the consideration again. Just want to add beyond what's in the proxy statement itself that both ISS and Glass, Lewis & Co are supporting adoption of the proposal, and we encourage folks to vote in favor of it. I'll leave it there. Thanks again, and hope everybody has a great day.
As a reminder, the polls are open for voting on each of the proposals presented to the stockholders. If you intend to vote, please do so now. There were no questions received from stockholders directly on the proposals. The polls are now closed, and I will present the preliminary report of the Inspector of Elections based on the proxies received as of the opening of the polls at today's meeting. The voting results I'm about to announce are subject to further checking, but we believe they are unlikely to change. Each of the 11 nominees for Director received at least a majority of all votes cast.
A majority of eligible votes were cast. At least a majority of those votes cast were voted in favor of proposal number two, the ratification of Deloitte & Touche, proposal number three, the non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation, and proposal number four, the advisory stockholder proposal to permit stockholder action by less than unanimous written consent.
Since each of the nominees has received at least a majority of all the votes cast, I declare that each is elected a Directors of Tapestry until the 2027 annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualifies. I also declare that proposals number two, three, and four have passed. A more detailed report on the voting may be found in a Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within four business days.
This concludes the formal business of the meeting. The formal meeting is hereby adjourned. Christina Colone, Global Head of Investor Relations, will now join us to provide questions received by our stockholders regarding the company in accordance with the conduct of meeting guidelines posted on the virtual meeting website.
Thank you, David. We will now open for questions. Thank you. We have not received any questions. I will turn it over to Joanne for some brief closing remarks.
Thank you for your interest in the company and for joining us today. Have a great day.