New VF Corp. CEO Bracken Darrell: Everything is on the table
VF Corp. announced it's reviewing its portfolio of brands, which includes Vans, The North Face, Supreme, and Timberland.
Bracken Darrell is channeling the hard lessons he learned growing up in Owensboro, Ky., to return iconic retailer VF Corporation (VFC) to its glory days.
Darrell assumed the CEO role in July 2023 after a search led by former Clorox (CLX) CEO and VF Corp. board member Benno Dorer. The Logitech (LOGI) and P&G (PG) veteran has pulled off a number of reinventions throughout his career.
He will need all those skills, and more.
VF Corp.'s stock price sank 9.6% to $15.31 during Wednesday's trading session after another lackluster quarter.
The company's market cap has shrunk 76% in the last two years to $5.93 billion, according to Yahoo Finance data.
While detailing his latest turnaround strategy to Yahoo Finance, Darrell recalled one experience from his childhood responsible for his drive to learn and look ahead.
"My dad left when I was 9, and he just left a note on the fireplace on Christmas Eve," Darrell told Yahoo Finance on a Zoom call Wednesday from inside the company's Denver office. "I wasn't actually ever close to my dad. ... But I was worried about my mom, and she really fell apart. She had four kids. She had polio when she was young. She had four car wrecks and a nervous breakdown that year."
Darrell, who was getting over the flu at the time of the interview, pushed ahead with a look inside his well-honed leadership philosophy.
"She would come home after her first class at night, and she would second-guess everything," he continued. "I just said to her, 'Look, Mom, there is nothing you can do about the past. You can just imagine you are standing on the beach with a stick in your hand and draw a line behind your heels. And everything back there is just to learn [about] your life [from] here on forward.'"
To fix VF Corp., which owns household-name apparel brands including The North Face, Vans, and Timberland, Darrell has to acknowledge a past full of miscues while also moving to quickly chart a new future.
People that Yahoo Finance talked to for this story who have interacted with Darrell in the past year universally think he is the right leader at the right time for the 125-year-old outerwear maker. They pointed to his quick decision making, willingness to listen to new ideas, and reluctance to force-feed a leadership agenda down the throats of VF Corp. lifers.
His turnaround of mouse, keyboard, and webcam company Logitech and, prior to that, Old Spice at P&G have earned him a lot of early goodwill on the Street.
"He comes across as someone who appreciates that this business needs to be stabilized," BMO Capital Markets senior analyst Simeon Siegel told Yahoo Finance. "The balance sheet needs to be deleveraged. And that's the answer. The answer is not finding a way to infinite growth."
'No sacred cows'
However, these same sources acknowledged that Darrell is up against several formidable forces in his bid to transform VF Corp. into a nimbler, more profitable retailer.
The first is a company history of going big on dealmaking at almost any cost, often encouraged by growth-hungry Wall Street.
VF Corp.'s former CEOs of the past 20 years, Mackey McDonald, Eric Wiseman, and the most recent predecessor, Steve Rendle, all had transformative acquisitions during their tenures.
McDonald plunked down $396 million for skater lifestyle brand Vans in 2004. Wiseman purchased boot maker Timberland for $2 billion in 2011. And Rendle spent close to $3 billion to buy workwear play Dickies in 2017 and streetwear seller Supreme in 2020.
These deals helped build the modern-day VF Corp., which has a portfolio anchored by outdoor label The North Face that has long benefited from economies of scale and internal idea sharing between the brands.
In part fueled by pressure from activist investor Engaged Capital, Darrell has come out of the gate with a mindset of "no sacred cows" to unlock earnings growth.
He has outlined $300 million in cost cuts, put backpack brands Kipling, Eastpak, and JanSport up for sale, and slashed the company's dividend by 70% in October. All not even a year into the new gig.
The struggling Vans brand — commanding most of Darrell's attention right now — went through a thorough product review that may help to stabilize the business within 18 months. But Darrell was hesitant to say when the skater culture-led Vans will return to growth.
On the company's earnings call late Tuesday, Darrell took things a step further by announcing a strategic portfolio review. In retail, that often equates to the sell-off of a host of lagging brands to maximize shareholder value.
Darrell also didn't shoot down the notion of a more extensive slimming down when speaking with Yahoo Finance, and didn't rule out a potential sale of boot-hawking legend Timberland.
"I think that's kind of a fundamental question of ownership: Should we be in it?" Darrell said of the portfolio review, adding that Timberland is a "fantastic" brand.
VF Corp.'s turnaround plan
Sources told Yahoo Finance that these efforts, from cost cuts to asset sales, will help immediately address concerns about VF Corp.'s roughly $5.2 billion in debt that was built up during its decades-long acquisition spree.
"He has to get this debt down for investors to feel more comfortable," a source said.
"This is the first time I've run a company that had debt," Darrell said. "This is new to me."
"Personally, of course, we have all felt that," he added. "But I don't like that. My most sleepless nights of my life, I was worried about money. So I don't want to be worried about money — and I'm not worried about money here. ... We're going to break down that debt."
Other headwinds for VF Corp. weighed on the company's financial performance over the last two years. The company has faced prolonged traffic weakness at US department stores and lost touch with consumer wants in the Vans division. Meanwhile, another force of nature — warm weather stunting demand for outerwear — hasn't helped.
These challenges were front and center in the company's most recent quarter. Sales fell in every one of VF Corp.'s divisions. Vans led the decline with a steep 28% sales drop. Timberland sales declined by 21%, The North Face fell by 10%, and Dickies decreased by 16%.
The company lost $32.2 million on an operating basis in the quarter, which incorporated $50.9 million in severance charges and $257.1 million in goodwill impairment charges for Timberland and Dickies.
"I'm just really excited about the future," Darrell told Yahoo Finance, "and I don't get too caught up in anything that has happened."
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter/X @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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