VF Earnings Call Nuggets: Retail Inventory Levels and Winter Season Product Mix

VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) recently reported its fourth quarter earnings and discussed the following topics in its earnings conference call.

Retail Inventory Levels

Robert Drbul – Barclays Capital: Eric, the two questions that I have, I guess, relate around the Outdoor business a little bit. When you look at the top line that you’ve driven especially The North Face versus the industry, it’s been pretty impressive and I was just wondering if you guys can comment around inventory levels at retail mainly around The North Face, but I would also be interested just to understand inventories of Timberland product and especially as it looks to the mid-single-digit growth rate for 2013 that you expect in Timberland?

Eric C. Wiseman – Chairman, President and CEO: Yeah, Bob, Steve will take that question for you.

Steve Rendle – VP and Group President, Outdoor & Action Sports Americas: Yeah, so, Bob, inventory in the channel, we really have two stories here. The TNF inventory is higher than we’ve seen historically. I think the good news is the last four, five weeks since December week five, cold weather has returned to much of the U.S. and we’ve seen really nice increases in retail sell-through. Timberland really came through fourth quarter in a much, much cleaner situation and enters this year with very clean inventories in all of their channels.

Robert K. Shearer – SVP and CFO: I mean what we’d also say there Bob is that in Europe inventories are probably a little cleaner than that; a little better shaped.

Steve Rendle – VP and Group President, Outdoor & Action Sports Americas: Yeah, a good point.