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Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

12 Months Ended

Feb. 01, 2025

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

1. Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business—Dillard’s, Inc. (“Dillard’s” or the “Company”) operates retail department stores, located primarily in the southeastern, southwestern and midwestern areas of the United States, and a general contracting construction company based in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Company’s fiscal year ends on the Saturday nearest January 31 of each year. Fiscal year 2024 ended on February 1, 2025 and included 52 weeks. Fiscal year 2023 ended on February 3, 2024 and included 53 weeks. Fiscal year 2022 ended on January 28, 2023 and included 52 weeks.

Consolidation—The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Dillard’s, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries (excluding Dillard’s Capital Trust I; see Note 7 for more information). Intercompany accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation. Investments in and advances to joint ventures are accounted for by the equity method where the Company does not have control.

Use of Estimates—The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates include merchandise inventories, self-insured accruals, future cash flows and real estate values for impairment analysis, pension discount rate and taxes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Seasonality—The Company’s business is highly seasonal, and historically the Company has realized a significant portion of its sales, net income and cash flow in the last quarter of our fiscal year. Due to holiday buying patterns, sales for the fourth quarter average approximately one-third of annual sales. Additionally, working capital requirements fluctuate during the year, increasing in the third quarter in anticipation of the holiday season.

Cash Equivalents—The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity of 3 months or less when purchased or certificates of deposit with no early withdrawal penalty to be cash equivalents. The Company considers receivables from charge card companies to be cash equivalents because they settle the balances within 2 to 3 days.

Restricted Cash—Restricted cash consists of cash proceeds from the sale of property held in escrow for the acquisition of replacement property under like-kind exchange agreements. The escrow accounts are administered by an intermediary. Pursuant to the like-kind exchange agreements, the cash remains restricted for a maximum of 180 days from the date of the property sale pending the acquisition of replacement property.

Accounts Receivable—Accounts receivable primarily consists of construction receivables of the Company’s general contracting construction company, CDI Contractors, LLC (“CDI”), and the monthly settlements of Dillard’s share of earnings from its long-term marketing and servicing private label credit card portfolio alliances. Construction receivables are based on amounts billed to customers. The Company provides any allowance for doubtful accounts considered necessary based upon a review of outstanding receivables, historical collection information and existing economic conditions. Accounts receivable are ordinarily due 30 days after the issuance of the invoice. Contract retentions are due 30 days after completion of the project and acceptance by the owner. Accounts that are past due more than 120 days are considered for write-off based on individual credit evaluation and specific circumstances of the customer.

Short-term Investments—Short-term investments are securities with original maturities of greater than three months but less than twelve months and are comprised of U.S. Treasury Bills. The Company determines the classification of these securities as trading, available for sale or held to maturity at the time of purchase and re-evaluates these determinations at each balance sheet date. The Company’s short-term investments are classified as held-to-maturity for the periods presented as it has the positive intent and ability to hold these investments to maturity. The Company’s held-to-maturity investments are stated at amortized cost, which approximated fair value, and are periodically assessed for other-than-temporary impairment.

Merchandise Inventories—All of the Company’s inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market using the last-in, first-out (“LIFO”) inventory method. Approximately 95% of the Company’s inventories are valued using the LIFO retail inventory method. Under the retail inventory method, the valuation of inventories at cost and the resulting gross margins are calculated by applying a cost to retail ratio to the retail value of inventories. The retail inventory method is an averaging method that is widely used in the retail industry due to its practicality. Inherent in the retail inventory method calculation are certain significant management judgments including, among others, merchandise markon, markups and markdowns, which significantly impact the ending inventory valuation at cost as well as the resulting gross margins. During periods of deflation, inventory values on the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) retail inventory method may be lower than the LIFO retail inventory method. Additionally, inventory values at LIFO cost may be in excess of net realizable value. At February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2024, merchandise inventories valued at LIFO, including adjustments as necessary to record inventory at the lower of cost or market, approximated the cost of such inventories using the FIFO retail inventory method. The application of the LIFO retail inventory method did not result in the recognition of any LIFO charges or credits affecting cost of sales for fiscal 2024, 2023 or 2022.

The Company regularly records a provision for estimated shrinkage, thereby reducing the carrying value of merchandise inventory. Complete physical inventories of the Company’s stores and warehouses are generally performed no less frequently than annually, with the recorded amount of merchandise inventory being adjusted to coincide with these physical counts.

Property and Equipment—Property and equipment owned by the Company is stated at cost, which includes related interest costs incurred during periods of construction, less accumulated depreciation and amortization. Interest capitalized during fiscal 2024, 2023, and 2022 was $2.0 million, $2.2 million and $1.9 million, respectively. For financial reporting purposes, depreciation is computed by the straight-line method over estimated useful lives:


Buildings and leasehold improvements		20 - 40 years
Furniture, fixtures and equipment		3 - 10 years

Properties leased by the Company under lease agreements which are determined to be finance leases are stated at an amount equal to the present value of the minimum lease payments during the lease term, less accumulated amortization. The assets under finance leases and leasehold improvements under operating leases are amortized on the straight-line method over the shorter of their useful lives or the related lease terms. The provision for amortization of assets under finance leases is included in depreciation and amortization expense, if any.

Included in property and equipment as of February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2024 are assets held for sale in the amount of $7.6 million. During fiscal 2023, the Company received cash proceeds of $6.3 million and realized a gain of $6.1 million primarily related to the sale of two store properties. During fiscal 2022, the Company received cash proceeds of $25.1 million and realized a gain of $21.0 million primarily related to the sale of three store properties.

Depreciation and amortization on property and equipment was approximately $178 million, $180 million and $188 million for fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Long-Lived Assets—Fair value measurements of long-lived assets used in operations are required when indicators of impairment are present and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than the assets’ carrying amount. In the evaluation of the fair value and future benefits of long-lived assets, the Company performs an analysis of the anticipated undiscounted future net cash flows of the related long-lived assets. This analysis is performed at the store unit level. If the carrying value of the related asset exceeds the fair value, the carrying value is reduced to its fair value. Various factors including future sales growth, profit margins and real estate values are included in this analysis. Management believes at this time that the carrying values and useful lives continue to be appropriate.

During fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, no asset impairment and store closing charges were recorded.

Other Assets—Other assets include investments accounted for by the equity and cost methods, capitalized software and cash surrender value of life insurance policies.

Vendor Allowances—The Company receives concessions from its vendors through a variety of programs and arrangements, including cooperative advertising and margin maintenance programs. The Company has agreements in place with vendors setting forth the specific conditions for each allowance or payment. These agreements range in periods from a few days to up to a year. If the payment is a reimbursement for costs incurred, it is offset against those related costs; otherwise, it is treated as a reduction to the cost of the merchandise. Amounts of vendor concessions are recorded only when an agreement has been reached with the vendor and the collection of the concession is deemed probable.

For cooperative advertising programs, the Company generally offsets the allowances against the related advertising expense when incurred. Many of these programs require proof-of-advertising to be provided to the vendor to support the reimbursement of the incurred cost. Programs that do not require proof-of-advertising are monitored to ensure that the allowance provided by each vendor is a reimbursement of costs incurred to advertise for that particular vendor. If the allowance exceeds the advertising costs incurred on a vendor-specific basis, then the excess allowance from the vendor is recorded as a reduction of merchandise cost for that vendor.

Margin maintenance allowances are credited directly to cost of purchased merchandise in the period earned according to the agreement with the vendor. Under the retail method of accounting for inventory, a portion of these allowances reduces cost of goods sold and a portion reduces the carrying value of merchandise inventory.

Insurance Accruals—The Company’s consolidated balance sheets include liabilities with respect to self-insured workers’ compensation and general liability claims. The Company’s self-insured retention is insured through a wholly-owned captive insurance subsidiary. The Company estimates the required liability of such claims, utilizing an actuarial method, based upon various assumptions, which include, but are not limited to, the Company’s historical loss experience, projected loss development factors, actual payroll and other data. The required liability is also subject to adjustment in the future based upon the changes in claims experience, including changes in the number of incidents (frequency) and changes in the ultimate cost per incident (severity). As of February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2024, insurance accruals of $40.1 million and $41.0 million, respectively, were recorded in trade accounts payable and accrued expenses and other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.

Operating Leases—The Company leases retail stores, office space and equipment under operating leases. The Company records right-of-use assets and operating lease liabilities for operating leases with lease terms exceeding twelve months. The right-of-use assets are adjusted for lease incentives, including construction allowances and prepaid rent. The Company recognizes minimum rent expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Many leases contain contingent rent provisions. Contingent rent is expensed as incurred.

The lease term used for lease evaluation includes renewal option periods only in instances in which the exercise of the option period is reasonably certain.

Revenue Recognition—The Company’s retail operations segment recognizes merchandise revenue at the “point of sale”. An allowance for sales returns is recorded as a component of net sales in the period in which the related sales are recorded. Sales taxes collected from customers are excluded from revenue and are recorded in trade accounts payable and accrued expenses until remitted to the taxing authorities.

Citibank, N.A. (“Citi”) owns and manages Dillard’s private label cards under a 10-year agreement (“Citibank Alliance”) which expires in fiscal 2034. Pursuant to the Citibank Alliance, we receive on-going cash compensation from Citi based upon the portfolio’s earnings. The compensation received from the portfolio is determined monthly and has no recourse provisions. The amount the Company receives is dependent on the level of sales on Citi accounts, the level of balances carried on Citi accounts by Citi customers, payment rates on Citi accounts, finance charge rates and other fees on Citi accounts, the level of credit losses for the Citi accounts as well as Citi’s ability to extend credit to our customers. The Company’s share of income under the Citibank Alliance and former Wells Fargo Alliance is included as a component of service charges and other income. The Company recognized income of $54.1 million, $67.2 million and $67.8 million from the Citibank Alliance and former Wells Fargo Alliance in fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The Company participates in the marketing of the private label credit cards, which includes the cost of customer reward programs. Through the reward programs, customers earn points that are redeemable for discounts on future purchases.

The Company defers a portion of its net sales upon the sale of merchandise to its customer reward program members that is recognized in net sales when the reward is redeemed or expired at a future date.

Revenue from CDI construction contracts is generally measured based on the ratio of costs incurred to total estimated contract costs (the “cost-to-cost method”). The length of each contract varies but is typically nine to eighteen months. The progress towards completion is determined by relating the actual costs of work performed to date to the current estimated total costs of the respective contracts. When the estimate on a contract indicates a loss, the entire loss is recorded in the current period.

Gift Card Revenue Recognition—The Company establishes a liability upon the sale of a gift card. The liability is relieved and revenue is recognized when gift cards are redeemed for merchandise. Gift card breakage income is determined based upon historical redemption patterns. The Company uses a homogeneous pool to recognize gift card breakage and will recognize income over the period in proportion to the pattern of rights exercised by the customer when the Company determines that it does not have a legal obligation to remit the value of unredeemed gift cards to the relevant jurisdiction as abandoned property. At that time, the Company will recognize breakage income over the performance period for those gift cards (i.e. 60 months) and will record it in service charges and other income. As of February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2024, gift card liabilities of $65.6 million and $67.3 million, respectively, were included in trade accounts payable and accrued expenses and other liabilities.

Advertising—Advertising and promotional costs, which include newspaper, magazine, Internet, broadcast and other media advertising, are expensed as incurred and were approximately $36.2 million, $38.1 million and $38.6 million, net of cooperative advertising reimbursements of $3.7 million, $4.4 million and $5.6 million for fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The Company records net advertising expenses in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Income Taxes—Income taxes are recognized for the amount of taxes payable for the current year and deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequence of events that have been recognized differently in the financial statements than for tax purposes. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are established using statutory tax rates and are adjusted for tax rate changes. Tax positions are analyzed to determine whether it is “more likely than not” that a tax position will be sustained upon examination by the appropriate taxing authorities before any part of the benefit can be recorded in the financial statements. For those tax positions where it is not “more likely than not” that a tax benefit will be sustained, no tax benefit is recognized. The Company classifies accrued interest expense and penalties relating to income tax in the consolidated financial statements as income tax expense.

Shipping and Handling—The Company records shipping and handling reimbursements in service charges and other income. The Company records shipping and handling costs in cost of sales.

Defined Benefit Retirement Plans—The Company’s defined benefit retirement plan costs are accounted for using actuarial valuations. The Company recognizes the funded status of its defined benefit pension plans on the consolidated balance sheet and recognizes changes in the funded status that arise during the period but that are not recognized as components of net periodic benefit cost, within other comprehensive income, net of income taxes.

Comprehensive Income—Comprehensive income is defined as the change in equity (net assets) of a business enterprise during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from non-owner sources. It consists of the net income or loss and other gains and losses affecting stockholders’ equity that, under GAAP, are excluded from net income or loss. One such exclusion is the amortization of retirement plan and other retiree benefit adjustments, which is the only item impacting our accumulated other comprehensive loss.

Supply Concentration—The Company purchases merchandise from many sources and does not believe that the Company was dependent on any one supplier during fiscal 2024.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures

In November 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures. The update modifies the disclosure/presentation requirements of reportable segments. The amendments in the update require the disclosure of significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker (CODM) and included within each reported measure of segment profit and loss. The amendments also require disclosure of all other segment items by reportable segment and a description of its composition. Additionally, the amendments require disclosure of the title and position of the CODM and an explanation of how the CODM uses the reported measure(s) of segment profit or loss in assessing segment performance and deciding how to allocate resources. This update is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2023, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. Early adoption is permitted. This ASU was adopted for the fiscal period beginning February 4, 2024.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Management has considered all recent accounting pronouncements and, except as noted below, believes there is no accounting guidance issued but not yet effective that would be relevant to the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures. The update requires increased transparency in tax disclosures, specifically by expanding requirements for rate reconciliation and income taxes paid information. ASU 2023-09 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact that this ASU will have on its income tax disclosures.

Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses

In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU No. 2024-03, Income Statement—Reporting Comprehensive Income—Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40). The update requires disclosure, in the notes to financial statements, of specified information about certain costs and expenses. The amendments in the update require that at each interim and annual reporting period an entity (i) disclose the amounts of (a) purchases of inventory, (b) employee compensation, (c) depreciation, (d) intangible asset amortization, and (e) depreciation, depletion, and amortization recognized as part of oil and gas-producing activities (DD&A) (or other amounts of depletion expense) included in each relevant expense caption; (ii) include certain amounts that are already required to be disclosed under current GAAP in the same disclosure as the other disaggregation requirements; (iii) disclose a qualitative description of the amounts remaining in relevant expense captions that are not separately disaggregated quantitatively; and (iv) disclose the total amount of selling expenses and, in annual reporting periods, an entity’s definition of selling expenses. The amendments in this update are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact that this guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes.