EXHIBIT 99.1
MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) is designed to provide the
reader of the financial statements with a narrative on our results of operations, financial position and liquidity, risk management activities, significant accounting policies and critical estimates, and the future impact of accounting standards
that have been issued, but are not yet effective. MD&A is presented in the following sections: Overview and Significant Transaction, Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates, Results of Operations and Financial Condition. It is useful to read
the MD&A in conjunction with the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto contained elsewhere in this document. Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this MD&A to the
Company, Birks, we, our, ours, and us refer to Birks Group Inc., a Canadian corporation.
Annually, our fiscal year ends on the last Saturday of March. We refer to the prior fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 as fiscal 2018, and
the current fiscal year ending March 30, 2019 as fiscal 2019. Fiscal 2019 consists of
fifty-two
weeks and fiscal 2018 consisted of fifty-three weeks.
The Company has changed its reporting currency in fiscal 2019 from U.S. dollars ($USD) to Canadian dollars ($CAD) for the period commencing
April 1, 2018 in order to better reflect the fact that subsequent to the Companys divestiture of its former wholly-owned subsidiary, Mayors Jewelers Inc. (Mayors) on October 23, 2017, its business is primarily
conducted in Canada, and a substantial portion of its revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities are denominated in $CAD. The Companys functional currency remains $CAD. All figures presented in this MD&A are in $CAD unless otherwise
specified and all prior periods comparative financial information has been recast as if the Company always used $CAD as its reporting currency (refer to note 1 of our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form
6-K).
Overview
Birks is a leading designer of fine jewelry, timepieces and gifts and operator of luxury jewelry stores in Canada, with wholesale operations in
North America and the U.K. As of the date of this MD&A, we have two reportable segments, Retail and Other. Retail consists of our Canadian retail operations whereby we operate stores under the Birks brand except for three stores operated under
the Brinkhaus, Graff and Patek Philippe brands. Other consists primarily of our
e-commerce
business and wholesale business. Prior to the Aurum Transaction (defined below), we operated stores in Florida and
Georgia under the Mayors brand except for one store operated under the Rolex brand.
Significant Transaction
On August 11, 2017, the Company entered into a stock purchase agreement (the Stock Purchase Agreement) with Aurum Holdings
Ltd., a company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, which assigned its rights and obligations under the Stock Purchase Agreement to Aurum Group USA, Inc., a Delaware corporation (Aurum) to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary,
Mayors, which operated in Florida and Georgia and was engaged primarily in luxury timepieces and jewelry retail activities. The sale was completed on October 23, 2017 for total consideration of $135.0 million ($USD 106.8 million).
As part of the Aurum Transaction, Birks entered into a 5 year distribution agreement with Aurum (the Distribution Agreement) to
sell Birks fine jewelry in the U.K. at Mappin & Webb and Goldsmiths stores and on their respective
e-commerce
platforms. Furthermore, pursuant to the Distribution Agreement, the Birks collections
continue to be sold in the United States through Mayors stores in Florida and Georgia. The Distribution Agreement is an important achievement in the Companys strategy to develop the Birks brand into a global luxury brand. The Aurum Transaction
constitutes a significant step in the Companys efforts to strengthen its balance sheet and to execute its strategic vision of investing in the Birks brand.
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