The other elements of the full year 2022 outlook provided by the company last month remained unchanged. 

“Against a backdrop of extremely challenging macroeconomic, consumer and competitive environments, we expect to deliver full year 2022 comparable sales and diluted loss per share within the ranges of our prior outlook,” said Tim Baxter, chief executive officer. 

“Reduced spending in discretionary categories and an increased appetite for deep discounts continued into the fourth quarter which negatively impacted our business. Despite these headwinds, we remain confident in our ability to achieve our stated goal of long-term, profitable growth in the Express brand and are committed to returning to profitability in 2023.”

In December, WHP Global announced a $260 million investment into Express to form a strategic partnership and an intellectual property joint venture. As a result, the fashion company will be 60% owned by WHP and 40% owned by the Express platform company. 

The investment is expected to allow Express to scale through new domestic category licensing and international expansion opportunities, as well as advance an omnichannel platform. 

“We are on track to close our recently announced deal with WHP in January 2023. This mutually transformative, strategic partnership will advance our EXPRESSway Forward strategy, scale our Express brand, provide WHP access to a fully integrated, omnichannel operating platform, and accelerate the growth of our company,” added Baxter.