PLBY Group Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

PLBY Group (NASDAQ:PLBY) reported third-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s third-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

PLBY Group reported a 9% revenue increase to $31.7 million, while operating income nearly tripled to $4 million and net income rose to $1.9 million.

The company achieved its seventh consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, which nearly doubled year-over-year to $7.9 million, illustrating strong operational performance.

Strategic initiatives include the relaunch of a hospitality vertical in Miami Beach and the expansion of Honey Birdette’s product lines, both aimed at further leveraging the Playboy brand.

China licensing revenue grew nearly 40% year-over-year, supported by new agreements, and the company plans for further expansion in 2027.

Management expressed overall positive sentiment, emphasizing the company’s asset-light strategy and balanced growth across licensing, media, and hospitality.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to PLBY Group’s third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. During today’s presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be opened for questions. This conference is being recorded today, Thursday, November 5, 2026, and the earnings press release and Form 10-Q, from which information may be referenced during this conference call, were issued after the market closed today.

On our call today are PLBY Group’s Chief Executive Officer Ben Kohn and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Marc Crossman. I would like to remind you that the information discussed today is qualified in its entirety by the Form 8-K and Form 10-Q filed today by PLBY Group, which may be accessed on the SEC’s website and on PLBY Group’s website. Please note that statements made during this call, financial projections, and other statements that are not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements.

Such statements are made on the basis of PLBY Group’s views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance at the time they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update them. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks which could cause the company’s actual results to differ from its historical results and forecast, including those risks set forth in the SEC filings, and you should refer to and carefully consider those for more information.

This cautionary statement applies to all forward-looking statements made during this call. Do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. In addition, throughout today’s call, the company may refer to adjusted EBITDA and other adjusted financial measures, which are not GAAP financial measures, which it believes provide helpful information to investors about the performance of the business on an ongoing basis. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and other adjusted financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the company’s SEC filings, which are available on the PLBY Group investor relations website.

At this time I would like to turn the call over to PLBY Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Kohn. Ben, the floor is yours.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Two years ago, we laid out an asset-light strategy focused on content as a marketing engine for the brand and three revenue verticals for Playboy plus Honey Birdette. I am pleased to report that the business plan is working, and we have exciting updates for you on each of our verticals. Our run of high-profile covers continues: Cara Delevingne for summer and Charli XCX for fall, and our winter issue is close behind with two more big names that will grace the cover. Our three consecutive latest covers have generated more than 20 billion press impressions across press and social. The third quarter marked our seventh consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, and the foundation we laid for revenue growth is starting to take hold.

Revenue grew 9% to $31.7 million, operating income nearly tripled to $4 million, and net income was $1.9 million, or $0.02 per share, compared with half a million dollars, or less than a cent per share, a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was $7.9 million, nearly double the $4.1 million we reported a year ago—our strongest quarter since we began this transformation. Our net income margin expanded from approximately 2% to 6%, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded from 14% to 25%.

On a trailing 12‑month basis, adjusted EBITDA is now approximately $27 million, and approximately $30 million excluding litigation expenses. Before I touch on each of the verticals that contributed to our third quarter, I want to discuss a recent development regarding the relaunch of our hospitality vertical in Miami Beach. For 30 years, Playboy was a place you could walk into—the clubs and of course the Playboy Mansion—so we are pleased to announce that we have signed an agreement to acquire the property that is currently the Freehand Hotel in Miami Beach and to develop it into a private members club.

The property covers approximately an acre of land, with five buildings around the central courtyard and the pool. We have committed to using approximately $5 million of cash from our balance sheet, which we expect to get back from the sale of memberships in the future. The new club will be a foundational piece of our hospitality strategy. We continue to pursue our asset-light business model and strategy in which the Playboy brand serves as the foundation for licensing, media, and hospitality.

Given the potential licensing revenue and profit-share opportunity, we felt it is a better use of our cash in the short term than the share repurchase we were contemplating. We have also signed a term sheet with two proven partners—Think Hospitality for the operation of the club and Infinity Collective for the development of the real estate—both of which will be investing alongside us. Now onto Licensing. First, China: when we brought in UTG as our partner and operator in China earlier this year, we told you there would be a transition period—a couple of quarters where the revenue growth paused while UTG took over the business. We said that UTG needed time to get its footing, and the third quarter is the first concrete proof of what this partnership can do. UTG signed three new agreements with a combined contract value of roughly $15 million, and China licensing revenue grew nearly 40% year over year.

Based on their pipeline of new deals, we expect that business to keep growing from here. Second, in the rest of the world, the strategy of fewer, bigger, and better partners is producing the partnerships we said it would. We signed a new five-year agreement with our largest apparel licensee, with minimum guarantees increasing 10x, setting us up for the next phase of growth. Our Supreme collaboration did more than a million dollars of sales in its first 24 hours and has been extended into 2027. Ainsworth’s Playboy slot machine launched at G2E last month, and Ainsworth has called it the most successful product launch in its history.

Our Von Dutch collaboration launches in December. The team continues to build the pipeline, and we expect the rest-of-world licensing business to return to growth in 2027. Better partners mean bigger minimum guarantees and longer, more durable contracts. Across the segment, we now have $324 million of contracted, not-yet-recognized revenue. Onto Media. Paid subscriptions on Playboy.com have grown every month since its relaunch, and that pace has accelerated through the third quarter. We are testing our way into paid acquisition, and with our new CRM in place, every new member and every voter becomes someone we can market directly to. Paid voting continues to grow as well. Our Playboy and Honey Birdette model search drew roughly 48,000 contestants and more than 200,000 paying voters—about three times the contestants of the prior contest—and its revenue surpassed a million dollars, more than double the prior contest.

It’s important to note that, based on the deal structure, we only recognize our net profit, not the revenue. Our next contest, the Great Playmate Search, has just launched. It is, first and foremost, a top-of-the-funnel engine for our audience. On sponsorships—and we’ll be candid—it has taken longer than we expected. Brands wanted to see what Playboy is today before they would commit, and the run of covers has done a great deal to change that. Our first sponsorship campaign, a six-figure deal, is now signed and the production is now in the works, and we have several more in active discussions.

Lastly, Honey Birdette revenue grew 12% in the quarter, and operating income increased by nearly a million dollars, and adjusted operating income roughly doubled. The Playboy by Honey Birdette collab was one of the best-selling collections in its history. Moving forward, Honey Birdette is expanding its product lines to include swim and activewear, and, based on the success of the Playboy collaboration, has three new Playboy collections planned for next year.

With that, Marc, I’ll turn it over to you.

Marc Crossman (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you, Ben. Consolidated revenue for the third quarter was $31.7 million, up 9% from $29 million a year ago. Growth was led by Honey Birdette and China Licensing. Our new media and experiences revenue also contributed at a meaningful scale. For the first time, licensing revenue was $12.6 million, up 5% from 12 million in the year-prior quarter. China licensing revenue grew nearly 40% year over year driven by three new agreements UTG signed during the quarter.

The growth came from three sources: first, the expansion of an existing contract; second, the replacement of a licensee in an existing category with a much stronger partner; and third, a new category. That breadth is why we expect China to continue to grow in the rest of world. Licensing revenue was flat year over year excluding two one-time licensee audit settlements of more than half a million dollars in the prior year. Shortly after quarter end, we signed a new five-year agreement with our largest licensee. As Ben mentioned, the minimum guarantee is 10 times higher than before. That changes the timing of the revenue we record. We recognize the minimum guarantee evenly through the year. Royalties above the minimum are only recognized once the partner sales have earned out the full guarantee. With a much larger guarantee, revenues above the minimum guarantee happen later in each contract year.

The revenue from this partner will be lighter in the early quarters of each contract year and heavier in the later quarters. Only the timing within the year changes. Licensing gross margin remained at 96% and the segment generated $10.9 million of operating income in the quarter that had an operating margin of 86%. Revenue in our corporate segment grew to half a million dollars from $100,000 a year ago. This segment now captures our media and experiences businesses. The growth was driven by paid voting and sales of our summer and fall magazine issues. As Ben noted, we recognize only net profit from voting, not the gross revenue of more than $1 million.

Honey Birdette net revenue was $18.4 million, up 12% from 16.4 million a year ago. Total comparable sales grew 11% on top of a 3% comp in the third quarter of 2025. The mix underneath that number is the important part. Store comps grew 9% on top of a 22% comp a year ago, so our retail fleet kept growing against a very demanding comparison. Online comps were down 10% a year ago. This quarter online flipped to a positive 13% comp against a negative 10% comp a year ago.

Comps were led by the U.S. Both the retail and online channels got a lift in September from our Playboy Honey Birdette collaboration. It was one of the most successful collection launches in Honey Birdette’s history. It’s important to note that we delivered total revenue growth on a smaller footprint. We ended the quarter with 48 stores compared with 51 a year ago. We have two more closures planned and then we expect the rationalization of our store base complete.

Gross margin expanded to 63% from 61%, driven by full-price selling and higher average selling prices. Honey Birdette’s operating income increased by nearly $1 million and adjusted operating income roughly doubled to $2.4 million from $1.2 million a year ago. Selling and administrative expenses were $21.2 million, up $700,000 or 4% from $20.4 million a year ago. In corporate, the increase reflects $1.1 million of higher non-cash stock-based compensation and our investment in the media team behind our new revenue lines. We also increased marketing to support Honey Birdette’s growth. Those increases were partially offset by lower litigation-related legal expense. And in our licensing segment, operating income was $4 million compared with 1.4 million a year ago.

That is nearly a threefold increase. And our operating margin expanded from 5% to 13%. Net income was $1.9 million, or 2 cents per share, compared with half a million dollars in the third quarter of 2025. Net income margin expanded from approximately 2% to 6% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA was $7.9 million, nearly double the 4.1 million in the prior year quarter. That is an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25%. We ended the quarter with $34.9 million of total cash, including restricted cash. That compares with 37.1 million at the end of the second quarter.

The decline reflects the $3 million second installment of our share repurchase, which we paid in August. Excluding that payment, cash would have increased modestly. Total debt was $144.9 million, unchanged from the end of the second quarter and down from 159.9 million at year-end 2025. Net of the $29.7 million of unrestricted cash, net debt was approximately $115 million. That is roughly 3.8 times trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA. Excluding litigation, we’ve earmarked another $37 million to pay down debt by January of 2028, at which point total debt will decline to approximately $108 million.

Based on today’s cash, net debt would be approximately $85 million. That concludes my prepared remarks. Let me turn the call back to Ben.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Thank you, Mark. Two years ago we set out to make Playboy culturally relevant again, to build a profitable and growing asset-light platform, and to fix the balance sheet. Revenue grew 9% and we have set ourselves up for more growth in the future with our hospitality vertical now in clear sight. The profitability shows in seven straight quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA and a third quarter that nearly doubled the same quarter a year ago. And the balance sheet has been transformed with a clear path to further deleveraging already contracted.

We still have plenty of work to do, sponsorships to scale, a subscriber base to keep growing, and debt still to retire. But the trajectory is clear and we are building every new business the same way: test, measure, and lean into what works. With that, operator, let us open the line for questions.

OPERATOR

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press the star followed by the two. If you are using speaker equipment, you will need to lift the handset before making your selection. I will now pause as we assemble the queue. Our first question comes from James Heaney with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

James Heaney (Analyst at Jefferies)

Yeah, great, thank you, guys. Could you just talk about the long-term vision behind the hospitality business, and specifically the membership club in Miami? How do you see that as a driver of value for your brand and operational performance? And then I guess for Mark, just how should we think about the payback on this investment as you kind of think about memberships and other ways to recoup the initial cost? Thank you.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Sure. James, it’s Ben Kohn. Thanks for the question. You know, as we laid out two years ago, hospitality was one of the three verticals for Playboy and something that has been key to the company’s past. You know, I think our view internally is when a consumer can experience Playboy in real life, whether that be a party or a physical club, that’s where the brand really shines. This was a very unique opportunity, something that we’ve been working on for a long time to bring this to life in Miami Beach.

There is a property that came for sale and we took the opportunity to buy it. It’s an acre of land and we plan on turning that into a high-end membership club with two great operating partners alongside of us. The capital that we provided, we view that as really short term in nature and we are committed to our asset-light strategy long term. You know, this will be the foundation for something that we can actually take and license around the world with other partners, and that is our goal. Our goal is to not just have one club, to have many clubs through a licensing strategy. It also gives us the ability to expand our licensing categories. So if you look at other private member clubs around the country and around the world, you know, they might have a spa in that club and launch a bath line or a, you know, a product line around that.

I would think those are opportunities that our licensing team will continue to look at as we work through the programming and the build-out of this club. But, you know, this model that we have here is we bridge the financing, we expect to recoup our investment through membership sales. And then moving forward, we expect that our licensing model will be that of licensing plus profit share based on this club. Once we get this one up and running, you know, we look to take this to other places in the world through a licensing model.

You know, as far as memberships, you know, we’re working hard to get this deal closed and our goal would be, you know, to get the documents together and begin membership sales as soon as we possibly can.

James Heaney (Analyst at Jefferies)

Great. Maybe just a second one for me. I was hoping you could say more about just the licensing business in the quarter. I mean, you had some nice benefit from the new agreements you signed in China, but curious if you could talk about what you’re seeing in the U.S. and other markets as well.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Yeah. So look, I think it’s the strategy we laid out before, which is it all starts with the brand. And so it’s the content that we’re producing, it’s the people we’re working with, which is making the conversations the licensing team is having much easier in every meeting. And so we are seeing real traction in the U.S. We’re not quite ready to talk about that, but I would say that that pipeline is continuing to build, especially in the U.S. and actually in Europe as well.

We were just over there a week and a half ago and there’s some great prospects to continue to expand not only the partner side of it in existing categories—you know, fewer, bigger, better partners—but also category expansion as well. And so it takes time, right. It has to start with the brand, which is something we’ve been really working on this year. And we’ll continue to evolve on the content side as we move into 2027 and we’re starting to see the traction.

It’s the same thing we actually commented on with the sponsorship side. You know, we signed our first six-figure sponsorship and that pipeline is continuing to grow as well. But it all starts with the brand relevancy and the people and the creators that we work with.

James Heaney (Analyst at Jefferies)

Great. Thank you, Ben. Appreciate it.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Thank you.

OPERATOR

Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from George Kelly with ROTH Capital Partners. Please go ahead.

George Kelly (Analyst at ROTH Capital Partners)

Everyone, thanks for taking my questions. I guess to start, just a couple more on the Miami property. Curious if it needs a lot of work before you plan to start selling memberships and eventually open the club? What’s the timeline and the budget on assuming the deal closes sometime in the near term? And then after you open it, am I correct that this initial venue will be consolidated and something that you have on your books, or what is the exact structure, I guess, of this venue?

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Yeah. So let’s take the first question first. So as far as timeline, we very recently, in the last couple days, have signed a purchase agreement with our partners. You know, we expect to close on the property by year end. That will be filed as part of our 8-K and the purchase agreement. It’s a really unique property and, you know, very hard to find an acre of land and sort of something that is as unique as this property. The hotel, and through our partner Think, will continue to operate as is while we do work on the plans and, you know, Think operates, you know, 3,000 plus hotel rooms already in Miami.

And so we’re confident in their ability. And then, you know, we will work on plans for rehabilitation of the property. And at the same time, you know, there’s nothing that prevents you while you’re doing that from beginning membership sales. But the timing of that, you know, is still TBD.

George Kelly (Analyst at ROTH Capital Partners)

Okay. And then the structure of it and your consolidation, just all that kind of stuff.

Marc Crossman (Chief Financial Officer)

Yeah. George, it’s Marc. Yeah. To start, we will be consolidating it and again there are two pieces to it. It’s not just the JV itself. Then we’ll be collecting licensing revenue and other pieces of it. So part of it will be consolidated and some will be hitting the P and L from, you know, cash to us. But I think that’s on an overall basis for now.

George Kelly (Analyst at ROTH Capital Partners)

Okay. Okay, sounds good. And then separate topic, your license business. In the past you’ve been, I guess kind of hesitant or cautious just to give growth expectations there. I know it, you know, it’s. Some of these bigger deals are hard to, hard to know timing and you know, sort of step function growth within that business. But I’m curious if now you would revisit that. It seems like you’re getting more visibility into some of these things and UTG is progressing and so I’m curious, just high level, how we should think about growth in the license business, both in China and elsewhere.

And if you’d be willing to kind of share more on that front.

Marc Crossman (Chief Financial Officer)

Yeah, George, I think we’ll start with China. I think you’re going to continue to see this level of growth throughout the rest of the year, certainly going into the first half of 27. From there, we’ll see what our JV partner can bring to the table. But as everyone seems to be very optimistic on how that business is going to continue to grow from this point forward in terms of the kind of rest of world licensing, it will grow in 2027, I don’t think we’re ready to come out and tell you what that growth rate’s going to be.

But it has been in a period of some small contraction. It’s been a number of things that we’ve had to circle around like those two audits that I mentioned here. But I think in 27 you’ll see growth again. And everything Ben had mentioned, we’re not going to tell you what’s in the pipeline, but everything we see in front of us really leads us to believe that that business will grow next year.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Yeah. And I think, George, we commented on a couple of deals like the Ainsworth slot machine deal, which I think is off to a really good start, you know, a million dollars of sales in the first 24 hours. And that deal is now extended into 27 as well. So I think, again, I think we want to be cautious here. We don’t want to, you know, over promise and under deliver. But I think the team is feeling good about where we stand. And I think the work that we’ve done on the brand, which we will continue to do moving forward, makes the conversations, you know, across the board, from licensing partners to sponsorship partners, et cetera, better.

And you know, I think it’s sort of the flywheel that we talked about, you know, including what we’ve done on paid voting. Right. I mean, that contest doubled and you know, this, this third contest that we’re running now, we still have two and a half weeks left in registration and we’ve already surpassed the second contest in the number of people that have registered, so a number of contestants that have registered. So that all builds to a database that, you know, not only we can market to for our subscription business, but that we can bring to licensing partners as well.

George Kelly (Analyst at ROTH Capital Partners)

Okay, okay. And then last one for me is on Honey Birdette. Another strong quarter of double digit growth. The question is just you’re now lapping more challenging compares from last year and as we get into 27 and so what are you sort of most optimistic about or how should we just think about you working through those more challenging comparisons and sort of where we go from here?

Marc Crossman (Chief Financial Officer)

Yeah, I would say, you know, one of the interesting tells is on the retail side, we were lapping 20 plus comps and we’re still high single digits. So we’re really encouraged there. I’m not worried about that. And I can tell you in October, we’re growing again on a, on a comp basis. So we feel really good on the trajectory. And then as we go into Black Friday Cyber Monday, something we didn’t have in prior years because we were working through inventory, we have a lot of new to markdown that we’re going to be showing for Black Friday Cyber Monday, so we feel really good about that sale coming up.

So I’d say the outlook for us with Honey Birdette is great.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Yeah, George, I’ll add one thing to that as well. It’s the product line expansion. So I sort of mentioned this in the prepared remarks, but we just saw the designs for their new swimwear line, which we hope will launch in really the spring of next year around Miami Swim and hopefully with Playboy based in Miami, there’s something we’ll be doing together down there. And then also the Playboy Honey Birdette collab was one of the best launches in the company’s history, and we have three new ones planned for next year.

And then there’s also some stuff that Honey Birdette’s doing in athleisure wear that will be coming out. So it’s not just the existing category, but it’s also looking at expansion of those product lines, especially with the loyalty of that customer base that’s there.

George Kelly (Analyst at ROTH Capital Partners)

Okay, understood. Thank you.

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

Thanks, George. Thanks, George.

OPERATOR

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I’d like to turn the floor back over to our CEO Ben Kohn for closing comments. Ben,

Bernhard Kohn III (President and CEO)

I just want to thank all of the participants for listening to our call. You know, we have a lot of work to do, but the business is moving in the right trajectory and we look forward to talking to you next year on our fourth quarter earnings call. So thank you very much for dialing in.

OPERATOR

And this does conclude today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company’s SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants’ and analysts’ statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.