• Record results:
• Q4 sales of $784 million, up 14% vs. Q4 2020 and 19% vs. Q4 2019; FY 2021 sales of $2.9 billion, up 48% vs. FY 2020 and 3.5% vs. FY 2019
• Q4 and FY 2021 GAAP diluted EPS of $0.89 and $3.07; Q4 and FY 2021 adjusted diluted EPS¹ of $0.76 and $2.72, up 85% and 64% vs. pre-pandemic 2019 levels
• Q4 and FY 2021 operating margin of 22.6% and 22.3%; Q4 and FY 2021 adjusted operating margin¹ of 20.4% and 20.2%
• Q4 free cash flow¹ of $116 million, FY 2021 record level of $594 million
• Dividend increased by 10% and NCIB increased to up to 10% of public float
• Gildan Sustainable Growth strategy outlook reflects 3-Year net sales CAGR in the range of 7%-10% and annual operating margins in the 18%-20% range; Investor Day planned for March 29
• Gildan recognized in Corporate Knights 2022 World's 100 Most Sustainable Corporations

Montreal, Wednesday, February 23, 2022 - Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL: TSX and NYSE) today announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended January 2, 2022 and provided its three-year financial outlook.

“I am extremely proud of our team’s performance in 2021 which allowed us to capitalize on improving demand and deliver meaningful benefits from our Back to Basics strategy. We ended the year with a strong finish, growing above pre-pandemic levels and setting record results to build on,” said Glenn J. Chamandy, President and CEO of Gildan. "As we look to 2022 and beyond, we are building on our Back to Basics principles and heightening our focus towards the next phase of our journey with our “Gildan Sustainable Growth” plan centered on three key pillars — Enabling growth through Capacity Expansion, Innovation and ESG. By leveraging our competitive advantage as a low-cost vertically-integrated manufacturer and executing on projected capacity expansion plans, delivering superior quality, value-driven and innovative products to our customers, and leveraging our strong ESG standing, we are confident that we can drive strong organic revenue growth, profitability and effective asset utilization to deliver strong shareholder value and make meaningful advancements on our ESG priorities.”

We generated record sales for the fourth quarter of $784 million, up 14% over the prior year and 19% above the fourth quarter of 2019. We delivered another quarter of strong adjusted gross margin and SG&A performance, which together drove adjusted operating margin of 20.4%, up 510 basis points versus last year and 630 basis points above the fourth quarter of 2019. Strong sales and margin performance translated to record earnings for the quarter with GAAP diluted EPS of $0.89, and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.76 which was up 69% over last year and 85% from the same quarter in 2019. Free cash flow in the quarter totaled $116 million, bringing the total for the year to a record level of $594 million. During the fourth quarter, we repurchased approximately 3.2 million shares under our normal course issuer bid (NCIB) program at a total cost of approximately $123.4 million and followed with additional buybacks of close to 2.7 million shares during the first two months of 2022, bringing us close to completing the initial share allotment under our current plan. For the full year, the Company returned more than $335 million of capital to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividend payments. After taking into account the acquisition of Frontier Yarns, which we completed in the quarter, we ended fiscal 2021 with a net debt¹ position of $530 million and a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio¹ of 0.7, below our target range of one to two times adjusted EBITDA¹ . Consequently, given our outlook for free cash flow generation, valuation considerations and strong ongoing return of capital capability, we announced a 10% increase in the amount of our quarterly dividend and an increase in the size of our NCIB from 5% to up to 10% of the public float as at July 31, 2021 (the reference date for the NCIB).

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