Yahoo Finance

Thanks, and over to you Amie.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Stuart. That concludes our prepared comments, and at this time, we'd be happy to take any of your questions. In the interest of time and consideration to others, a reminder to please limit yourself to one question.

And I'll turn it back over to Natalia.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Susan Anderson with the B. Riley FBR.

Susan Anderson -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering, if you can maybe just give some thoughts on the industry. It's obviously -- in terms of Internet category, it's obviously been tough for some time, not only in your business, but we've seen that department store struggle with their intimates departments. I guess, I'm more curious on, are you seeing pricing pressure with new players popping up, and I think being more price-competitive, and then also we've seen a lot of online players pop up, and maybe not individually, are they taking market share, but when you kind of add them all up, is it kind of making an impact on the industry and making it more difficult, I guess to gain market share and maybe adding some pricing pressure?

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thanks for the questions Susan. Our thoughts on the intimate apparel category are that it's a great category, I think the one observation or reflection, I would have on others entering the category is they're doing so because it's an attractive category. It's got the opportunity for differentiation, inherently when it's intimate apparel versus underwear has emotional content, and from that a lot of economic value can be created for companies -- participants in the category. So, we think it's a great category.

In terms of recent developments, pricing pressure, commoditization, I mean at the end of the day, it comes back to the merchandise, if the merchandise is special, unique, reflects fashion, has newness, has technical benefit, there are terrific opportunities in the category. So, we feel very good about the category.

And again, I would characterize the entrance of new participants, frankly, as a sign of that in that it's an attractive category. So, with that said, are we meeting our expectations right now in the category? We're not. And we're obviously very focused on improving the trend of our business, and John Mehas and Amy particularly, most focused on improving the merchandise. But overall, we think it's a great category. Thank you.

Susan Anderson -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst

Thank you.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Susan. Next question please?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Mark Altschwager with Baird.

Mark Altschwager -- Baird -- Analyst

Good morning. Thank you. Stuart, last quarter, in the prepared remarks, it really discussed everything that you're looking at everything at VS, and today, you've announced a planned 3% reduction in VS square footage, speaking optimistically about the improved assortments later in the year. Just curious, if there's any additional actions being contemplated or bigger picture changes on the brand positioning, marketing plans, cost structure that you can speak to today? Just to give us a bit more perspective on the change that's happening within the brand. And then, as a follow-up, specifically on the assortment, wondering if you can help us contextualize what will be changing later in the year?

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Well, in terms of the change agenda at Victoria's Secret, as you I think are recognizing in the form of your question -- in our prepared remarks, the most important thing in our view is the merchandise. And again, that's where, John and Amy our spending and Greg, the substantial majority of their time as they should. The merchandise and that deep understanding of the customer.

With that said, we have, and will continue to review all significant aspects of the Victoria's Secret business; whether that's how we market, how we sell online and in stores, the experience customers have in stores and online, the cost structure of the business, the real estate footprint and format of the business and we've embarked on detailed review of all those things, specifically on real estate, our store closure plans are heightened in 2018, and we pulled back on investing in new -- new stores and the remodeling of stores substantially over the last several years.

But, truly, everything is on the table. Amy has been in seat, just since October and John's just a couple of weeks in, so you can appreciate that they'll want to make sure that they have a full appreciation of the situation before they make major changes.

But with that said, they're very intensely engaged in the business, and again, most focused on the merchandise, but truly everything is on the table. And for example, we did a deep review of all of our real estate in the fourth quarter, which solidified and gave rise to our plans about capital activity, spending activity in 2019. And again, a more active closure plan for 2019 than we'd seen in prior years. But truly, everything is on the table with the dominant focus on the customer and on the merchandise. Thanks.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Mark. Thank you.

Mark Altschwager -- Baird -- Analyst

Thank you.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Next question please?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo.

Lauren Frasch -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Good morning. This is Lauren Frasch on for Ike. I wanted to ask, how you're thinking about promotions this year? What's the plan as of today, and how you're thinking about AUR versus last year and how we should think about your inventory positioning in 2019 at VS versus 12 months ago. Thank you.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Well, I'll start with a discussion of promotions at Bath & Body Works that's a nice business, that's part of L Brands as you know, I'm sorry and I have a little bit of humor here. But that important part of our business was actually able to reduce promotional activity in 2018, and particularly in the fourth quarter. So, what really drives the promotional level in these businesses is the quality of the merchandise and the quality of running the business in a disciplined manner.

And when we get that right, compelling, fresh, merchandise -- promotional levels come down, AURs go up, margins are healthy, inventory turns are strong and Bath & body has a strong record of that and had incremental progress in 2018, in terms of reducing promotion. With respect to Victoria Secret, the mindset or the thinking is the same, which is when you get the merchandise more right than wrong you're able to reduce promotion. As you can appreciate, substantial change in the assortment will occur more in the back half of 2019 than in the front half of 2019. So, we have been more promotional than we would like, over the last several years through improvement in the merchandise assortment with ongoing, disciplined management of inventory we would expect that we'll be able to reduce promotional levels as we move forward. But it's going to take a little bit of time. Hopefully, that answers your question. Thanks.

Lauren Frasch -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Great. Thank you Stuart.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question is from the line of Kimberly Greenberger with Morgan Stanley.

Kimberly Greenberger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Great, thank you so much. Good morning. My question is on lingerie, I'm wondering, if you can sort of look back over the last year and a half, lingerie seem to be gaining some momentum from new launches in the back half of 2017, and other than lapping the bralette business in the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018, it seemed like it had a little bit of momentum, driven largely by some of those new product introductions. And then, in the back half of 2018 it seem to back slide a little bit.

Now, I'm wondering, Stuart if you can correct my understanding, if I'm not recapping it correctly, and I'm wondering if you've had time to look back and dig a little deeper into exactly what happened, so that you can have, at least, some starting point for how to repair that business.

Thank you so much.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yes. Thanks Kimberly, thanks for the question. I think the thing that I would add to your framing of what occurred and you're asking for more insight obviously, is some of our core bra franchises and particularly Body by Victoria, had a deceleration in trend, year-on-year pressure that's got more significant, as we moved through 2018, Kimberly. And that pressure in those core franchises, again not limited to, but principally Body by Victoria is really what drove the further pressure as we moved through 2018.

And what that comes back to is, innovation. Everything's got a life-cycle and as one gets later in life cycles, you have got to innovate and update and create differentiation, and we got a bit behind on that in some of these core bra franchises and you can be sure that John and the team there are intensely focused on that very question and that opportunity, frankly and, that's going to be a big -- is a big priority, as we move through 2019.

But, in terms of what drove the change in performance, it is that deceleration in some big books of business that where what I'd call core sub-brands that have existed for a long time that weren't sufficiently updated with fashion or innovation to continue their strength.

Kimberly Greenberger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Thanks so much.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Kimberly. Next question please?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Kate Fitzsimons with RBC Capital Markets.

Kate Fitzsimons -- RBC Capital -- Analyst

Yes hi, good morning. I was wondering, if we could dig in a bit more into the marketing side of the equation at VS. Could you just speak to any of the work you are doing to reexamine how you're communicating with the customer on the brand position. What were some of the learnings last year, as you've evolved its positioning to more of a self empowerment, me day versus we day angle for example? And what's the view on how that's evolving this year and how do you see the fashion show fitting into all of that?

Thank you.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Well, as we've tried to be clear about, we are taking a fresh hard look at everything, in the business, so that would be the first point to register. The second thing I would just articulate is, the dominant focus is understanding the customer, and making significant improvement to the merchandise assortment, and, we've taken a fresh look at all of the marketing. We don't have any specific announcements about the fashion show.

We don't typically make announcements about the fashion show, at this time of year. But, we're looking at all aspects of the marketing of the business, and John's heavily involved in that, as are other leaders in the business and we're spending a lot of time taking a fresh hard look at all those things, and will be more to report as we move through 2019. But, we don't normally comment on the fashion show, at this time of year. But, we're taking a fresh, hard look at everything.

Kate Fitzsimons -- RBC Capital -- Analyst

Great. And then, if I could just follow up with one quick question on the first quarter guidance. Negative low single digits, could you speak to February trends thus far, and I guess how should we contextualize that with the thought that Swim is launching next month and also inventories are clean?

Thank you.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. So, February has been a little choppy, because of what we believe to be some effect from tax refund timing. I think that's well understood and being written about otherwise, but we're not going to comment specifically on February, as beyond that. As we highlighted in our circulated commentary, we are going to move to a quarterly reporting of sales and results based on feedback from shareholders, trying to minimize the noise and often misinterpretation of results, based on calendar shifts and holidays and year-on-year promotional changes and we've laid out the key assumptions for our Q1 results. So -- but February has been a little choppy because of the timing of tax refunds.

Thank you.

Thanks. Next question please?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Jamie Merriman with Bernstein.

Jamie Merriman -- Bernstein -- Analyst

Thanks very much. Just two quick ones from me. The first one is, can you just talk a little bit about your process for identifying the stores to close, what do you expect the financial impact of those closures to be, and is this just the first wave in terms of what you would expect over the next few years? And then second, is -- I think in the past, you talked about relaunching digital for Victoria's Secret, this year, is that still on track and when would that happen? Thanks.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

What was the last part of your question?

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Re-launching digital.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So, on store closures, like how do we go about it and so on, and you asked, is this the first wave and I'm saying this with a little bit of intended humor, it's an important subject you're asking about. I actually would assert that this is about our 50th wave, and what I mean by that is, we close stores every year. So, that's an ongoing part of running the business. How we go about it, as we look at current and projected performance, sales, profit, cash flow, we look at trade area dynamics and how store openings and closings affect nearby stores, and to a lesser extent our online business.

And based on those historic and projected results, not just for the store in question, but for nearby stores, we make judgments about what the projected sales profit cash flow results would be, also in relation to what it may cost to exit a store. And based on those criteria, we close stores, and in fact we close stores every year. At Bath & Body Works and at Victoria's, and we also open stores every year.

We are closing more stores in 2000 -- we did in 2018 and expected in 2019, based on the overall performance of the Victoria's Secret business, not meeting our expectations or having year-on-year declines. But, that's how we go about it, it's detailed, it's rigorous, it's fact-based, and again, the result is we're closing more stores at Victoria's than we have, over the last few years. But again, I wouldn't want you to think that we do it in ways. It's an ongoing part, of a good multi-unit business, whether it's a restaurant business or a retail business, it's a good ongoing part of the running of the business.

We have a lot of flexibility in our real estate terms. So, for those malls that are the most vulnerable malls, we have a lot of opportunity to exit those situations with no -- at no cost or with very little cost. So, we've got a lot of flexibility and on an overall basis, our real estate portfolio is in pretty good shape. Do we have some opportunities? We do. We've recognized some impairment costs in our results this year, but on an overall basis, our real estate's in good shape, and that's because it is very actively managed, as an ongoing part of the running of the business. With respect to relaunching the Victoria's website, I think that was the question. We have been working on that over the last several years. The project is in good shape. We are currently doing testing of the new online platform, a live testing and expect to go live broadly on that conversion in probably April. But again, it will be a function of testing, which at this point is going well, but likely to do the cut over roundly in the April timeframe, and we will have the ability to revert back to the legacy system, if we have any challenges as we cut over.

But that project is in good shape and will create capabilities for us, to do a lot of things that we're very enthused about doing over the next year or two. In terms of consumer facing, customer facing things that many others do today, that then, we will be able to do. Thanks.

Jamie Merriman -- Bernstein -- Analyst

Thanks.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Just a reminder, one question please. We've got a lot of folks in the queue. So, next question?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Paul Lejuez with Citi Research.

Paul Lejuez -- Citi Research -- Analyst

Hey, thanks guys. Just regarding everything being on the table, I'm curious if we've already seen the big changes whether Swim, store closures that we're talking about today or are there still bigger things to come, related to the Victoria's Secret brand in your view, and I'm curious what are some of the big things that have already been considered and maybe shutdown, perhaps shot down? Thanks.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yes. It'll be dynamic Paul, as it should be. So, we'll learn more as time goes by. But, we're not constrained in our thinking or the options that could be considered or should be considered, and we're trying to make the best decisions possible in the running of the business, starting with a customer mindset. Obviously, a mindset about producing the appropriate financial results for the business and for the shareholders of the business.

But we aren't constrained and we're trying to use our best judgment, which certainly isn't perfect, there's no such thing but pretty reasonable judgment and our dominant focus has been clear through my remarks already this morning, and through the script. The dominant focus is on the merchandise.

With that said, we have and we will continue to take a hard look at everything and we'll report along the way. But there are no constraints. We're not financially constrained and we've got a lot of different things that we have and can consider, but I think it's also important to be very clear that our dominant focus John's, Amy's, Greg's is on the customer and on the merchandise, because that's what matters most. Thanks.

Paul Lejuez -- Citi Research -- Analyst

All right. And (inaudible) how to change, but have you thought about how you're definitely not going to change in any way. Like you said, things that have been already, maybe shot down?

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

There are, truly Paul, and we know each other pretty well, (inaudible) listening to the call. I mean, I know that, but we've worked together for a while, I mean, there are no constraints Paul, none. The only constrain is what's the right thing -- there are constraints of law, right, what's legal or not, right. But, apart from what's legal or not, we're not constrained. What's relevant to a customer? That's an important consideration, obviously, but otherwise we're not constrained.

Paul Lejuez -- Citi Research -- Analyst

Yes. Thank you, good luck.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Paul. Next question?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Alexandra Walvis with Goldman Sachs.

Alexandra Walvis -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Great. Thanks so much for taking the question. Our question is on the comp guide for the business. So, comps of low single-digits. I wonder, if you could give us some color on how you're expecting that to parse out between the two businesses, in particular we're interested in Bath & Body Works and what's giving you the confidence that, that business can continue to comp against, what are some slightly tougher compares as we go into next year?

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. The most important thing in the guidance is the assumed progress for Victoria's as we move through the year. That's the most important judgment or the most important assumption in the 2019 guidance, and this is summarizing, but in terms of trying to headline it in the early part of the year, we're assuming comps in margin dollar results for Victoria's Secret Lingerie and PINK, particularly, that are generally in line with the most recent trends, and then we're assuming improvement as we move through the year. That's the most important assumption.

Separately, you're asking about, can Bath & Body lapped up numbers, and to what extent? Bath & Body is a very well-led business, it's in a very strong category of retailing, in terms of personal care and beauty, and we believe it's reasonable that they can continue their success. Are we expecting the same degree, fully, ultimately in operating income, the same degree of success in 2019, in OI dollars as they produced in 2018? No. There's a little bit of moderation in the OI dollar result.

But, we have confidence that, that business can continue to perform well. It's very well led, it's in a very good category of retailing. They've got good current result. So, we think we've made reasonable assumptions, with respect to Bath & Body Works, it won't be easy by any stretch, but it's a very well-led business and a great category at retailing and the recent results have been very good.

The more fundamental assumption is the degree and rate of improvement for Lingerie and PINK, and we've tried to deal with that appropriately. But, as you can appreciate that's a hard judgment to make. Thank you.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Alex. Next question?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group.

Dana Telsey -- Telsey Advisory Group -- Analyst

Good morning everyone. As you think about the international business, how are you planning investment in international and expectations for international in 2019 as compared to 2018? Thank you.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So Dana, good morning. First of all, there are multiple components of the international business, as you can appreciate. So, in terms of how we think about investment, and I would, describe it as first through the combination of our own company-owned businesses and then also the franchise and partner-owned businesses. We expect to grow the store count meaningfully in the international business in 2019 roundly opening between company-owned and partner-owned stores between 100 stores and say 120 stores, so that's good growth.

We'll also, as we do in our company-owned business in North America, will continue to close stores either based on lease expiration or as we open full-assortment stores in nearby geography. But, good growth in terms of store count, for international. It is skewed toward the partner-owned businesses because we're moderating our growth at this stage for China, and we're not adding stores in the UK, but good strong store-based growth for the international business in total, again roundly between 100 stores and 120 stores, and ongoing growth in the digital part of that business as well -- the online part of that business.

So, we think a good growth profile overall with an adjustment in growth in China. As we learn more about the appropriate store size and format there, but strong growth online in China as well in 2019. In the UK, right now, the opportunity is to drive more sales through the existing store footprint that we have. Thanks.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Dana. Next question?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Roxanne Meyer with MKM Partners.

Roxanne Meyer -- MKM Partners -- Analyst

Great. Good morning, thanks for taking my question. My question is on Victoria's Secret Beauty, it had a pretty strong comp in the fourth quarter mid-single digits. But, you did call out that it didn't meet expectations and perhaps was more promotional. So, just looking for some hindsighting on beauty and how you're thinking about it in 2019. Thank you.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yes. Beauty had as you mentioned, Roxanne in your question Beauty had a solid 2018 and was somewhat stronger in the first part of the year than in the fourth quarter, and the opportunity for further improvement of that business is particularly focused on the prestige fragrance part of that business, and Greg is very focused on that. He and his team are very capable, and the differential growth opportunity or the hindsight from 2018 that's particularly shaping the agenda for 2019, is to really to have more success in the pursuit of the proceeds business.

With that said, I think by last count, we've got four of the top 20 fragrances -- perfume fragrances sold, either globally or in the United States. So, we're starting from a strong basin, probably most people don't know that we have four of the top 20. So, it's a good strong business with good margin profile. But, in terms of growth opportunity, we see the opportunity to accelerate growth, and particularly in that part of the business. Thanks.

Roxanne Meyer -- MKM Partners -- Analyst

Great. Thanks.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Roxanne. Next question?

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Marni Shapiro with The Retail Tracker.

Marni Shapiro -- The Retail Tracker -- Analyst

Hey everybody. Just dovetailing, actually a little bit on what Roxanne asked a different segment though. Could you give us an update on Victoria's Secret Sport? It's been a little up and down, you've used it as a promotional vehicle to drive traffic. I guess, what's the thinking there today and what should we expect going forward from that part of the brand?

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, thanks Marni. So, in the spirit of everything's on the table. John is taking a fresh look at that part of the business. Obviously at leisure, and sport is a key category of apparel, retail and intimate apparel sport bras are an important part of that segment. But, what I'm confident about is that John will take a fresh hard look at it, we don't have anything further to announce about it today. But, it's an important segment and I know John will be taking a fresh hard look at them.

Marni Shapiro -- The Retail Tracker -- Analyst

Alright great. Best of luck.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Marni. I think we'll take one last question.

Operator

Your final question is from the line of Paul Trussell with Deutsche Bank.

Paul Trussell -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Good morning, and thank you. I wanted to just maybe get a few more details around the puts and takes on margins, Stuart you mentioned that -- continue to have incremental promotions at VS to maybe start the year, at least that's the expectation in the 1Q guide.

Just help us maybe understand what you see as the opportunity to get some stabilization there or any other initiatives that will improve the rate of gross margin as the year progresses. And the same on SG&A, what are the puts and takes here that are leading to the guidance of just an increase of low single digits? Thanks.

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thanks Paul. So, the opportunity in margin rate at Victoria's, Lingerie, PINK and Beauty is a very substantial one, ad we won't get all of that opportunity in 2019, but we would expect to make progress as we go through the year. But, just to dimension the opportunity versus the record year of 2015, we're in the order of five percent points or six percentage points versus 2015.

So, there's a very substantial opportunity. Am I, from that comment suggesting we're going to get all that in 2019? I am not. But through the focus on the customer, and the focus on merchandise with ongoing disciplined management of inventories, there is a very substantial opportunity for margin in this business, and it starts and ends with that customer understanding and that strong management of the merchandise assortment.

So, that's the big picture answer to your question, or in my view the most important answer to your question. As we improve the merchandise assortment, as we move through 2019, we would expect to see some improvement in year-on-year result on margin rate. But really, that's how I would address the question, very substantial opportunity. Thanks Paul.

Paul Trussell -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Thank you. Best of luck.

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Thanks Paul. Thanks all for joining us this morning and thank you for your continuing interest in L Brands.

Operator

This concludes today's earnings call. Thank you for your participation, you may now disconnect.

Duration: 34 minutes

Call participants:

Amie Preston -- Chief Investor Relations Officer

Stuart Burgdoerfer -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Susan Anderson -- B. Riley FBR -- Analyst

Mark Altschwager -- Baird -- Analyst

Lauren Frasch -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Kimberly Greenberger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Kate Fitzsimons -- RBC Capital -- Analyst

Jamie Merriman -- Bernstein -- Analyst

Paul Lejuez -- Citi Research -- Analyst

Alexandra Walvis -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Dana Telsey -- Telsey Advisory Group -- Analyst

Roxanne Meyer -- MKM Partners -- Analyst

Marni Shapiro -- The Retail Tracker -- Analyst

Paul Trussell -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

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