During the period, our revenues reached $520 million doubling last year's results and were only 3% below revenues in the LLY period.
During the quarter, we delivered a 5% adjusted operating margin, which is remarkable.
The operating margin expansion was over 94[Phonetic] points versus LLY and was fueled by improvement in gross margin of almost 700 basis points and a lower SG&A rate of over 200 basis points.
Adjusted operating profit was $26 million in Q1, which compares to an adjusted operating loss of $109 million last year as we faced the most challenging time of the pandemic.
This also compares to an adjusted operating loss of $22 million in the LLY first quarter period, a $48 million improvement.
over the last 15 months.
This company has been relevant and thriving for 40 years because of its strong business sense, an incredible foresight into the future of not only consumer preferences but also dynamic business models.
First, after closing 140 retail locations and renegotiating over 340 store leases in the past 15 months, the company is operating with a new occupancy model.
Our e-commerce business in North America and Europe grew 61% in Q1 and delivered a very high level of profitability.
For the current fiscal year 2022, we now have a clear line of sight to a 300 basis point expansion of our operating margin compared to the LLY fiscal year 2020 period, which we closed with a 5.6% adjusted operating margin.
Longer term, we expect this to result in the acceleration of at least one year to reach our 10% operating margin goal by fiscal year 2024 versus our original estimate of fiscal year 2025.
In Europe, the Fall/Winter season that we recently closed have orders up single digits to last year with fewer accounts but higher average orders, and our licensing business grew over 14% in Q1 versus LLY.
Regarding our customer centricity initiative, our team is laser-focused on the full implementation of the Salesforce Customer 360 suite that we have mentioned in the past.
We saw a sequential improvement in sales performance across our businesses, and the structural changes that we have made to our cost and margin model over the last 15 months allowed us to capitalize on this improvement in demand for our product in a big way.
As a result, we delivered an adjusted operating profit in Q1 for the first time in 6 years, with every of our segments delivering higher profit than pre-pandemic LLY.
First quarter revenues were $520 million, down 3% to LLY in US dollars and 5% in constant currency.
I want to note that these permanent store closures are really accretive to profitability, representing about $10 million of incremental operating profit in the first quarter.
Additionally, government restrictions for our retail operations in Europe and Canada had a material negative impact on our sales with these temporary store closures worth about 12% of sales versus LLY for the total company during the quarter.
I'm happy to report that we continue to see sequential momentum in our e-commerce business, which was up 61% for the quarter in North America and Europe.
This compares to 38% in Q4, 19% in Q3 and 9% in Q2.
In Americas retail, revenues were down 12%.
Store comps in the US and Canada were down 1% in constant currency, a vast improvement to Q4, which was down 21%.
In Europe, revenues were up 15%.
Store comps for Europe were down 17% in constant currency, still muted by the increase in COVID levels in that region, but also an improvement to last quarter, which was down 26%.
In Asia, revenue was down 35%.
This was driven by permanent store closures and negative store comps of down 25% in constant currency.
Sales comps in South Korea and China were down in the high teens, however, other areas in the region, like Japan were down over 50% as they continue to struggle with COVID outbreaks.
Our Americas wholesale sales were down 2% to LLY, this business has shown consistent improvement quarter-to-quarter.
Licensing revenues also outperformed and were up 14% to LLY in Q1, driven by strong performance in handbags, fragrance and footwear.
Gross margin for the quarter was 40.7%, almost 700 basis points higher than 2 years ago.
Our product margin increased 20 basis points this quarter versus LLY, primarily as a result of higher IMU, which increased 300 basis points, partially offset by business mix.
Occupancy rate decreased 660 basis points.
This quarter, we booked roughly $6 million in rent credits for fully negotiated rent release deals, mostly in Europe.
Adjusted SG&A for the quarter was $186 million compared to $204 million 2 years ago, a decrease of $19 million or 9% and better than our expectations.
In addition, there was a benefit of about $7 million from government subsidies, mainly in Europe, which was partially offset by higher variable expenses related to the growth of our e-commerce businesses.
Adjusted operating profit for the first quarter was $26 million versus an adjusted operating loss of $22 million in Q1, 2 years ago.
Our first quarter adjusted tax rate was 28%, up from 11% two years ago, driven by the mix of statutory earnings.
Inventories were $405 million, up 3% in US dollars and down 4% in constant currency versus last year.
We ended the first quarter with $395 million in cash.
Cash was $419 million in the prior year.
On a net basis, we grew net cash by $115 million from the prior year.
Our receivables were $306 million, up from $240 million last year.
We are, however, collecting from our accounts materially faster than last year, with DSO in Europe down about 20% this quarter.
Capital expenditures for the quarter were $9 million, up from $6 million in the prior year as we begin to strategically reinvest in technology and select remodels.
Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $65 million, an increase of $3 million versus negative $68 million last year.
In Americas retail, we continue to see performance roughly follow trends in Q1 and expect total revenue declines for Q2 and the rest of the year to be in line with our Q1 performance, which was down 12% versus LLY, primarily impacted by permanent store closures.
In terms of profit, adjusted gross margin in the second quarter is expected to be around 400 basis points better than LLY, driven primarily by lower occupancy costs as well as improved IMUs and lower promotions.
We anticipate that the adjusted SG&A rate will be up 150 basis points as cost savings are offset by lower sales levels and reinvestments and business expansion initiatives, including advertising.
For the full fiscal year 2022, we expect operating margin to expand by approximately 300 basis points to LLY.
This would bring operating margin for the year to around 8.6% versus LLY adjusted operating margin of 5.6%.

Summary:
As a result, we delivered an adjusted operating profit in Q1 for the first time in 6 years, with every of our segments delivering higher profit than pre-pandemic LLY.
First quarter revenues were $520 million, down 3% to LLY in US dollars and 5% in constant currency.