Caleres Q4 sales decline

Caleres consolidated sales in the fourth quarter of 698.9 million dollars were down approximately 3 percent. The company said in a statement, Famous Footwear total sales of 369.5 million dollars were up 1.2 percent, with same-store-sales up 5.1 percent and Brand Portfolio sales of 346 million dollars, were down 9.4 percent. Gross profit for the quarter was 278.8 million dollars, while gross margin was 39.9 percent and adjusted gross margin was 40.1 percent. Net earnings were 0.4 million dollars, resulting in an earnings per diluted share of 1 cent.

“Despite a challenging footwear market that resulted in our earnings to be less than expected, Caleres made excellent progress on a range of value-creating strategic objectives during 2019,” said Diane Sullivan, CEO, President and Chairman of Caleres, adding, “Looking ahead, in the short-term, we do anticipate disruptions related to the coronavirus and are expecting headwinds between 15 cents and 20 cents per share in the first quarter of 2020.”

For fiscal 2019, consolidated sales of 2,921.6 million dollars were up 3.1 percent, Brand Portfolio sales of 1,406.5 million dollars, up 7.1 percent, driven by the company’s 2018 acquisitions and Famous Footwear total sales of 1,588.1 dollars million, were down 1.2 percent, with same-store-sales up 2 percent. Gross profit was 1,184.4 million dollars, while gross margin was 40.5 percent and adjusted gross margin was 40.8 percent. Net earnings for the year were 62.8 million dollars resulting in an earnings per diluted share of 1.53 dollars, while adjusted net earnings of 86.4 million dollars were down approximately 9 percent and adjusted diluted net earnings per share were down approximately 5 percent to 2.10 dollars per share.

For fiscal 2020, the company expects net sales to remain flat at 2.95 billion dollars, brand portfolio sales to remain flat or increase low to single digits, Famous Footwear comparable sales to increase low single digits and earnings per diluted share to range between 1.95 dollars and 2.15 dollars.

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