Men's Wearhouse narrows losses, updates outlook

GAAP loss per share at Men’s Wearhouse, for fiscal fourth quarter 2014 was 0.75 dollars and adjusted loss per share was 0.03 dollars excluding non-operating items. GAAP loss per share for fiscal year 2014 was 0.01 dollar and adjusted EPS was 2.58 dollars excluding non-operating items. Total net sales increased 65.6 percent, or 367.8 million dollars, to 928.4 million dollars in the fourth quarter. Total net sales for the full year increased 31.5 percent, or 779.3 million dollars, to 3,252.5 million dollars.

Retail segment sales for the quarter increased by 74.1 percent, or 368.7 million dollars, due to 337 million dollars in sales at Jos. A. Bank and an increase in comparable sales at all other retail brands. Corporate apparel sales decreased by 1.4 percent or 0.9 million dollars. Year-to-date retail segment sales increased by 34.5 percent, or 768.8 million dollars, due to 684 million dollars in sales at Jos. A. Bank since the closing of the acquisition and an increase in comparable sales at all other retail brands and corporate apparel sales increased by 4.3 percent or 10.6 million dollars.

Commenting on the results, Doug Ewert, Men's Wearhouse Chief Executive Officer, said, “We continue to be pleased with the robust earnings performance of our legacy brands. Fueling this performance in the fourth quarter are comparable sales increases of 6.8 percent at Men's Wearhouse, 8.6 percent at Moores and 6.8 percent at K&G. And while Jos. A. Bank's comparable sales were negative 6.6 percent, they were above our expectations."

Net sales at Men's Wearhouse, which represented 41 percent of total fourth quarter sales, were up 8.4 percent. The higher margin tuxedo rental revenues comparable sales increased 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. Jos. A. Bank was 36 percent of the company's total fourth quarter sales. Moores, Canadian retail brand, was 6 percent of the total fourth quarter sales and had a comparable sales increase of 8.6 percent, however, net sales for Moores only increased 0.8 percent. K&G was 9 percent of the company's total fourth quarter sales with a comparable sales increase of 6.8 percent. The Corporate Apparel segment, which represented 7 percent of total fourth quarter sales, had a sales decrease of 1.4 percent.

Total sales at Jos. A. Bank decreased 5.4 percent to 337 million dollars from prior year fourth quarter.

The company has increased its 2017 guidance to include K&G operations and now expects adjusted EPS to be in the range of 5.75 dollars to 6.25 dollars. For fiscal year 2015, the company expects adjusted diluted earnings per share in a range of 2.70 dollars to 2.90 dollars, an increase of 13.9 percent to 22.4 percent over the prior year. The Company expects Jos. A. Bank comparable sales to continue to be down throughout the first half of the year with improvement in the second half and gross margin to increase for the year but follow a similar pattern to sales.