FEBRUARY 23, 2005 -- Bob's Stores Posted 2004 Sales Of $291 Million
Edmond English, CEO, TJX Companies, reported on the results of the Bob's Store results. "In its first full year as a TJX division, Bob's Stores made solid progress. Total sales were $291 million. We were pleased with the steps Bob's Stores took on several fronts in 2004, including repositioning its promotional activity, improving its inventory management, and fine-tuning its product assortment. We also tested a smaller store size, which we believe will work well for this concept. We plan to continue growing Bob's Stores slowly and deliberately. In assessing our real estate strategies for this new concept, we opened two stores and closed one in 2004."
Body Glove Licenses Sportswear
Body Glove International signed a licensing agreement with Rays Apparel Inc., a lifestyle apparel manufacturer in Southern California. Through Rays Apparel, active-minded consumers will see with a collection of performance-focused sportswear for men and juniors scheduled to launch in spring 2006.
Through the agreement, Rays Apparel will design, manufacture, market and distribute the Body Glove sportswear collection. It will embrace current fashion trends while incorporating technical features inherent in the board sports industry. With a focus on creating products for an active lifestyle both in and out of the water blending timeless style, form and function, the men's collection will include board shorts, knit and woven tops, woven shorts and graphics T-shirts. The junior's collection will include dresses, woven and knit bottoms including skirts and shorts as well as woven and knit tops.
Russell 4Q Sales Up, But Earnings Fall
Russell reported 4Q04 sales of $334.0 million, an increase of 10.5% over the same period a year ago. The company also reported earnings of $10.3 million, or 31¢ per diluted share. Earnings for the quarter include an approximate 6¢ per share impact from the dilution of Huffy Sports, severance costs associated with cost improvement initiatives and incremental expenses associated with Sarbanes-Oxley related projects. For 4Q03, earnings were $14.5 million, or 44¢ per diluted share.
Sales for the quarter reflect a 3% increase in the company's ongoing businesses in addition to approximately $22 million dollars in incremental sales from acquisitions owned for less than a year. Sales gains were again recorded for the Activewear Group, the Athletic Group and the International apparel segment.
"During the fourth quarter, sales increases in our domestic segment were led by our Athletic Group. Increases in Athletic were driven by our recent acquisitions, which have solidified and grown our position as a leading branded athletic and sporting goods company," said CEO Jack Ward. "Our International apparel segment continued its sales growth pace, with increases of more than 20% for the quarter and the year. For the quarter, our Activewear Group had a 3% increase in revenues, led by our Jerzees sports apparel in the mass channel."
Skechers Posts Black Ink In 4Q
Skechers’ FY04 net sales were $920.3 million as compared to net sales of $835.0 million in 2003. Net earnings for 2004 were $23.6 million versus a net loss of $11.9 million in FY03. For FY04, diluted EPS were 59¢ vs a loss per diluted share of 31¢.
Net sales for 4Q were $206.5 million compared to $175.3. Net earnings for 4Q04 were $2.1 million versus a net loss of $12.3 million in 4Q03. Net EPS in 4Q04 were 5¢ compared to a net loss per diluted share of 33¢ in the 4Q.
Skechers now expects 1Q05 net sales to be in the range of $235 million to $245 million and diluted EPS in the range of 21¢ to 26¢ per share.
Just For Feet Shareholders Receive Partial Settlement
Stockholders who suffered losses due to the bankruptcy of Just for Feet and the subsequent discovery of financial shenanigans received their first check from the class-action settlement. It represents only 23.2% of the total settlement fund. The partial distribution resulted from a dispute between the defendants regarding an aspect of the judgment relating to the release of claims among the defendants. The initial payment represents the payment by defendant Deloitte & Touche, JFF's auditor. The dispute has been handed over to a judge for resolution. Once that happens, shareholders will receive the balance of the settlement.
Piper Jaffray upgraded Big 5 to outperform from market perform…DA Davidson maintained a buy rating on Deckers Outdoor. The 12-18 month target price has been raised from $45 to $46.
Paul Sullivan has joined Spalding, a division of Russell Corp., as director of Diamond Sports. Sullivan will oversee the overall business management of the Dudley softball business and the company's baseball business and licensing agreements. He will manage product development, advertising and promotion. Prior to joining Spalding, Sullivan was a marketing director with Top Flite Golf, where he was responsible for the Ben Hogan and Top Flite Golf club business. Since 1995 Sullivan has held a variety of positions in sales planning, operations, customer service, credit, sales and marketing.
