SKECHERS Announces First Quarter 2015 Financial Results

by | Apr 22, 2015 | Press Release

Apr 22, 2015 • 4:01 pm EDT

• Record Quarterly Net Sales of $768.0 Million, an Increase of 40.5 Percent
• Earnings from Operations of $88.2 Million
• Diluted Earnings Per Share of $1.10

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX), a global leader in footwear, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015.

First quarter 2015 net sales were $768.0 million compared to $546.5 million in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 40.5 percent.Gross profit for the first quarter of 2015 was $332.5 million, or 43.3 percent of net sales, compared to $240.4 million, or 44.0 percent of net sales in the first quarter of 2014. Earnings from operations for the first quarter of 2015 were $88.2 million, or 11.5 percent of net sales, compared to net earnings from operations of $48.2 million, or 8.8 percent of net sales, for the first quarter of 2014.

“Skechers’ first quarter net sales of $768.0 million mark the highest quarterly revenues in the Company’s history. The net sales growth of 40.5 percent, which was against a previous record first quarter net sales in 2014, is attributable to the continued strong demand for our lifestyle, performance and kids’ footwear from both our customers and consumers around the world,” began David Weinberg, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “The sales results are attributable to double-digit increases in our domestic and international wholesale businesses, and our worldwide Company-owned retail business, as well as single-digit increases in our ecommerce business. Additionally, for the quarter, our total Company-owned retail store comps were up over nine percent and our domestic wholesale business saw an average price per pair increase of $1.27 or 5.9 percent.”

Weinberg continued: “We achieved this growth despite significant headwinds, which included the strengthening U.S. dollar, unseasonably cold weather in many markets, and the slowdown at the West Coast ports. Further, our European Distribution Center was operating less efficiently than we had originally anticipated due to the transition to a new automation system combined with stronger than expected sales in the region. Additionally, to manage the increased demand and shipments, we are expanding our European Distribution Center by over 500,000 square feet, increasing it to more than one million square feet by the first quarter 2016.”

Net earnings in the first quarter of 2015 were $56.1 million compared to net earnings of $31.0 million for the first quarter of 2014. Net earnings per diluted share in the first quarter 2015 were $1.10 based on 51.1 million weighted average shares outstanding compared to a diluted net earnings per share of $0.61 based on 50.8 million weighted average shares outstanding for the same period in the prior year.

Robert Greenberg, SKECHERS chief executive officer, commented: “Having just achieved a new annual sales record of $2.4 billion in 2014, we expected the momentum to continue into 2015. We attribute this success to our constant development of fresh and innovative products that are appealing to a widening audience around the world, the continued marketing support we provide for every key product category, the diverse global distribution strategy, and, finally, our tremendous logistical support and inventory management. Our expanding product line and marketing focus is broadening our demographic reach, including Demi Lovato to tweens and teens as she supports our Skechers Sport line, to avid golfers as Matt Kuchar plays in Skechers GO Golf, and to tech savvy kids with Game Kicks, the shoe with a memory game built in. Along with marketing campaigns for these collections, we ran a Relaxed Fit Footwear commercial starring Pete Rose during the Super Bowl, and introduced many new commercials in support of our Spring collection, including Stretch Fit with Brooke Burke-Charvet and Skechers Memory Foam with British actress and model Kelly Brook, who is now appearing on the NBC comedy One Big Happy. Already this month, we debuted our new Ringo Starr Relaxed Fit Footwear campaign and Meb, winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon, appeared in Skechers GOmeb Speed 3 on the cover of Runner’s World. We are also airing many of our product and lifestyle focused campaigns around the world, creating global synergy between product and marketing. Now, more than ever, we are seeing many of the same products resonating across six continents, and quickly leveraging the success we are experiencing in the United States to global markets. This resulted in international sales growth of 59 percent in the first quarter, which comprised 37 percent of our total sales for the quarter, bringing us closer to our goal of international sales representing 50 percent of our business. Our Skechers stores, at 1,063 at quarter-end—including 610 international locations owned by distributors or franchisees, continue to be an important part of our brand building and growth strategy, and we expect to grow the total Skechers store base to approximately 1,250 by year-end 2015. With the demand for our key product initiatives in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America remaining very high, we believe the growth that we experienced in the first quarter will continue in 2015.”

Mr. Weinberg added: “Our record 2015 first quarter and a strong start to April in terms of revenues and backlogs, including double-digit domestic and international retail comps, leads us to believe that our accelerated growth trend will continue through the second quarter and into the back half of 2015. We believe we are well positioned to maintain this growth with the combination of $396.7 million in cash, in-line inventory levels, and the expectation of an additional 155 to 175 SKECHERS distributor-, joint venture-, franchisee- and Company-owned stores opening later this year in addition to the 39 opened in the first quarter. We are looking forward to what we believe will be record sales for a second quarter, delivering our back-to-school product, and a new annual sales record. We are comfortable with analysts’ estimates for the second quarter, and we see upside opportunity in the third quarter.”

About SKECHERS USA, Inc.

SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 120 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,050 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 12 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).

This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future growth, financial results and operations, its development of new products, future demand for its products and growth opportunities, its planned opening of new stores, advertising and marketing initiatives, and the expansion plans for the Company’s European Distribution Center. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include international economic, political and market conditions including the uncertainty of sustained recovery in Europe; entry into the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers; decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.

SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Company Contact:
David Weinberg
Chief Operating Officer
Chief Financial Officer
(310) 318-3100
or
Investor Relations:
Andrew Greenebaum
(310) 829-5400

SKECHERS USA, Inc. to Report First Quarter 2015 Financial Results on Wednesday, April 22

by | Apr 15, 2015 | Press Release

Apr 15, 2015 • 4:00 pm EDT

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE: SKX), a global leader in lifestyle and performance footwear, today announced that it will release its first quarter 2015 financial results after market close on Wednesday, April 22, 2015. A conference call will be held the same day at 1:30 p.m. PT / 4:30 p.m. ET. Participating on the call will be David Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

The call can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at www.skx.com. For those unable to participate during the live broadcast, a replay will be available beginning April 22, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. ET, through May 6, 2015, at 11:59 p.m. ET. To access the replay, dial 877-870-5176 (U.S.) or 858-384-5517 (International) and use passcode: 13606305.

About SKECHERS USA, Inc.

SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 100 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,000 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 12 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).

SKECHERS USA, Inc.
David Weinberg
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer
310-318-3100
or
Investor Relations:
Addo Communications
Andrew Greenebaum
310-829-5400
[email protected]

SKECHERS Named Footwear Brand of the Year and Fashion Brand of the Year at The Footwear Industry Awards

by | Feb 18, 2015 | Press Release

Feb 18, 2015 • 9:00 am EST

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX) today announced that it has been named Footwear Brand of the Year and Fashion Footwear Brand of the Year at The Footwear Industry Awards. SKECHERS was also highly commended in the Sports Brand of the Year category. This achievement follows a year when SKECHERS won multiple top industry awards in the United States, including Company of the Year from both Footwear News and Footwear Plus.

“We are incredibly honored to have been recognized as Footwear Brand of the Year. This marks the first Footwear Industry Awards win for SKECHERS in the top category along with our second straight Fashion Brand of the Year win,” commented Peter Youell, Managing Director of SKECHERS UK and Ireland. “It’s a privilege to receive this recognition amongst such notable brands that were shortlisted in our categories. These awards are a testament to the strength of the SKECHERS brand in the UK and the ongoing support from our retail partners to reaffirm and elevate SKECHERS as a leading lifestyle and fashion footwear brand.”

“Awards like this illustrate how our brand and product are resonating with more consumers than ever before,” said David Weinberg, SKECHERS chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “In 2014, SKECHERS experienced over 50 percent year-over-year annual net sales growth within our UK subsidiary, where we shipped more than 2.7 million pairs and surpassed $100 million in sales through wholesale and Company-owned retail stores. We believe our success in the UK will continue thanks to our in-demand product and great retail partners. Building on this momentum, we expect our international sales to become 50 percent of our total business in the next 3 to 4 years.”

The prestigious annual awards event was held on Sunday, February 15, during the Moda Footwear Show and organized by Datateam Business Media with the support of the British Footwear Association (BFA), Independent Footwear Retailers Association (IFRA), The Society of Shoe Fitters and Footwear Today.

The Footwear Industry Awards recognize excellence at every level, and SKECHERS won over a strong competitive field that included Clarks, Rieker, Fly London and Gabor. SKECHERS’ previous Footwear Industry Awards honors include Fashion Brand of the Year and Sports Brand of the Year in 2014, and the Company was highly commended in the Comfort and Wellness category for 2014 as well.

SKECHERS offers two distinct footwear categories: a lifestyle division which offers comfort-focused trend-right product for men, women and kids including Relaxed Fit®, Skechers Memory Foam footwear and the philanthropic line BOBS from SKECHERS, and the Skechers Performance Division which includes Skechers GOrun and Skechers GOwalk footwear.

Celebrity product endorsees for SKECHERS’ collections include legendary drummer Ringo Starr, multi-platinum recording artist Demi Lovato, as well as model and actress Kelly Brook. In addition, elite marathon champion and Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi represents the Skechers Performance Division.

About SKECHERS USA, Inc.

SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 100 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,000 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 12 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).

This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future growth, financial results and operations, its development of new products, future demand for its products and growth opportunities, its planned opening of new stores, advertising and marketing initiatives, and the expansion and automation plans for the Company’s European Distribution Center. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include international, national and local general economic, political and market conditions including the ongoing global economic slowdown and market instability; entry into the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers, decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.

SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Jennifer Clay, 310-937-1326

SKECHERS Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2014 Financial Results

by | Feb 11, 2015 | Press Release

Feb 11, 2015 • 4:00 pm EST

• Record Annual Sales of $2.378 Billion
• Fourth Quarter 2014 Net Sales Increased 26.4 Percent to $569.7 Million
• Fourth Quarter 2014 Net Earnings of $21.9 Million
• Fourth Quarter 2014 Diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.43

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.

Net sales for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $569.7 million compared to $450.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $257.6 million or 45.2 percent of net sales compared to $200.6 million or 44.5 percent of net sales in the fourth quarter of 2013. Earnings from operations in the fourth quarter of 2014 were $33.0 million compared to earnings from operations of $17.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

“Skechers fourth quarter revenues of over $569 million set a new record for the period, and followed a record third quarter 2014, which was the highest quarterly sales in the Company’s history. This momentum led to record annual revenues of $2.378 billion for 2014, an approximately 29 percent increase compared to 2013 sales of $1.846 billion,” began David Weinberg, SKECHERS chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “The outstanding fourth quarter growth was the result of double-digit improvements in our domestic and international wholesale and Skechers Company-owned retail businesses, all of which benefited from our universally appealing men’s, women’s and kids’ product. We are also pleased to note that within our domestic wholesale business, our average price per pair increased by 7.4 percent in the quarter, and within our international wholesale business, we experienced double-digit growth in many key countries that were negatively impacted by currency issues, both further testaments to the strength of our brand and product.”

Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $21.9 million compared to net earnings of $14.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. Net earnings per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2014 were $0.43 based on 51.4 million weighted average shares outstanding compared to $0.28 based on 50.7 million weighted average shares outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2013. During the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company’s net earnings were negatively impacted by approximately $7.0 million, or $0.14 per diluted share of which $4.7 million, or $0.09 per diluted share was the result of negative foreign currency translations and transactions and $2.3 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, was the result of foreign and domestic bad debt write-offs. The Company’s effective tax rate for the year-ended December 31, 2014, was 20.5 percent, which was below the forecasted rate of 22.6 percent at the close of the third quarter 2014. The decrease in its effective tax rate was due to increased international sales and profitability combined with slightly decreased domestic profitability. The Company expects improved international sales and profitability to continue to have a positive impact on its 2015 effective tax rate, which is forecasted to be between 20 percent and 25 percent.

Fiscal year 2014 net sales were $2.378 billion compared to net sales of $1.846 billion in 2013. Gross profit for 2014 was $1.072 billion or 45.1 percent of net sales compared to $818.8 million or 44.4 percent of net sales in 2013. Earnings from operations for 2014 were $209.1 million compared to $93.6 million in 2013.

Net earnings for 2014 were $138.8 million compared to $54.8 million in 2013. Net earnings per diluted share for fiscal year 2014 were $2.72 based on 51.0 million weighted average shares outstanding compared to $1.08 based on 50.6 million weighted average shares outstanding in the prior year.

Robert Greenberg, SKECHERS chief executive officer, commented: “Just a year ago, we were honored as the 2013 Brand of the Year for GO (Footwear News) and 2013 Running Design Excellence and Children’s Design Excellence (Footwear Plus), and now we are 2014 Company of the Year (Footwear News and Footwear Plus), and the No. 2 footwear brand and the No. 1 walking brand in America. This speaks volumes to the product we have developed and delivered, the global marketing support behind it, and the many other achievements and milestones made throughout the year. In the fourth quarter alone, we signed world renowned drummer Ringo Starr to a global marketing agreement for our growing men’s footwear line, launched our first Demi Lovato campaign — which spurred a flurry of social media engagement around the world, and saw Meb cross the finish line first among the Americans at the New York Marathon. We also announced the opening of our 1,000^th Skechers retail store, completed the initial phase of the automation of our European Distribution Center equipment and moved up our Fall 2015 buy meetings with our key domestic accounts to October and November, which allowed us to meet the increased order rate for our new product. This in turn positively impacted our international partners as they have been able to place orders for the coming season earlier, which will allow us to deliver more product in a timely manner. In the first quarter of 2015, we decided to convert three distribution partners doing business in 14 Central Eastern European countries to wholly-owned subsidiaries, enabling us to leverage the success we are experiencing across Europe. With our women’s footwear reaching an expanding audience thanks to both the fresh styling and our advertising campaign featuring Demi Lovato, our men’s footwear collectively achieving the highest percentage gains, and new innovations in our children’s footwear — including Game Kicks, the shoe with an electronic memory game built in — we believe the demand for our footwear is at an all-time high. We are looking forward to delivering new product in the Spring, expanding the Skechers retail store base to an estimated 1,250 stores by the end of 2015, and continuing to see strong double-digit and, in some cases, triple-digit gains in Europe, the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. We believe there are still tremendous growth opportunities for Skechers in 2015 and beyond.”

David Weinberg continued: “2014 was an excellent year for Skechers, and we expect the momentum to continue in 2015 based on domestic and international Skechers retail stores comps of 17 percent in January, year-over-year worldwide backlogs up 60 percent at December 31, 2014, and the steady demand for our product including expansion in new doors and existing doors. With continued investments in our infrastructure for the coming years, including equipment automation upgrades at our European Distribution Center and establishment of a Company-operated distribution center in Chile, $466.7 million in cash and inventories in-line with expected sales, we believe we are prepared for growth in 2015. We believe the best is yet to come, and are looking forward to the first quarter of 2015, which we expect will be a new quarterly sales record of $690 million to $710 million and earnings per share of $0.95-$1.05.”

About SKECHERS USA, Inc.

SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 100 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,000 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 12 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).

This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future growth, financial results and operations, its development of new products, future demand for its products and growth opportunities, its planned opening of new stores, advertising and marketing initiatives, and the expansion and automation plans for the Company’s European Distribution Center. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include international, national and local general economic, political and market conditions including the ongoing global economic slowdown and market instability; entry into the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers, decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.

SKECHERS USA, Inc.
David Weinberg, 310-318-3100
Chief Operating Officer,
Chief Financial Officer
or
Investor Relations:
Addo Communications
Andrew Greenebaum, 310-829-5400