Net revenue for the first fiscal quarter ended May 3, 2015 at apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. climbed 10 per cent to $423.5 million from $384.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
“Total comparable sales, which includes comparable store sales and direct to consumer, grew 6 per cent for the first quarter on a constant dollar basis,” a press release from Lululemon Athletica said.
Comparable store sales for the first quarter dropped 1 per cent on a constant dollar basis and direct to consumer revenue soared 31 per cent year on year on a constant dollar basis.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2016, direct to consumer revenue surged 27 per cent year over year to $83.6 million or 19.7 per cent of total revenue, which was also up from 17.2 per cent, it posted in first quarter of last fiscal.
Gross profit for the reporting quarter rose 5 per cent to $205.9 million or 48.6 per cent as a percentage of net revenue compared to 50.9 per cent as a percentage of net revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
Income from operations for the quarter under review decreased 3 per cent to $68.0 million or 16.1 per cent as a percentage of revenue as against 18.2 per cent in the first quarter from earlier fiscal.
The effective tax rate for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 stood at 30.3 per cent compared to 73.4 per cent in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
According to the apparel retailer, first quarter of fiscal 2015, included a tax expense of $30.9 million related to the repatriation of foreign earnings to fund the share buyback program.
“The tax rate for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 excluding the $30.9 million tax expense on the repatriation of foreign earnings would have been 30.1 per cent,” it explained.
Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.34 on net income of $47.8 million as against diluted earnings per share of $0.13 on net income of $19.0 million in the first quarter of previous fiscal.
“The quarter from the last fiscal included a $0.21 per share impact from the tax expense on the repatriation of foreign earnings,” Lululemon Athletica observed.
Excluding the tax expense on the repatriation of foreign earnings, diluted earnings per share were $0.34 in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
During the first quarter of fiscal 2016, the Company repurchased 0.3 million shares of its common stock at an average cost of $66.51 per share.
The retailer ended the first quarter of fiscal 2016 with $655.9 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $752.0 million at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
Inventory at the end of the reporting quarter of totaled $236.5 million, up from $180.4 million at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin said, "Our team's solid performance resulted in another improving quarter and also coming in ahead of our revenue expectations.”
“We drove positive trends in traffic, conversion, and brand engagement, along with a continued acceleration of our e-commerce business," he too added.
