Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter and nine months of Fiscal 2013 ended February 28, 2013.
The 6% increase in overall revenues in the nine months of Fiscal 2013 was led by strong performance in several ice hockey equipment categories, and solid performance in both the Company’s lacrosse and apparel product categories.
Performance in the lacrosse category has been positively impacted by the Cascade Helmets (“Cascade”) acquisition and the apparel category has seen growth in every category, including team apparel, which has _enefited from both organic growth and the acquisition of Inaria International (“Inaria”).
Third quarter revenues grew by 7% due to strong growth in apparel across all apparel categories, with lifestyle (+51%), performance (+56%), and team apparel (+14% organic, +53% including Inaria) all showing strong increases, and the addition of Cascade revenues, partially offset by lower ice hockey equipment revenue.
The Company’s third fiscal quarter falls between the major shipping months of its two selling seasons, “Back-to-Hockey” and “Holiday” and as such relies heavily on repeat orders to fill in retailer needs. Ice hockey equipment sales in the quarter were slightly lower than the prior year due to lower sales of closeout inventories, a slight decline in goalie sales resulting from a shift in the timing of product launches as compared to the prior year, and excess competitor inventory in the market that reduced retailer open to buy for repeat orders.
Adjusted Gross Profit in the nine-month period ended February 28, 2013 increased by $7.2 million, or 6.6% to $117.1 million. In the three and nine month periods in Fiscal 2013, Adjusted Gross Profit as a percentage of revenues was consistent with the levels reported in the comparable periods in Fiscal 2012.
BAUER continues to demonstrate operating leverage in SG&A. Excluding expenses associated with the integration of acquisitions and secondary share offerings, SG&A as a percentage of revenues has declined 30 basis points in both the three and nine month periods ending February 28, 2013.
Adjusted Net Income grew by 25% in the nine-month period of Fiscal 2013 to $26.0 million and Adjusted EPS increased 9%, to $0.72, compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter, Adjusted Net Loss improved by 5% to $4.2 million and Adjusted EPS improved 21%, to a loss of $0.11 per share.
BAUER also announced that booking orders for its 2013 Back-to-Hockey season increased by 2% over the 2012 Back-to-Hockey season to $188.7 million. The increase is notable as this year’s Back-to-Hockey bookings include only the launch of VAPOR family of products, whereas two families of products (NEXUS and SUPREME) were launched at the same time in 2012.
