US based apparel marketer Columbia Sportswear Company said its net sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 grew 17 per cent year over year and thereby created a record for second quarter sales.
In a press release, Columbia Sportswear stated that its second quarter of 2015 sales surged 17 per cent and 21 per cent on constant-dollar basis, both growing from a year ago period to reach $380.2 million.
However, second quarter of 2015 net loss was nearly same as the prior year second quarter at $6.5 million or a loss of $0.09 per share.
Second quarter of 2014 net loss totaled to $6.3 million or a loss $0.09 per share, which included a net tax benefit of $0.08 per share and acquisition costs net of tax at $0.03 per share.
“The second quarter is the company's smallest revenue quarter, historically accounting for a mid-teens percentage of annual net sales,” it observed.
US net sales soared 45 per cent year on year, including $19.0 million of incremental Prana net sales, while in Canada they surged 27 per cent, which too includes $1.0 million of incremental Prana net sales.
Latin America and Asia Pacific (LAAP) region net sales rose slower at just 1 per cent, which also includes $0.3 million of incremental Prana net sales.
EMEA region net sales however declined 18 per cent from the second quarter of last year, which too includes $0.3 million of incremental Prana net sales.
In the reporting quarter, Columbia brand net sales grew 12 per cent to $325.1 million and Sorel brand net sales drove up steeply by 43 per cent to $4.3 million.
But Mountain Hardwear net sales declined 3 per cent to $21.2 million and Prana net sales totaled $26.1 million, including $20.6 million of incremental sales.
The company ended the quarter with $417.5 million in cash and short-term investments, compared with $394.4 million at June 30, 2014.
Consolidated inventories of $581.0 million at June 30, 2015 were 27 per cent higher compared with the $456.4 million balance at June 30, 2014, in line with its expectations.
The majority of inventory growth at June 30, 2015 was concentrated in North America and resulted from earlier production of Fall 2015 inventory that was in-transit or on-hand.
The company repurchased approximately 259,000 shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $14.5 million in the second quarter of 2015.
“Approximately $229.0 million remains available under the current repurchase authorisation,” the apparel marketer informed.
CEO Tim Boyle said, “Strong sell-through of Spring 2015 products in North America and Europe drove demand in the second quarter and is fueling encouraging Spring 2016 wholesale advance orders."
Boyle too added, "We enter the Fall season with robust momentum in North America behind our Columbia, Sorel and Prana brands.”
