Apparel marketer, Rocky Brands said its net sales for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014 touched a record figure and also surged 28.2 per cent year over year.
Fourth quarter net sales at Rocky Brands expanded 28.2 per cent to a record $78.9 million versus net sales of $61.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Rocky Brands reported record fourth quarter net income of $4.5 million or $0.59 per diluted share as compared to net income of $1.8 million or $0.24 per diluted share in the same quarter of last year.
Gross margin in the reporting quarter totaled $27.6 million or 35.0 per cent of sales as against $21.8 million or 35.4 per cent of sales for the same period in the previous last year.
“The 40 basis point decline was driven by higher military sales which carry lower gross margins than wholesale and retail,” Rocky Brands said.
SG&A expenses stood at $20.7 million in the quarter under review compared to $18.5 million a year ago.
According to the apparel marketer, $2.2 million SG&A expense hike was due to higher compensation expense, higher variable expenses associated with the Creative Recreation brand.
As a percent of sales, SG&A improved 330 basis points to 26.2 per cent of net sales compared to 29.9 per cent sales in the prior year quarter.
Income from operations touched $7.0 million or 8.8 per cent of net sales compared to $3.4 million or 5.6 per cent of net sales a year ago, which excludes expenses associated with acquisition of Creative Recreation.
Interest expense was the same at $0.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2014 as well as the corresponding quarter of 2013.
The company’s funded debt was $36.3 million at December 31, 2014 vis-à-vis $38.4 million at December 31, 2013.
Inventory increased 9.0 per cent or $7.1 million to $85.2 million at December 31, 2014 compared with $78.2 million on the same date a year ago.
CEO David Sharp said, “Sales growth accelerated to its highest level of 2014 in the fourth quarter fuelled by consumer demand for our compelling collections of Work, Western, Hunting and Commercial Military footwear.”
“At the same time, Creative Recreation has started to become a more meaningful contributor to our profitability following the work we’ve done to improve the brand’s supply chain,” he added.
“We were able to increase profitability at a faster rate than sales by leveraging the leaner, more efficient operating expense structure we’ve put in place,” Sharp observed.
