Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. announced its interim financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 ended August 31, 2013.
Bauer's overall revenues increased by 4% in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. This increase was fueled primarily by strong performance in apparel, lacrosse, and roller hockey as well as several ice hockey equipment categories.
Apparel revenues increased by 57% driven by strong growth in off-ice team apparel, base layer performance apparel, lifestyle apparel, and the addition of hockey and soccer uniform sales. Lacrosse sales increased 43% driven by strong demand for the new CASCADE "R" helmet, growth in our MAVERIK equipment line, and an additional month of Cascade sales compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2013.
Roller hockey sales grew 47% driven by strong skate sales. Ice hockey equipment sales grew in key categories such as sticks, protective equipment, and replacement steel blades; however, this was offset by the fact that the prior year included the initial launch of BAUER's third family of ice hockey equipment, NEXUS, resulting in a 2% decline in ice hockey equipment sales versus the prior year. High levels of retail inventory in the hockey marketplace also contributed to the lower ice hockey equipment revenues in the quarter.
Overall revenues from the North American market grew by 3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, while sales outside North America grew by 7%.
In addition to Bauer's strong first quarter results, the Company also announced that it has obtained $70.1 million of booking orders for its 2013 "Holiday" season (October 2013 - March 2014), an increase of 9% on a currency neutral basis (7% including the impact of foreign currency) over the 2012 "Holiday" season, reflecting the continuing enthusiasm for BAUER's innovative products.
"Our diversified platform, and our dedication to delivering innovative, high quality, performance enhancing products continues to drive growth," said Kevin Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bauer. "Customer demand for our products remains very strong, and we continue to take share in this challenging marketplace. We are extremely pleased with the increase in booking orders and expect that 2014 will be another record year for our top and bottom line performance as the headwinds which have been impacting our revenues are beginning to dissipate."
Adjusted Gross Profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2014 increased slightly to $61.5 million. Adjusted Gross Profit as a percentage of revenues decreased to 39.9%, compared to 41.1% in the comparative period of fiscal 2013, primarily due to growth in uniforms which have lower gross profit margins compared to our other equipment and apparel categories.
Excluding the impact of one-time acquisition related charges and share-based compensation expense, SG&A as a percentage of revenues increased to 15.1% from 14.2% in the comparative quarter last year. This increase was driven primarily by the effect of adding the SG&A from recently acquired companies in a seasonally low revenue quarter for these same companies.
