Showing no signs of flagging, Big Foot net income rose 17% to $162 million from $138 million for the first quarter ended May 3. Sales were up 14% to $1,868 million from $1,638 million for the period, driven by a 7.6% comp store gain that saw store banners comp up 6.4% and the e-commerce business jump 17.2% on a 40-plus point comp gain in the store banner.com businesses. There was a net decline of nine stores, more than offset by the addition of Runners Point Group. The EPS of
$1.10 per share easily exceeded the $1.06 consensus.
Europe had a mid-single-digit comp gain for the period in an obviously challenging time, and only Italy was down for the quarter. In Germany, with a strong double-digit gain at RPG, sales were up double digits. Asia/ Pacific had a high-single-digit improvement while Canada was down mid-single digits.
The tenor of its business excluding golf and hunting was strong with a comp gain of 6.6% elsewhere, and DKS said weather in Q1 was not really a major factor in the disappointing results.
