The Walking Company kept Big Dog Holdings in positive territory for the year when adding in the ten months of business under its new parent, and a closer look at pro forma results shows that TWC revenues grew 10.0% to $70.9 million in the fiscal year ended December 31, compared to $64.4 million in the prior year. TWC comp store sales were up 12.7% for the year, while Big Dog comps slipped 1.9% for the year. BDOG reported a 55.5% total sales increase for the year to $161.4 million, reflecting a 4.8% decline in its namesakes brand business.
Fourth quarter was more of the same as Big Dogs base business fell 6.9% to $32.3 million, while TWX added $23.4 million in revenue to help the company post a 60.5% increase in sales for the period. TWC comps jumped 21.2% for the quarter, while Big Dog store comps dipped 2.9%, netting a total company comp store sales increase of 6.3% for the fourth quarter.
BDOG reported that The Walking Company had 52.5% of total sales come from womens footwear in 2004, while mens made up 32.7% of sales and accessories contributed the 14.8% balance to the total.
The Walking Company generated gross margins at 51.9% of sales for the ten months under the BDOG umbrella, while the Big Dog margins improved 20 basis points to 56.8% of sales from 56.6% last year. TWC generated roughly $2.0 million in net income for the abbreviated year, or a 3.2% return on sales, while Big Dog returned about 1.7% in profit for the company.
On a consolidated basis, BDOG reported that net income for the year increased 39.8% to $3.7 million, or 40 cents per share, compared to $2.6 million, 32 cents per share in 2003. Fourth quarter net income increased 44.0% to $4.1 million, or 43 cents per share for the quarter, compared to $2.9 million, or 35 cents per share, in the 2003 fourth quarter.
BDOG had 188 Big Dog stores and 74 Walking Company stores at year-end, compared to 203 Big Dog stores at the prior year-end.
