Sales for Sport Chalet, Inc. increased 3.9 percent to $82.8 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 from $79.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, primarily due to a comparable store sales increase of 2.3 percent, an online sales increase of 66 percent, and a calendar shift increase of $1.3 million, partially offset by a change in Action Pass redemption activity.
Gross profit as a percent of sales increased to 28.8 percent from 28.3 percent for the first quarter of last year primarily due to a decrease in rent expense as a percent of sales, partially offset by the change in Action Pass redemption activity. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percent of sales decreased to 26.1 percent from 26.5 percent in the same period last year, primarily due to the leverage provided by the increase in sales and a decrease in workers compensation expense, partially offset by incentive payments primarily for store employees.
The company’s net loss for the quarter ended July 3, 2011 decreased by $1.1 million, or 58 percent, to $0.8 million, or 6 cents per share, from a net loss of $1.9 million, or 14 cents per share, for the quarter ended June 27, 2010.
Craig Levra, Chairman and CEO, stated, “During the first quarter, we continued to experience positive trends in comparable store sales, online sales and inventory productivity. We are excited about the considerable improvement of our results and continue to implement our strategies to return to profitability.”
Liquidity
On July 3, 2011, the company’s bank credit facility had a borrowing capacity of $65.0 million, of which the company utilized $47.1 million (including a letter of credit of $2.6 million) and had $16.2 million in availability. The company reduced its borrowings under the bank credit facility by 12 percent, or $5.9 million, to $44.5 million at July 3, 2011 from $50.4 million at June 27, 2010.
