Brown Shoe’s Q3 Earnings Gain on Healthy Famous Footwear Comps

The company reported third quarter 2013 net earnings of $27.3 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, up 12.4 percent compared to $24.3 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, in the prior year. Third quarter 2012 included $2.6 million of costs related to the company’s portfolio realignment efforts ($1.6 million on an after-tax basis, or $0.04 per diluted share). Gross profit margin for the third quarter of 2013 declined 50 basis points to 39.6 percent from 40.1 percent in 2012.

“Famous Footwear reported record sales in the third quarter, with strength across all geographies, climate zones and genders. We also reported a 4.9 percent increase in same-store-sales(1) for the quarter,” said Diane Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of Brown Shoe Company. “For our wholesale business, we saw continued improvement. Sales were up 4.5 percent in the quarter, as our trend-right styles continued to resonate with consumers.”

Wholesale sales of $205.3 million were up 4.5 percent in the third quarter, excluding sales from discontinued brands. For the Healthy Living platform, wholesale sales of $106.6 million were down 5.6 percent (excluding sales from discontinued brands) reflecting the shift of approximately $7 million of sales into the second quarter from the third quarter, primarily for Naturalizer. On a year-to-date basis, Healthy Living sales improved 1.2 percent over 2012. The company’s Contemporary Fashion wholesale sales of $98.4 million were up 19.3 percent in the third quarter, excluding sales from discontinued brands, with strong double-digit growth from both Sam Edelman and Franco Sarto.

Consolidated gross profit of $278.2 million was down 0.4 percent in the third quarter, and gross margin of 39.6 percent declined by approximately 50 basis points versus the prior year. SG&A for the third quarter was $233.5 million, or 33.2 percent of net sales, which was down approximately 70 basis points from 33.9 percent of net sales in the prior year. For the quarter, operating margins improved 50 basis points to 6.4 percent.

Inventory at the end of the third quarter was $544.6 million, up from $512.2 million in the prior year. Wholesale inventory was up 8.5 percent, while Famous Footwear inventory was up 4.8 percent.

At quarter-end, Brown Shoe Company had no borrowings against its revolving credit facility and $42.4 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company’s debt-to-capital ratio improved to 30.6 percent from 41.7 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

Financial Review and 2013 Outlook

“To account for our strong performance year-to-date, we are raising our adjusted diluted EPS guidance to a range of $1.36 to $1.40,” said Russ Hammer, chief financial officer of Brown Shoe Company. “For the fourth quarter, we expect to operate under the same level of caution as many of our peers, as uncertainty around traffic, promotional activity and consumer sentiment appears to be permeating the overall industry this holiday season.”