An over-reliance on softening some casual brands and the lack of a key athletic footwear component conspired to rob Genesco of the growth opportunity other retailers are experiencing in the mall. With athletic footwear now representing 28% of the Journeys business, and almost doubling at Underground Station, the retailer seems to be missing out on the Nike opportunity presented by the lack of marquee product at Foot Locker.

Journeys net sales for the year increased 14% to $436 million and same store sales were flat, while unit comps for the full year increased 4%. Converse and adidas drove an almost 23% increase in athletic sales. Timberland, Diesel and Steve Madden also had increases. Journeys now relies on the top 17 vendors to bring in 75% of sales while the top five contributed 70% of sales in years past.

The Underground Station/Jarman Group saw total sales increase 23% to $148 million for the year ended February 1, 2003 and same-store sales rose 14%. Athletic sales at Station jumped 177% to $13.3 million, representing 9.0% of sales versus 4.0% last year. K-Swiss, adidas, and Reebok were key brands in athletic, along with Timberland, Perry Ellis, Steve Madden and Diesel.

Johnston & Murphy’s net sales were $165 million and same-store sales were flat for the year.

Total retail sales expanded 14% to $702 million and overall same store sales increased 3%. Total consolidated net sales for fiscal 2003 increased 11% to $828 million versus $746 million the previous year.

For the year, earnings before discontinued operations were $38.4 million, or $1.55 per diluted share, compared with $38.0 million, or $1.52 per diluted share. Earnings before discontinued operations for fiscal 2003 were $36.4 million, or $1.47 per diluted share, compared with $38.3 million.


KEY METRICS:

    FOURTH QUARTER

  • Earnings before discontinued operations were $14.2 million vs. $15.8 million in Q4 LY
  • Diluted EPS were $0.56 vs. $0.61 LY Q4
  • Net sales grew 12.6% to $250 million
  • Journeys net sales up 13% to $123.2 million
  • Journeys same-store sales rose 1%. Unit comps were up 4%
  • Station/Jarman Group sales increased 13% to $48 million and same-store sales rose 9%
  • J&M net sales were up 2.4% to $43 million while same-store sales declined 3%


>>> Journey’s strategy of not selling Nike likely hurt them in the quarter. Nike allocated products are clearly driving the market right now