GSI Commerce Inc. said its loss from operations more than tripled to $17.8 million in the first quarter ended March 29, on a 34% rise in net sales to $195.5 million.


The loss fell in the middle range of their mid-February guidance, while the sales growth exceeded their latest foreast.

 

GSIC sells sporting goods online under licensing agreements with a variety of retailers, including Dick's Sporting Goods, Joe's, Modell's, Olympia Sports, Quiksilver/Roxy, Reebok, Russell, The Sport Chalet and Timberland. The online retailer reported a net loss of $9.6 million, or 20 cents per share, compared to $2.3 million, or 5 cents a share for the year-ago quarter.

“GSI enjoyed a strong first fiscal quarter of 2008, including non-GAAP income from operations that exceeded our guidance range and exceptional growth in net revenue,” said Michael G. Rubin, chairman, president and CEO of GSI. “Our performance illustrates solid execution and the underlying strength of the multichannel e-commerce and interactive marketing industries. We are pleased with the momentum of our business, the performance of our three acquisitions and the strength of our prospective new business pipeline. We remain optimistic regarding our outlook going forward.”


For fiscal 2008, GSIC lowered its quidance for income from operations from a modest profit to a possible loss. It said it expected income from operations to range from a loss of $1.5 million to a profit of $1.5 million, down from $3 million to $6 million forecast in mid-February. GSIC's forecast for net revenues and non-GAAP income from operations for the year remained the same at $1 billion and $80 million to $83 million respectively.


For the second quarter GSIC expects net revenue to be $179 million to $184 million. It forecasts income from operations of between a loss of $19 million and $20 million.