Perry Ellis International, Inc., which makes swimwear and golf apparel under the Jantzen, Nike, Jag, Callaway and PGA Tour labels, expects to deliver results at or in the top end of its previously announced guidance range of between 80 cents and 95 cents per fully diluted share for the year ended Jan. 30, 2010.
Furthermore, preliminary fourth quarter results noted a return to revenue growth and strong gross and operating margin increases over the prior year. Also, focused inventory management resulted in a reduction of approximately 19% compared to the prior year.
Positive operating cash flow afforded the company the ability to repurchase $21 million of its senior notes. As a result of this working capital and cash flow management, Perry Ellis ended the year with full availability on its revolving credit facility and a total net debt to capitalization ratio of 34% as compared to 47% for the prior year.
Strong performance across our product lines most notably within Perry Ellis Collection allowed us to significantly reduce our markdown allowances. This reduction coupled with inventory management and cost controls drove increased gross and operating margins for the quarter, said George Feldenkreis, chairman and CEO.
Regarding the companys outlook for the 2011 fiscal year, Perry Ellis anticipates earnings per shares in the range of $1.25 to $1.40 and revenues to be in the range of $770 million to $790 million for the year, which represents a low to mid-single digit increase over the previous year.
