Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., the owner of G.H. Bass, boosted its first-quarter and 2010 expectations, with stronger-than-anticipated results across the company.s.
The company also announced it plans to sell at least 4.5 million shares and commenced an offering of $525 million of senior unsecured notes due 2020. Phillips-Van Heusen said it intends to use the net proceeds of the stock offering to fund a portion of its proposed acquisition of apparel-maker Tommy Hilfiger.
Phillips-Van Heusen now expects first-quarter earnings of 80 cents a share on revenue of $605 million to $610 million, up from its prior target of 73 cents to 75 cents.
It also sees full-year earnings of $3.25 to $3.33, up 5 cents from its March view, and said it sees revenue of $2.49 billion to $2.51 billion, which would be a 4% to 5% increase from 2009. Same-store sales for the company’s retail businesses are expected to grow 4% to 5%, up from its earlier growth target of 2% to 3%.
Phillips-Van Heusen, which expects its $3 billion acquisition of Tommy Hilfiger to close early in the second quarter, said the estimates exclude the pending transaction. The company expects to incur a pre-tax charge of $60 million in the first quarter related to the pending acquisition, no matter what the outcome.
The company said the addition of Tommy Hilfiger would immediately add to earnings, excluding one-time transaction expenses. Phillips-Van Heusen said the acquisition, excluding the costs, would boost earnings by 20 cents to 25 cents in fiscal 2010. It also sees a boost of 75 cents to $1 in fiscal 2011.
