PVH Corp. Swings to Loss on Acquisition Charges

PVH Corp. swung to a loss in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 2 after charges tied to last year’s acquisition of Warnaco Group Inc., which included the Speedo brand as well as Calvin Klein underwear and jeans.

The loss of came to $37.5 million, or 46 cents a share, against earnings of $8.8.8 million, or $1.09, a year ago. Excluding expenses tied to the integration of Warnaco and related restructuring, among other items adjusted profit fell to $1.43 from $1.60 a share, but exceeded guidance of $1.40. In December, PVH had warned of challenges in the holiday period, saying it expected the critical period to be “very competitive and highly promotional.”

Revenues in the quarter jumped 25.4 percent to $2.05 billion. The increase over the prior year was principally driven by the addition of approximately $479 million of revenue related to the acquired Warnaco businesses, net of the reduction in licensing revenue attributable to Warnaco. Also contributing to the increase was revenue growth of $18 million, or 2 percent, in the company's Tommy Hilfiger and pre-acquisition Calvin Klein businesses. Tommy Hilfiger revenue rose 1.2 percent to $902 million.

Partially offsetting these increases was a revenue decline of $81 million, or 19 percent, in the company's pre-acquisition Heritage Brands businesses, of which $75 million was lost revenue resulting from the sale of the G.H. Bass & Co. business to G-III Apparel on the first day of the quarter. Besides Speedo, PVH's Heritage Brands include Izod, Arrow, Van Heusen, Warner's and Olga.

For the fiscal first-quarter, PVH cited the “difficult macroeconomic environment” in issuing its “cautious” outlook, saying it sees an adjusted profit of $1.45 to $1.50 a share on $2 billion in revenue. Analysts had expected $1.70 a share and $1.99 billion, respectively.

Citing negative impacts from planned investments, foreign currency headwinds, among other things, PVH for the year projected an adjusted profit of $7.40 to $7.50 a share on $8.5 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a profit of $7.81 a share and $8.6 billion in revenue.