Skechers USA, Inc. reported sales for the fourth quarter were $283.2 million as compared
to $454.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. Loss from operations
in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $103.1 million versus earnings from
operations of $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $57.7 million versus net earnings $3.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. Net loss per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $1.18 based on 48.9 million weighted average shares outstanding as compared to net earnings per diluted share of $0.07 based on 49.2 million weighted average shares outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $112.6 million, including an additional reserve of $5.6 million on our original Shape-ups product, compared to $184.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. Gross margin in the fourth quarter 2011 was 39.8 percent versus 40.5 percent for the fourth quarter of 2010. The net loss for the quarter includes a pre-tax $45.0 million reserve for potential exposure relating to previously disclosed litigation and regulatory matters.
Also, in the fourth quarter of 2011, Skechers recorded additional pre-tax expenses of $5.0 million in additional legal and professional fees for various legal matters, $3.1 million in impairment charges, and $4.6 million in foreign bad debt reserves, offset by a pre-tax gain of $9.9 million on the sale of one of our former distribution center facilities in Ontario, California.
“Fourth quarter 2011 net sales were down 37.7 percent, which is attributable to a difficult comparison against a record fourth quarter 2010 that included higher priced toning footwear, combined with lower than expected sales across many of our other Skechers footwear lines primarily in our domestic wholesale business,” began David Weinberg, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “Our international business was also impacted by the slowing of toning sales as well as economic difficulties in many markets. Our retail business held up the best in part due to the increased number of stores as well as our ability to quickly turn product.”
Fiscal year 2011 net sales were $1.606 billion as compared to net sales of $2.007 billion in 2010. Loss from operations for 2011 was $133.8 million versus earnings from operations of $195.6 million in 2010. Net loss for 2011 was $67.5 million versus net earnings of $136.1 million in 2010. Net loss per diluted share for fiscal year 2011 was $1.39 based on 48.5 million weighted average shares outstanding versus diluted earnings per share of $2.78 based on 49.0 million weighted average shares outstanding in the prior year.
Gross profit for 2011 was $623.7 million compared to $911.9 million in 2010. Gross margin for 2011 was 38.8 percent versus 45.4 percent for 2010.
Robert Greenberg, Skechers chief executive officer, commented: “In 2010, we experienced record growth with annual sales exceeding $2 billion and were the clear leader in the explosive toning category, which has since slowed significantly. Our strong position in the fitness footwear industry however led to the development and marketing of our first true performance footwear line, Skechers GOrun. The initial response has been strong following its first delivery to select stores in the fourth quarter of 2011, and continues to grow as it expands to more doors during the first quarter of 2012. We have also built on this fitness platform with lifestyle athletic shoes for kids and adults. Last quarter we supported our kids, lifestyle and fitness lines with commercials, including a high energy spot for Skechers GOrun. This quarter we created a media frenzy with our new Skechers GOrun Super Bowl commercial, starring the spunky French bulldog Mr. Quiggly and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Along with Mr. Quiggly and Mark Cuban, we continue to support our lifestyle and fitness lines with Dancing with the Stars host Brooke Burke for BOBS from Skechers and LIV by Skechers, and elite runner Meb Keflezighi, who ran a personal best time and won the Olympic marathon trials in January while wearing custom Skechers GOrun footwear. Our new lines were delivered this quarter to many markets around the world, and we are excited to see the enthusiasm for our fresh products from both our international retail partners and consumers. We are continuing to expand in key international markets, including the recent transition of our business in Japan from a third-party distributor to a wholly-owned subsidiary. We are also encouraged by our company-owned concept stores, which had positive comp sales in January 2012. We believe that many of the challenges that we faced in the back half of 2011 are behind us, and we are eager to move ahead with our fresh product, effective marketing, and targeted distribution.”
Weinberg added: “2011 was a challenging year with the shift in footwear trends, but we are pleased with the advancements we have made in our product offering and in the management of our inventory levels, which decreased by $172 million year-over-year. We believe our cash position of $351 million, our reduced inventory levels, along with the opening of our more efficient North American distribution center in November 2011, our significantly reduced selling expense plan, as well as an expected tax refund receivable of approximately $52 million, provides us with the necessary liquidity to position us well for the back half of 2012. We will be working toward reducing our operating expenses relative to top line revenues in the back half of the year, and believe the only planned spending increases this year will be for the opening of 18 to 20 company-owned stores and the launch of our subsidiary in Japan as we look to build this market to be our largest subsidiary.”
