Steve Madden announced preliminary sales results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, and updated its fiscal year 2016 EPS guidance.
For the fourth quarter, net sales were $336.4 million, down 2.3 percent compared to the same period of 2015. Net sales for the wholesale division decreased 5.1 percent to $251.5 million. Retail net sales increased 7.1 percent to $84.9 million. Retail comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 increased 1.1 percent.
For fiscal year 2016, net sales were $1.4 billion, a 0.4-percent decrease compared to fiscal year 2015. Wholesale net sales decreased 2.4 percent to $1.1 billion. Retail net sales increased 9.3 percent to $262.8 million. Retail comparable-store sales for fiscal year 2016 increased 4 percent.
Diluted EPS for fiscal year 2016 is now expected to be at the high end of the company’s previously provided guidance range of $1.98 to $2.03.
Edward Rosenfeld, chairman and chief executive officer, commented, “We are pleased with our fourth quarter performance, with earnings per share expected to be at the high end of our guidance range despite the challenging retail environment. Sales were lower than anticipated, due largely to softness in cold weather accessories as well as our decision to wind down our relationship with our distributor in Asia as we plan to transition to a new business model in the region in 2017. However, the sales shortfall was offset by better-than-anticipated gross margin, with both our wholesale footwear and wholesale accessories segments expected to show strong gross margin improvement compared to last year’s fourth quarter. We also expect our tax rate to be lower than forecast due to the income tax benefit from stock option activity during the quarter.”
