West Marine third quarter revenues were up 2.6% to $172.5 million versus $168.2 million in the prior-year quarter. Despite the uptick in revenues, earnings slid 14.5% to $7.4 million, or 32 cents a share, from $8.5 million, or 38 cents, in Q3 last year.
On the lighter side, gross profit for the third quarter was $49.6 million, an increase of $2.1 million compared to the same period last year. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit was 28.7%, up 50 basis points compared to the gross profit of 28.2% in the year-ago quarter.
By segment, net revenues for the Port Supply Wholesale segment were $6.7 million, an 11.1% decline, primarily due to a shift in sales to Port Supply customers. In the Direct segment, sales decreased 8.4% to $8.4 million. Store segment revenues rose 4.0% to $157.4 million, an increase of $6 million versus the prior year quarter. The uptick in store revenue reflects a 3.7% increase in comparable store sales or $5.2 million, partially offset by an $8.3 million decrease attributable to store closures.
West Marine CEO Geoff Eisenberg cited excellent weather in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions resulted in a longer boating season at the end of the quarter.
“We are pleased overall with our total sales growth of 2.6% and comp store growth of 3.7% which once again were above our internal budgets. We had planned on basically flat sales for the season due to our assumption of continued softness in the economy in general and the boating market in particular,” said Eisenberg.
