West Marine Inc. slightly reduced its loss in the first quarter, to $10.3 million, or 42 cents a share, from $11.0 million, or 46 cents a year ago.
Revenues increased 12.1 percent over last year to $127.1 million. Comps jumped 13.3 percent. Approximately 6 percent of this increase was attributable to the calendar shift in fiscal 2014 from a 53-week fiscal year to a 52-week fiscal year in fiscal 2015, which has a meaningful impact on the company's seasonal business.
“The 2015 boating season is off to a strong start and we are very pleased with our comparable store sales results in the first quarter,” said Matt Hyde, CEO.
Hyde said sales were driven by its store optimization strategy that increased to 43.1 percent of total sales compared to 38.2 percent last year. Efforts to expand footwear, apparel, clothing accessories, fishing products and paddle sports equipment also paid off. Those categories grew 21.2 percent, with core product sales up 11.1 percent, compared to last year.
Another highlight was e-commerce, where revenues jumped 27.1 percent and represented 9.3 percent of sales.
Finally, West Marine introduced its first Super Sale in March, which drove top line sales and attracted new customers. Added Hyde, “We believe we are well positioned for the peak boating in the months ahead.”
As the boating season builds toward peak selling months, the calendar shift is expected to boost the first of the year. Conversely, negative year-over-year comparisons due to the calendar shift are expected in the back half, particularly during the third quarter as key boating season ends. The annualized impact is expected to be negligible.
West Marine reaffirmed its guidance for the year. It expects EPS in the range of 14 to 27 cents a share. Comps are projected to rise between 1.0 percent to 4.0 percent.
