Steve Madden wholesale business jumps in first quarter, offsets retail sales dip

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Apr 24, 2017

Steve Madden on Friday announced its first quarter results, ended on March 31, 2017. Net sales increased 11.2% to $366.4 million, and adjusted net income increased to $27.5 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, from $23.7 million, or $0.39 per diluted share.

 
Edward Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are pleased to have started off 2017 with a strong first quarter. The highlight was our Steve Madden Women’s wholesale footwear division, where we had another quarter of outstanding growth in a challenging retail environment."
 
The wholesale business increased 13.6% to $313.3 million, and increased 8.5% excluding the Schwartz & Benjamin acquisition in January. Gross margin for the wholesale business was 32.4% and adjusted gross margin was 32.8% driven by an increase in the wholesale footwear segment.

Retail net sales fell slightly to $53.1 million from $53.6 million in the prior year, and same store sales decreased 6.0% compared to an increase of 10.7% in the previous year. In addition, retail gross margin increased to 58.7% from 56.2% due to a lower level of promotional activity.
 
For the fiscal year, Steve Madden still expects net sales to increase by 8% to 10%, GAAP diluted earnings per share to range from $1.97 to $2.03 and adjusted diluted earnings per share to range from $2.12 to $2.18.