G-III reports 30 percent drop in Q4 net sales, expects Q1 gains

US fashion group G-III Apparel has reported a 30.3 percent drop in net sales for the fourth quarter of the year.

For the three months to January 31, 2021, the Nasdaq-listed company’s net sales fell to 526.2 million dollars from 754.6 million dollars a year earlier.

The company, which owns brands DKNY and Donna Karan, said net income for the quarter was 14.6 million dollars, down from 25.3 million dollars the previous year.

G-III Apparel chairman and CEO Morris Goldfarb said in a release: “Our entrepreneurial culture, with a merchant-led focus, proved to be invaluable as we responded to the casual trend by designing the right merchandise for our retail partners.

“We further elevated our position as a key supplier of choice for a broad range of apparel and accessories. We ended fiscal year 2021 with continued improvement in our wholesale operations and completed the restructuring of our retail operations.”

As part of the company’s restructuring, it permanently closed its Wilsons Leather and G.H. Bass stores during the year. Included in the company’s fourth-quarter results were net losses from the Wilsons Leather and G.H. Bass store operations of 8.6 million dollars, compared to 15.9 million dollars a year earlier.

Drop in full-year sales and profit

For the full year, net sales decreased 35 percent to 2.06 billion dollars, while net income plummeted to 23.5 million dollars from 143.8 million dollars.

Looking forward, Goldfarb said the company is entering fiscal 2022 “in a good inventory position, which is weighted toward casual product that remains in high demand”.

The company said it expects net sales for the first quarter to be approximately 460 million dollars, compared to 405.1 million dollars in the previous year. It expects net income to be in the range of 0.05 dollars and 0.15 dollars per diluted share, compared to a loss of 0.82 dollars per share the year before.

Goldfarb said: “As the year progresses, we believe there will be an increasing desire for dressier apparel and accessories. We are working closely with our retail and vendor partners to be in a position to bring these products to market in a timely manner. Our strong financial position and liquidity enables us to continue to fund our operations, as well as consider acquisitions.”

Image: DKNY, Facebook