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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowShoe Carnival Inc., plagued by declining sales and lower profit margins on merchandise, today reported fourth-quarter results that severely missed analyst expectations.
The Evansville-based footwear retailer reported a $3 million loss, or 24 cents per share, for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 – down from a profit of $1.1 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
The loss was three times greater than the 8 cents per share anticipated by five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Sales for the quarter fell to $156.9 million from $164.3 million a year earlier. Sales missed analyst expectations by about $2 million, or 4 percent.
Sales at stores open more than a year decreased 8.3 percent, and gross profit margins at all stores fell from 27.5 percent to 24.7 percent.
Shoe Carnival said more holiday promotions and aggressive clearance sales affected margins.
The retailer opened two stores and closed eight during the quarter, resulting in store-closing costs of $2.4 million, compared to $1.4 million for the year-ago period.
For the full fiscal year, profit fell to $5.3 million, or 43 cents per share, from $12.8 million, or 97 cents per share, the year before, missing analyst expectations by 27 percent.
Revenue for the year shrank to $647.6 million from $658.7 million.
Analysts expected a profit for the year of 59 cents per share and revenue of $649.6 million.
Full-year same-store sales decreased 4.6 percent.
CEO Mark Lemond said he expects the retail footwear market to be challenging at least for the first six months in 2009.
The company, which has 304 stores, expects to open about 15 outlets and close about 10 during the next year.
The company’s stock fell 8 cents this morning, to $8.08 per share.
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