Caleres reports record sales as Famous Footwear leads growth

By

Robin Driver

Published
Sep 5, 2018

St. Louis, Missouri-based footwear group Caleres Inc. announced record consolidated sales for the second quarter of 2018 on Tuesday, with increases across its business led by retail chain Famous Footwear.

 
The company reported total consolidated sales of $706.6 million for the quarter ended on August 4, 2018, a 4.4% increase compared to the prior-year period. Famous Footwear led growth with sales of $429.5 million, up 6.1%, while same-store sales at the chain increased 2.6%. The best performing categories for the retailer were women’s sandals and athletic-inspired styles.
 
Sales in the company’s brand portfolio also rose 1.9% in the quarter, totaling $277.1 million. Commenting on the results in a release, Caleres CEO Diane Sullivan highlighted that, among the brand’s in the company’s portfolio, “Sam Edelman delivered the largest second quarter in its history, and Naturalizer reported its fourth consecutive quarter of wholesale growth in North America.”

This positive progress meant that Caleres’ net earnings for the second quarter came to $23.6 million, up from $17.6 million in Q2 2017.
 
In July, the company acquired relaxed women’s footwear brand Blowfish Malibu, a move which Sullivan hopes will allow the group “to continue to expand and diversify our overall business.”
 
For the first half of fiscal 2018, Caleres reported sales of $1.3 billion, up 2.3% from the same period in the previous year. Sales at Famous Footwear totaled $792.9 million, a 2.8% increase, with same-store sales rising 1.0%, while brand portfolio sales came to $545.9 million, up 1.6% from the first half of fiscal 2017.
 
Net earnings for the first six months of the fiscal year were $40.9 million compared to the $32.5 million reported in the prior-year period.
 
Caleres currently expects consolidated net sales for fiscal 2018 to come to $2.8 billion.