Alpargatas reports 46.7% drop in earnings in first nine months of 2019

Alpargatas, the São Paulo, Brazil-based owner of the iconic Havaianas flip-flop brand, as well as Osklen and Mizuno, reported on Friday that it achieved net earnings of 133.9 million reais (around $32.1 million) in the first nine months of 2019, a 46.7% decrease when compared to the same period in the previous year. 

Alpargatas also revealed in a press release that, between January and September, it saw sales of 2.9 billion reais ($696.1 million), representing an 11.7% increase when compared to the prior-year period. 

The company's EBITDA for the nine-month period was 382 million reais ($91.6 million), down 17.4% from the same period in 2018. 

In the third quarter of 2019, Alpargatas reported net earnings of 58.5 million reais ($14.0 million), falling 51.2% compared to the prior-year period. 

The company's quarterly revenues totaled 1.04 million reais ($249.6 million), rising 11.4% from the figure reported in Q3 2018. 

EBITDA for Q3 2019 was 150.3 million reais ($36 million), down 34.6% from the same period between July and September in 2018. 

The conglomerate pointed out that, despite the declining figures, "all of the company's businesses posted double-digit growth in the quarter," and that in Brazil, direct-to-consumer sales rose 10% in brick-and-mortar stores and 13% in the e-commerce channel.

In September 2017 Brazilian holding company J&F, owner of meat-processing giant JBS, sold control of Alpargatas to Cambuhy Alpha Holdings and investment fund Itausa, which is operated by Brazilian bank Itaú, for 3.5 billion reais (around $1.1 billion at the time).

The value represented 54.2% of Alpargatas' shares, 85.78% of which were voting shares, a further 20.95% being preferred stock. 

Along with Havaianas, Alpargatas also owns Osklen, sportswear brand Topper and the Brazilian manufacturer of Japanese athleticwear label Mizuno.