Lululemon Athletica net sales soar 17% in Q4FY16

01 Apr '16

3 min read

For the fourth fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2016, net sales at Lululemon Athletica soared 17 per cent to $704.3 million from $602.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

“Total comparable sales, which includes comparable store sales and direct to consumer, increased by 11 per cent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 on a constant dollar basis,” a press release revealed.

Comparable store sales for the reporting quarter rose 5 per cent year over year on a constant dollar basis and direct to consumer net revenue surged 33 per cent, also on a constant dollar basis.

“Direct to consumer net revenue drove up 28 per cent from a fiscal ago quarter to $146.3 million, or 20.8 per cent of total net revenue,” the apparel retailer added.

Gross profit for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 grew 14 per cent to $354.5 million, and as a percentage of net revenue, gross profit was 50.3 per cent, down from 51.5 per cent in the earlier fiscal's fourth quarter.

Income from operations for the quarter under review increased 6 per cent to $166.3 million, and as a percentage of net revenue was 23.6 per cent, up from 26.1 per cent in the prior fiscal's same quarter.

The company further added that income tax expense for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 was $49.8 million compared to $48.1 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

The effective tax rate for the quarter was 29.8 per cent as against 30.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

Diluted earnings per share for the reporting period rose to $0.85 vis-à-vis $0.78 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, the company repurchased 2.1 million shares of its common stock at an average cost of $49.52 per share.

CEO Laurent Potdevin said, "I'm very pleased with our strong finish to the year with positive momentum across all channels.”

“Our fourth quarter results are a reflection of our ability to deliver a truly unique experience to our guests, led, as always, by our outstanding store educators," he added.

The company ended fiscal 2016 with $501.5 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $664.5 million at the end of fiscal 2015.

Inventory at the end of fiscal 2016 was $284.0 million as against $208.1 million at the end of fiscal 2015, while it ended the fiscal with 363 stores.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2017, Lululemon expects net revenue to be in the range of $483 million to $488 million based on a total comparable sales increase in the mid-single digits on a constant dollar basis.

Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $0.28 to $0.30 for the quarter, assuming 138.0 million diluted weighted-average shares outstanding and a 30.2 per cent tax rate. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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