Lululemon Athletica revenue climbs 18% in Q4FY17

The company's gross profit was $522.5 million, 22 per cent rise compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. Adjusted gross profit was $522.4 million, up 22 per cent. For 2017, gross profit was $1.4 billion, up 17 per cent compared to fiscal 2016. Adjusted gross profit was $1.4 billion, a growth of 17 per cent.

Income from operations was $256.3 million, an increase of 30 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. Adjusted income from operations increased $61.5 million, or 31 per cent, to $258.1 million. Income from operations was $456.0 million for 2017, an increase of 8 per cent compared to fiscal 2016. Adjusted income from operations increased $82.1 million, or 19 per cent, to $503.2 million.

The company repurchased 1.9 million shares of its own common stock at an average cost of $53.85 per share in fiscal 2017. These shares were repurchased under both the previous $100 million stock repurchase programme which was completed in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 and the $200 million stock repurchase programme which commenced in November 2017.

The company ended fiscal 2017 with $990.5 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $734.8 million at the end of fiscal 2016. Inventories at the end of fiscal 2017 increased by 10 per cent to $329.6 million compared to $298.4 million at the end of fiscal 2016. The company ended the year with 404 stores.

"We are pleased with our results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017. The company continues to execute successfully on its global growth strategies and I would like to thank our entire team including Celeste, Stuart, and Sun for their leadership in driving this strong performance," Glenn Murphy, executive chairman of the board, said.

"We are seeing strong momentum across our business as we now move into 2018, which is further positioning us to achieve our 2020 revenue goal of $4 billion. Importantly, we would like to thank our store educators, ambassadors, and the lululemon collective around the world for their energy and passion that is enabling our continued success," Stuart Haselden, chief operating officer, said.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2018, net revenue is likely to be in the range of $612 million to $617 million based on a total comparable sales increase in the low double digits on a constant dollar basis. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $0.44 to $0.46 for the quarter. For the full fiscal 2018, the net revenue is forecast in the range of $2.985 billion to $3.022 billion based on a total comparable sales increase in the mid-to-high single digits on a constant dollar basis. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $3.00 to $3.08 for the full year. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India