Deckers Outdoor Corporation announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008.
First Quarter Highlights: • Net sales increased 34.4% to $97.5 million versus $72.6 million last year. • Diluted EPS increased 17.8% to $0.86 versus $0.73 a year ago. • Gross margin improved to 47.3% compared to 46.0% last year. • UGG brand sales increased 83.6% to $54.8 million compared to $29.8 million a year ago.
Angel Martinez, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are very pleased with our first quarter performance which represents a solid start to fiscal 2008 in a challenging retail environment.
Our better than expected results continue to be driven by our UGG brand, as response was very positive to our expanded spring line of sandals, boots and slippers. With regard to Teva, sales were below plan primarily due to the difficult retail environment. That said, we continue to believe that our strategy to evolve Teva into an outdoor, performance-oriented brand and extend its selling season into the second half of the year remains on track.
For Simple, we witnessed strong sell-through with the new spring ecoSNEAKS and Green Toe collections across all channels of distribution, which underscores our belief that the sustainable lifestyle movement is resonating with consumers around the world. In addition, we have recently made a number of key infrastructure investments that we believe have strengthened our leadership team and better positioned our Company for long-term success."