leading women's apparel, accessory, shoe & gift retailer coldwater creek inc reported financial results for the three-month period ended april 30, 2005.
consolidated results net income for the three-month period ended april 30, 2005, increased $3.2 million, or 60 percent, to $8.5 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared with net income of $5.3 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the three-month period ended may 1, 2004. net sales in the fiscal 2005 first quarter increased 25 percent to $155.6 million from $124.5 million in the fiscal 2004 first quarter.
"our very positive performance in the first quarter was primarily driven by strong full-price selling in all three channels, which contributed to higher net sales and improved earnings," said dennis pence, chairman and chief executive officer for coldwater creek. "this favorable customer response to our full-price spring merchandise, coupled with increased merchandise purchasing power related to our retail expansion, helped improve our gross profit rate by 330 basis points."
gross profit for the fiscal 2005 first quarter was $72.8 million, or 46.8 percent of net sales, compared with $54.2 million, or 43.5 percent of net sales, for the fiscal 2004 first quarter. the increase in the gross profit rate was primarily due to improved merchandise margins on sales in all channels and, to a lesser extent, improved leveraging of the company's full-line retail store occupancy costs.
selling, general and administrative expenses for the fiscal 2005 first quarter were $59.5 million, or 38.2 percent of net sales, compared with $45.4 million, or 36.5 percent of net sales, for the fiscal 2004 first quarter.