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Wolverine announces record revenue & earnings for Q1

19 Apr '06

2 min read

Uniform footwear marketer Wolverine World Wide Inc reported record revenue and earnings for its first quarter ended on March 25, 2006, and announced an improved earnings outlook for the year.

The Company achieved record revenue for the first quarter of 2006 totaling $262.8 million, a 7.2 percent increase over first quarter 2005 revenue of $245.2 million. Earnings per share during the first quarter of 2006 grew to $0.34 per share compared to $0.27 per share reported for the same quarter last year, an increase of 25.9 percent.

"Record first quarter earnings were driven by strong gross margin expansion," reported the Company's CFO, Stephen L. Gulis Jr. "Gross margin during the first quarter of 2006 grew to an all-time record 40.3 percent, a 100 basis point improvement over first quarter 2005.

This improvement resulted primarily from increased sales of higher margin lifestyle products, strong inventory management and a positive impact from foreign currency. The Company also generated 40 basis points of expense leverage inclusive of FAS 123® stock incentive expense and the investment spending noted above.

"Our balance sheet strengthened further in the first quarter as we reduced inventory levels by 7.6 percent, kept our accounts receivable growth below the rate of our revenue growth and ended the quarter with a cash balance in excess of $46 million. Additionally, we repurchased 866,700 shares in the quarter totaling $18.8 million."

TheCompany will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. EDT today to discuss these results and current business trends. To listen to the call at the Company's website, go to http://www.wolverineworldwide.com , click on "Investors" in the navigation bar. A replay of the call will be available at the Company's website through May 3, 2006.

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