Guess? operating margin improves 70 basis points to 18.7%
20 Mar '08
3 min read
Guess? Inc reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended February 2, 2008.
Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2008 Results: For the thirteen weeks ended February 2, 2008, the Company reported record net earnings of $55.2 million, an increase of 20.3% compared to net earnings of $45.9 million for the recast fourteen week period ended February 3, 2007. Diluted earnings per share increased 20.4% to $0.59 in the current quarter versus $0.49 for the comparable period last year.
There were several items that impacted the comparability of the quarterly results. Last year's quarter included an extra operating week, non-operating asset gains, a low tax rate and debt retirement costs, while the tax rate for this year's fourth quarter was relatively high. Collectively, these issues negatively impacted the quarterly earnings per share comparison by about $0.08 per share.
Paul Marciano, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are very pleased with our strong financial performance this quarter, especially considering the current economic environment. Once again, all of our business segments contributed to our solid revenue and earnings growth in the period.
Our international businesses remained the primary drivers of this growth, with Europe and Asia representing about two-thirds of the revenue increase and half of the operating profit growth in the quarter. These results marked our 18th consecutive quarter of earnings growth.”