Steve Madden raises outlook after strong Q3

For its third quarter, net sales at Steve Madden increased 3.9 percent to 458.5 million dollars compared to 441.2 million dollars in the same period of 2017. The company said gross margin for the period was 38.2 percent compared to 37.6 percent in the same period last year, an increase of 60 basis points.

Commenting on the results, Edward Rosenfeld, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement: “In addition to robust growth in our core Steve Madden women’s wholesale business, we saw strong gains in international markets, outstanding performance in Blondo and a significant acceleration in our e-commerce business.”

Review of Steve Madden’s third quarter results

Net income attributable to Steven Madden, Ltd. was 55.6 million dollars, or 0.64 dollar per diluted share, compared to 44.2 million dollars or 0.51 dollar per diluted share, in the prior year's third quarter. Adjusted net income was 55.9 million dollars or 0.65 dollar per diluted share, compared to 44.5 million dollars or 0.51 dollar per diluted share, in the prior year's third quarter.

Net sales for the wholesale business increased 3.1 percent to 388.5 million dollars, as the company said, a strong gain in wholesale accessories was partially offset by a modest decline in wholesale footwear driven by the transition of the company’s business with one of its private label customers from the wholesale model to the buying agency model. Gross margin in the wholesale business increased to 34.3 percent, with gross margin improvement in both wholesale footwear and wholesale accessories.

Retail net sales rose 8.8 percent to 69.9 million dollars compared to 64.3 million dollars in the third quarter of the prior year. The company added that same store sales increased 5.5 percent in the quarter, including a solid gain in bricks and mortar locations and a strong increase in the company’s e-commerce business. Retail gross margin rose to 60.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018, up 80 basis points due to improved gross margin in the Company’s e-commerce business.

The company ended the quarter with 210 company-operated retail locations, including seven Internet stores, as well as 46 company-operated concessions in international markets.

Declares dividend, updates full year outlook

The company’s board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of 0.14 dollar per share, reflecting a 5 percent increase over the previous quarterly dividend.

For fiscal year 2018, the company now expects net sales will increase 6 percent to 7 percent over net sales in 2017, the high end of the previous range of 5 percent to 7 percent. The company expects diluted EPS will be in the range of 1.70 dollars to 1.72 dollars, the high end of the previous range of 1.67 dollars to 1.72 dollars and adjusted diluted EPS to be in the range of 1.76 dollars to 1.78 dollars, the high end of the previous range of 1.73 dollars to 1.78 dollars.

Picture:Facebook/Steve Madden