Shoe Carnival FY14 net sales rise 6.3 percent

For the fiscal year 2014, Shoe Carnival net sales increased 6.3 percent to 940.2 million dollars against 884.8 million dollars for fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales increased 1.8 percent. The company reported net sales increase of 13.6 percent to 227.6 million dollars for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to net sales of 200.3 million dollars for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales increased 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.

“We were pleased with our strong comparable store sales performance in the fourth quarter driven by broad based gains across all of our footwear categories. We believe our key initiatives of national advertising, better brands in our women’s department and aggressive multi-channel initiatives continued to bring new customers to our stores, e-commerce site, and mobile touchpoints,” said Cliff Sifford, President and CEO.

The gross profit margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 increased to 28.6 percent compared to 28.5 percent last year. Net earnings for the quarter were 3 million dollars, or 0.15 dollars per diluted share. Net earnings for fiscal 2014 were 25.5 million dollars, or 1.27 dollars per diluted share, compared to net earnings of 26.9 million dollars, or 1.32 dollars per diluted share, in the last fiscal year. Gross profit increased to 273.7 million dollars in fiscal 2014. The gross profit margin in fiscal 2014 decreased to 29.1 percent from 29.3 percent in the prior fiscal year.

During fiscal 2014, the Company opened 31 new stores and closed seven to end the year at 400 stores. One store was opened and five were closed in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.