The US shoe and clothing retailer Deckers Brands started the 2022/23 financial year with strong sales growth. However, the profit in the first quarter fell short of the previous year’s level. This emerges from an interim report published by parent company Deckers Outdoor Corporation on Thursday evening.
In the first quarter, which ended in June, consolidated sales amounted to USD 614.5 million (EUR 603.3 million). It was thus 21.8 percent (+23.5 percent currency-adjusted) above the level of the same period of the previous year. The group of companies owed the significant growth above all to its sports shoe brand Hoka, whose sales increased by 54.9 percent to 330.0 million US dollars. For the first time, the label has managed to achieve sales of more than one billion US dollars within twelve months, emphasized CEO Dave Powers. Because of the “exciting speed” with which the brand has achieved this goal, its importance to the group is only increasing, according to Powers.
The Teva brand was able to increase by 2.0 percent and came to 59.6 million US dollars, while the Ugg and Sanuk labels had to accept a decline in sales. Ugg sales fell 2.4 percent to $207.9 million and Sanuk sales fell 5.9 percent to $14.2 million. Sales of the other group brands shrank by 45.3 percent to a total of 2.7 million US dollars.
Deckers Brands’ earnings were down from the prior-year quarter due to a lower gross margin and higher operating expenses. Operating income fell 8.9 percent to $56.3 million and net income fell 6.8 percent to $44.8 million. However, the surplus was still higher than the analysts had expected in advance.