The US shoe retailer Skechers USA Inc. was once again able to increase its sales significantly in the third quarter of the 2022 financial year. However, higher costs and negative currency effects meant that profits fell well short of the corresponding prior-year level. This emerges from an interim report published by the company on Tuesday evening.
Accordingly, sales in the period from July to September reached a new record level of 1.88 billion US dollars (1.88 billion euros). Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, this means an improvement of 20.5 percent (+27.3 percent after currency adjustments). In the wholesale business, revenues increased by 26.2 percent to 1.19 billion US dollars, in the own retail business they increased by 11.9 percent to 686.8 million US dollars.
Skechers achieved its strongest growth in the quarter in EMEA, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Not least thanks to good business at the German subsidiary, sales there rose by 47.6 percent to USD 469.8 million. In the Americas, sales grew 16.2 percent to $948.0 million, and in the Asia-Pacific region, at $460.6 million, they were 8.6 percent above the corresponding prior-year level.
Increased freight and logistics costs and negative currency effects weigh on the result
Earnings developed less favorably: Higher freight and logistics costs and the increased share of wholesale business in total sales could not be compensated for by price increases. The gross margin, which had been 49.9 percent in the same quarter of the previous year, fell to 47.1 percent.
Operating profit fell 11.1 percent to $130.0 million, and net income attributable to shareholders shrank 16.7 percent to $85.9 million. However, adjusted for exchange rate fluctuations, net profit fell by only 3.6 percent, according to the company.
In the first nine months of the current financial year, Skechers increased its sales by 19.6 percent (currency-adjusted +23.8 percent) to 5.57 billion US dollars. Net income was $297.5 million, down 12.3 percent year-on-year.