The US sporting goods supplier Under Armor Inc. was able to achieve strong sales growth in Europe and Latin America in the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. Overall, the latest results presented by the company on Wednesday exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Sales in the months October to December amounted to 1.58 billion US dollars (1.47 billion euros), which corresponded to an increase of 3.4 percent (currency-adjusted +6.9 percent) compared to the third quarter of the previous year . However, in North America, Under Armour’s most important market by far, revenue fell 2.4 percent (-1.8 percent at constant currency) to $1.04 billion. In the Asia-Pacific region, they shrank by 8.8 percent (adjusted for currency effects +0.9 percent) to 198.0 million US dollars.
However, these losses were offset by significant sales improvements in the other markets. In the EMEA region, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa, revenues increased by 32.5 percent (+46.2 percent at constant currency) to USD 265.2 million and in Latin America by 44.9 percent (at constant currency +41.4 percent) to 63.8 million US dollars.
Because the company had to post significantly lower operating costs than in the same period last year, operating profit grew by 9.9 percent to 94.7 million US dollars. Net income was $121.6 million, up 10.9 percent from the prior-year quarter, thanks to deferred income from the sale of the MyFitnessPal platform in late 2020. Adjusted for special effects, the surplus was 75.6 million US dollars, according to the company.
Recent developments have prompted management to raise its full-year guidance for adjusted diluted earnings per share to $0.52-0.56 from $0.44-0.48. Otherwise, the goals for 2022/23 remained unchanged. It is expected to continue to grow revenue in the low single digits and generate operating income in the range of $270 million to $290 million.