This other major Brazilian company reported a drop of 8.2 percent in its consolidated revenues for the past year, down to 3,721.9 million reais (€925.4m-$1,148.3m). As usual, most of the revenues came from Alpargatas' Havaianas brand of rubber sandals and sales of Mizuno products under license in Brazil and Argentina.
In its domestic market, Alpargatas suffered an overall sales decline of 8.3 percent to R$2,419.2 million (€601.3m-$746.0m), due primarily to a drop of 11 percent in sales of sandals. The group's sales fell also in Argentina and other foreign markets, due to changes in foreign currency rates. Its sales in Argentina declined by 14.0 percent in reais but went up by 5.6 percent in pesos. Revenues from the sale of sandals outside Brazil increased by 7.8 percent in euros and by 18.7 percent in dollars.
The group's gross margin dropped slightly to 44.4 percent, but it went up by 1.3 percentage points to 45.1 percent in Brazil, thanks to higher margins for sandals and Mizuno products, due to the appreciation of the real against the dollar and the production of a larger number of Mizuno shoes in Brazil.
The Ebitda margin improved by 1.5 percentage points to 15.4 percent in the company's domestic operations, thanks in part to cost controls, but it declined elsewhere. Overall, Alpargatas' Ebitda margin dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 13.1 percent of sales for the year, reaching 13.5 percent excluding extraordinary items.
Net earnings declined by 2.2 percent to R$350.6 million (€87.1m-$108.1m), while improving as a percentage of sales to a net margin of 9.4 percent, but the group ended the year with a slightly negative financial position.
Alpargatas' sales recovered in the fourth quarter, rising by 3.6 percent to R$1,103.6 million (€274.3m-$340.4m), thanks in particular to a 34.9 percent jump to R$105.9 million (€26.3m-$32.7m) in foreign sales of sandals, with increases of 17.5 percent in euros and 21.1 percent in dollars. In terms of volume, sales of sandals declined by 8.1 percent to 63.1 million pairs in Brazil, where they had grown strongly in the year-ago period. They rose by 16.1 percent to 6.4 million pairs abroad, particularly in Europe and the U.S.
Sales of athletic shoes rose by 33.7 percent to 1.4 million pairs in Brazil during the quarter, with increases in the basic and performance segments for Mizuno. They grew by 9.7 percent to 1.4 million pairs in Argentina, due especially to higher imports of Topper shoes into the country.
While the group's international sandals business became profitable, the group's overall Ebitda margin fell by 8.6 percentage points to 5.1 percent in the quarter, and the net profit dropped by 56.3 percent to R$45.1 million (€11.2m-$13.9m), or 4.1 percent of sales, due in particular to an impairment charge taken on Osklen, the group's brand of sportswear.
