Bolstered by record revenues and net income for the nine months ended Dec. 31, Mizuno Corp. raised its annual operating profit and net income outlooks while maintaining its annual revenue forecast at 225,000 million Japanese yen (€1.41bn). The group raised its full-year operating profit by 13.6 percent to ¥16,500 million (€103.5m) and net profit outlook by 10 percent to ¥12,500 million (€78.4m).
Total sales for the nine months, fueled by gains in football and indoor footwear across all geographies, increased by 14.0 percent to ¥168.0 billion (€1.05bn) as operating profit soared 35 percent to ¥13.7 billion (€86.0m). Net income came in at ¥11.3 billion (€70.9m).
By segment, footwear sales improved by 23 percent to ¥53.6 billion (€336.3m); apparel revenues, sparked by growth in team sports, rose 15 percent higher to ¥45.1 billion (€283.0m); and equipment sales increased by 6.1 percent to ¥42.8 billion (€268.5m).
All geographies reported double-digit sales increases for the nine months, led by a 25 percent gain in Asia/Oceania to ¥22.0 billion (€138.0m) and an 18 percent improvement in the Americas to ¥27.1 billion (€170.0m).
In EMEA, nine-month sales stepped 16.7 percent higher to ¥20.1 billion (€126.1m), helped by growth in football, indoor and lifestyle footwear. However, the region’s profitability was negatively impacted by high inventory levels at retail and purchase-price increases for products. In the Americas, meanwhile, golf sales continued to increase and team sports revenues improved, with footwear sales up by 36 percent year-over-year to ¥6.7 billion (€42.0m) and equipment sales up by 18 percent to ¥16.4 billion (€102.9m). The region’s apparel sales were flat for the period at ¥4.0 billion.
Mizuno conducts business in Brazil and China through local distributors and collects royalties on all sales. Through Q3, revenues collected from Brazil equaled ¥16.6 billion (€104.2m) and were ¥11.0 billion (€69.0m) from China, where they were 36 percent higher than in all of FY22.
The group’s implied Q3 results for the three months ended Dec. 31 show operating income of ¥5.6 billion (€34.9m) versus ¥2.1 billion from 11 percent sales growth to ¥53.5 billion (€333.4m). Net income was up 150 percent at ¥3.5 billion (€21.8m) against ¥1.4 billion in the year-ago period.
