IC Companys reports a 4 percent increase in the revenues of its Premium Outdoor segment, represented by Peak Performance, in the third quarter of its financial year, ended on March 31. The revenues grew at a wholesale level of 8.3 percent as compared to the corresponding period of 2013, largely as expected, but they suffered a disappointing drop of 5.7 percent at retail. Growth in e-commerce was offset by a sales decline in Peak's physical stores.
The sales of Peak Performance reached 278 million Danish kroner (€37.25m-$50.82m) during the three-month period, including DKK 196.2 million (€26.3m-$35.8m) in wholesale revenues and DKK 81.5 million (€10.92m-$14.90m) in retail revenues. According to company officials, the regular corporate Peak Performance stores and the online store jointly raised their sales by 3.9 percent on a same-store basis, after currency conversions, but sales at the regular stores and the factory outlets went down
The gross margin of the segment deteriorated slightly due to the lower value of the Swedish and Norwegian currencies. However, Peak improved its operating margin (Ebit) to 13.7 percent from 10.0 percent in the year-ago period thanks to reduced operating costs.
As previously reported, IC Companys decided to concentrate on Peak Performance and four other more fashion-oriented brands – Tiger of Sweden, By Marlene Birger, Designer Remix and Saint Tropez – when it signed an agreement on March 27 for the sale of its remaining activities.
The consolidated revenues of the group from its continuing operations went up by 7 percent in the latest quarter to DKK 716 million (€95.93m-$130.89m). Their gross margin declined to 55.9 percent from 56.5 percent in the year-ago period, but the operating margin improved to 12.2 percent from 10.3 percent.
The outlook for the full financial year remains unchanged, said the management, indicating that it is investing in the expansion of the distribution of the group's premium brands.
