The company is not yet out of the woods. Timberland saw a 1.2 percent increase in reported revenue to $340.4 million for the first quarter, or only $4 million more than in the same period a year ago, but $16 million came from changes in foreign currency exchanges. Growth in the company’s SmartWool products, in the Timberland PRO line and in casual footwear helped offset declines in sales of boots, children’s footwear and North American apparel.
Broken down geographically, Europe was the best-performing segment, with revenues up by 6.9 percent to $164.8 million, but without the foreign currency benefit, European revenues were down by 1.6 percent. Asia had an increase of 0.7 percent to $37.9 million, but on a constant dollar basis that would have been a decrease of 6.3 percent. In the North American market, revenues were down by 4.7 percent to $137.7 million – a 5.1 percent decline on a constant currency basis – because of softer demand in the USA as well as Canada.
Within the company, sales of apparel and accessories were up by 2.7 percent to $97.9 million, helped by SmartWool. Footwear revenues were basically flat at $236.6 million, up by 0.4 percent. Wholesale revenues were down by 1.5 percent to $255.5 million. Direct-to-consumer sales jumped by 10.2 percent to $84.9 million.
In the second quarter Timberland is going to begin its announced licensing of its brand apparel in North America to Phillips-Van Heusen and stop selling in-house casual apparel there. It will continue selling its own apparel in other countries. For the second quarter the company expects mid- to high-single-digit revenue declines.
