Brown Shoe puts best foot forward in Q2

ST. LOUIS — Brown Shoe Company saw a shift in sales to the second quarter from the third quarter which helped deliver net sales of $621.7 million for the second quarter ended Aug. 3, up 10% from $564.9 million last year.

Famous Footwear had sales of $388.2 million for the quarter, up 10.8% year-over-year, while same-store-sales surged 6.8%. The strong performance was led by good sales growth in running, sandal and canvas shoe styles. During the quarter, the company closed or relocated 14 stores and added 19 new stores, as average revenue per square foot continued to improve.

Wholesale sales of $180.5 million were up 12.4% for the quarter, excluding sales from discontinued brands. For the Healthy Living platform, wholesale sales of $106 million were up 14.4%, excluding sales from discontinued brands, reflecting double-digit sales growth at Naturalizer, LifeStride and Dr. Scholl’s. The company’s Contemporary Fashion wholesale sales of $73.4 million were up 10.2% for the quarter, excluding sales from discontinued brands, with good growth from Sam Edelman and Franco Sarto.

“For the second quarter, we exceeded expectations with an improvement in adjusted EPS of over 100%. While consolidated net sales were up $57 million in the quarter — or 10% year-over-year — approximately $22 million of this amount was timing related, due to a shift in sales to the second quarter from the third quarter,” said Diane Sullivan, president and CEO of Brown Shoe Company. “Both retail and wholesale contributed to this quarter’s success, with Famous delivering record second quarter sales and operating profit and both of our wholesale platforms — Healthy Living and Contemporary Fashion — reporting double-digit increases in sales.”

The company’s consolidated gross profit increased 11.8% to $254.6 million for the quarter, while its gross margin of 41% improved by approximately 70 basis points versus the prior year

Brown Shoe Company is a global footwear company which serves three key market segments with its family brands Famous Footwear, Famous.com and shoes.com; its healthy living brands Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl's Shoes, LifeStride and Ryka; and its contemporary fashion brands Via Spiga, Vince, Sam Edelman, Franco Sarto, Carlos Santana and Fergie Footwear.