Under Armour powers ahead

Strong sales of new products and fleece allowed athletic performance brand Under Armour to grow sales 23% to $472 million during its first quarter ended March 31.

Despite the solid increase in sales, the 12th consecutive quarter of revenue growth in excess of 20%, net income tumbled 47% to $8 million, or 7 cents a share, due largely to the timing of marketing expenses associated with the company’s largest ever global marketing campaign.

First quarter apparel net revenues increased 22% to $346 million compared with $283 million in the same period of the prior year, driven primarily by the introduction of new Baselayer product and strong sales of Fleece.　First quarter footwear net revenues increased 27% to $81 million from $64 million in the prior year's period, primarily driven by new running styles led by UA Spine Venom.　Meanwhile, first quarter accessories net revenues increased 22% to $36 million from $30 million in the prior year's period.

The company also said that its direct-to-consumer net revenues, which represented 26% of total net revenues for the first quarter, grew 31% compared to the prior year.

"This growth is the direct result of our enhanced design and innovation, including new and improved HeatGear Sonic Baselayer and the attention-grabbing UA Alter Ego line, featuring iconic superheroes such as Batman and Superman," Under Armour chairman and CEO Kevin Plank said. "Our Youth product is stronger than ever and we continue to see traction with our expanded women's lines in Studio and ArmourBra.　Momentum is also evident in footwear with solid sell through of our latest product in the running platform, Spine Venom."

Given the strong start to the year, the company bumped up its revenue forecast to a range of $2.21 billion to $2.23 billion from a prior forecast of $2.2 billion to $2.22 billion.