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Reuters
Published
May 3, 2012
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Gildan Inc quarterly profit hurt by high cotton costs

By
Reuters
Published
May 3, 2012

Clothing maker Gildan Activewear Inc reported a 56 percent drop in quarterly earnings on Thursday, as higher cotton costs more than offset gains from improved sales volumes and higher selling prices.


Photo: Gildan


Net income in the second quarter that ended April 1, fell to $26.9 million, or 22 cents a share, from $61.7 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding restructuring and acquisition-related costs, earnings were $27.8 million, or 23 cents a share. This topped the company's previously announced second-quarter forecast of 20 cents a share. Analysts, on average, had also expected earnings to be in line with the company's forecast that was issued in February.

Net sales in the second quarter rose 26 percent to $482.6 million, driven by gains in both its printwear and branded apparel segments.

Higher cotton costs hurt gross margins in the quarter, which fell to 17.8 percent from 28.4 percent, a year earlier.

Gildan is a top supplier to the screenprint market in the United States and Canada, with more than 60 percent of the market. It also supplies private-label and Gildan-branded socks, primarily to mass-market retailers.

Montreal-based Gildan also said it would acquire smaller rival Anvil Holdings Inc for $88 million and finance the deal through its bank credit facility.

The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2012 earnings before restructuring and acquisition-related costs of about $1.30 per share. It expects sales of some $1.95 billion, compared with its prior view of about $1.9 billion. Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings of $1.32 a share, on revenue of $1.91 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company also forecast fiscal third-quarter earnings of 65 cents a share, on revenue of about $600 million. Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings of 79 cents a share, on revenue of $588.7 million.

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