Finish Line comparable sales improve, reaffirms outlook

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Sep 24, 2016

The Finish Line, Inc. on Friday reported its second quarter 2017 results ended on August 27, 2016. The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2017 outlook following its solid second quarter performance and announced that the Board of Directors has approved an updated timetable for Glenn Lyon’s transition to non-executive chairman of the Board of Directors, effective immediately.
 

“Throughout our multi-year succession plan, Glenn and Sam worked diligently to develop a seamless and effective transition plan leading us to today,” said Bill Carmichael, lead director of The Finish Line, Inc. Board. “With their continued collaboration and a fully immersed leadership team focused on Finish Line’s growth and profitability, we reached this transition quicker than originally anticipated.”
 
Finish Line consolidated net sales increased 5.4% to $509.4 million and comparable store sales increased 5.1%. Diluted income per share was $0.53.

Sam Sato, Chief Executive Officer of Finish Line, said, “The combination of top-line growth and disciplined expense management allowed us to partially offset the planned gross margin pressure from our successful inventory reduction actions and deliver earnings in-line with expectations.” The change in focus allows for the company to adapt more quickly to market changes.
 
In addition, consolidated merchandise inventories increased 1.6% to $372.3 million from $366.3 million in the prior second quarter, and the company repurchased 1.0 million shares of common stock totaling $21.3 million.
 
For fiscal 2017, Finish Line expects comparable store sales to increase in the 3% to 5% range and diluted earnings per share to be between $1.50 and $1.56.