Wolverine Worldwide posts a virtually stable quarter

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Oct 15, 2014

The Performance group, with the brands Merrell, Saucony and Chaco, could soon become Wolverine Worldwide's leading cluster. Sales in its third quarter grew closer to those of the Lifestyle group (Sperry Top-Sider, Stride Ride, Keds, Soft Style, Cushe and Hush Puppies).

Whereas Lifestyle's sales were down nearly 7% to 277.9 million dollars compared to the same period last year, Performance's were up nearly 5% at 256 million dollars. The final group, Heritage (Sebago, Wolverine and the Harley-Davidson footwear licence), has improved by more than 2%, reaching 151 million dollars. Finally, the other activities nevertheless represent nearly 20 million euros (+9%).

In the end, the Group finishes its third quarter with sales down slightly by 0.8% for the three months closed on 6 September compared to the same period last year.

These stand at 711 million dollars. However, the group is improving its profitability. Its operational result has reached 90.4 million dollars, compared to 87 million dollars last year, with an operating margin that has climbed from 12% to 12.3%.

For its full-year sales, Wolverine Worldwide is expecting a 2% annual growth to $2.75 billion dollars for the 2014 financial year.