Hibbett full-year sales up 20% despite flat Q4 revenues hurt by supply chain issues

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Mar 5, 2022

U.S. athletics and fashion retailer Hibbett Inc. announced of Friday total sales for the fiscal year 2022 increased by almost 20%, despite weaker fourth-quarter revenue growth due to supply chain issues related to Covid-19.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based company said fiscal 2022 sales surged by 19.1% to ​$1.69 billion for the 52-week period ending January 29, on the back of strong annual comparable sales, up 17.4%. The company's retail store sales also jumped, up 21.4%, offsetting a dip in yearly e-commerce sales, down 1.6%, with online accounting for 13.8% of total sales.

Net income for the year rose to $174.3 million, or $11.19 per diluted share, compared to $74.3 million, or $4.36 per diluted share in the year prior, the company added.

​“The rapid growth of our business over the last two fiscal years has been accompanied by significant investments in customer acquisition and retention, new store growth, improving existing store productivity, enhancing omni-channel features and functionality, optimizing our delivery capabilities and modernizing the back-office infrastructure," said Mike Longo, president and CEO of Hibbett, which owns both sports-focused retailer, Hibbett, and athletic apparel chain, City Gear.

"We believe this upgraded business model differentiates us from our competition and is more capable of sustained profitable growth than prior to the pandemic. Our vendor relationships remain strong, allowing us to offer a unique assortment of difficult to find products in the communities we serve. In addition, we have approximately 11,000 team members across our organization committed to providing every consumer with an outstanding experience. We are excited to continue building our Hibbett and City Gear brands and expect to continue delivering strong sales and profitability results in the years to come.”

Fourth-quarter sales inched forward 1.7% to $383.3 million, hurt by softer retail store and comparable sales in the quarter's second half, due to supply chain issues resulting from Covid-19, said Hibbett.

“As we previously communicated, fourth quarter comparable sales decreased 1%...Although the second half of the fourth quarter was weaker than anticipated due to ongoing supply chain challenges, inflation concerns for the consumer and increased Covid-19 cases, we believe these negative factors that impacted traffic and transaction volume from late December through January will begin to subside in the coming months," added Longo.

Looking ahead, Hibbett did post a cautious outlook, predicting flat sales growth for fiscal 2023, with comparable sales expected to be in the negative low-single digits for the full year.