Rocky Brands announced its third quarter earnings with lower-than-expected performance in work and hunting categories, including waterproof and insulated boot collections. Rocky, Georgia Boot, Durango, Creative Recreation and the licensed brand Michelin live under the Rocky Brands umbrella.
The third quarter net sales were $70 million compared to $72.7 million in the third quarter of 2014. The third quarter net income was $1.8 million or $.24 per diluted share, compared to net income of $3.1 million or $.42 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2014.
Sales of waterproof and insulated boots were hurt by warm temperatures, challenging retail store traffic and weakening local economies tied to oil and gas production. The weakness in these categories was offset by growth in the Durango brand and commercial military business, combined with significant sales increase in their lower margin, contract military segment.
Wholesale sales for the third quarter decreased 12% to $54.7 million compared to $62.1 million for the same period in 2014. Retail sales for the third quarter increased 8.4% to 10.3 million compared to $9.5 million for the same period last year.
David Sharp, president and chief executive officer, said, “While we are disappointed in our overall results and are being cautious about the remainder of this year given current trends, we believe our entire brand portfolio remains healthy and that the slowdown in our top-line is temporary. We are confident that our product and distribution strategies will generate earnings growth in excess of sales growth over the long-term as our business model has recently demonstrated.”