Net Income Down at Tiffany & Co.
New York-based upscale cataloger/retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) reported an 11% decline in second-quarter net earnings, despite an 8% rise in net sales. For the three months ended July 31, net sales were $476.6 million, compared with $442.5 million last year. Worldwide comparable store sales rose 7%. Both net sales and comparable store sales growth benefited by 2% from the translation-related effect of a weaker U.S. dollar. Net earnings were $36.6 million, compared with $41.1 million last year.
Direct marketing sales declined 8%, to $40.3 million. Combined e-commerce and catalog sales rose 2% in the quarter, with the average order size up but the number of orders down. Business sales declined 26% due to the company’s discontinuation of its service award program in 2003.
In the Swing: Golfsmith Drives Revenue
Austin, TX-based cataloger/retailer Golfsmith International Holdings posted a 22% increase in second-quarter net revenue, to $96.9 million for the three months ended July 3. Net income increased 5%, to $2.3 million from 2.2 million last year.
In July, Golfsmith launched Drive, a catalog designed specifically for the estimated 5.8 million women golfers in the United States.
Direct Sales Surge At Anthropologie
Philadelphia-based cataloger/retailer Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN), which mails the Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters titles, showed huge gains in its direct-to-consumer business. Second-quarter catalog/ Internet sales doubled to $18.4 million, compared with $9.2 million last year. Total company net sales increased 55%, to $189.5 million from $122.9 million. Comparable store sales rose 26%.
Restructuring Costs Befell MediaBay
Second-quarter sales and income tumbled at Cedar Knolls, NJ-based spoken audio media marketer MediaBay (Nasdaq: MBAY) as the company restructured its business for the digital age. In a release, CEO Jeffrey Dittus said that only 15% of MediaBay’s sales are Internet-based but he wants to increase Web sales to 50% over time.
“We have vastly reduced our marketing expenditures to acquire new members for our negative-option book club, while we focus on improving our operations and building a profitable and sustainable growth business based on the digital media strategy we established in the first quarter,” Dittus said.
Sales for the three months ended June 30 were $4.8 million, down 49% from $9.4 million last year. The net loss applicable to shareholders was $7.1 million, compared with a $228,000 net loss last year. The increased loss was due to $5.9 million of interest charges related to debt restructurings and refinancing. MediaBay completed two significant financings in the first six months of this year that provided approximately $12 million of cash to the company.