Record First-Quarter Revenue for Urban Outfitters
Apparel and home decor merchant Urban Outfitters, which mails the Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters catalogs, reported a 30% increase in its direct-to-consumer business. For the three months ended April 30, catalog/Internet sales totaled $43.5 million, up from $33.4 million a year ago. Total first-quarter sales for the Philadelphia-based business increased 16%, to a record $314.5 million.
Same-store sales at Anthropologie and Free People were up 2% and 5%, respectively, but down 5% at Urban Outfitters. Total same-store sales decreased 2%. Net income rose 45%, to $29.3 million from $20.2 million.
Catalogs Buoy Collegiate Pacific
Fiscal third-quarter sales for sports equipment merchant Collegiate Pacific increased more than 6%, to $63.2 million from $59.4 million last year. For the three months ended March 31, net income rose 41%, to $1.7 million from $1.2 million.
CEO Adam Blumenfeld said in a release that the Dallas-based company’s catalog division drove up gross margin percentages. Collegiate Pacific, which manufactures and supplies sports equipment primarily to the institutional and team dealer markets, distributes approximately 1.5 million catalogs annually. It acquired competitor Sport Supply Group earlier in the fiscal year.
Revenue Up in 1Q for Bluefly
Bluefly, an online merchant of discounted designer apparel and decor, posted a 31% leap in first-quarter revenue, to $22.1 million from $16.9 million in 2006. But the New York-based company’s operating loss grew too: For the three months ended March 31, it reported a $3.2 million operating loss, up from $3.05 million a year ago. Officials attributed the wider loss to $1.0 million worth of incremental stock-based compensation expenses made during the fourth quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007.
The net loss decreased slightly, however, to $3.1 million from $3.3 million. In a statement CEO Melissa Payner said she was pleased with the 31% revenue growth, “especially given the marketing spend is down 13% year over year.”