Delta Apparel’s Q4 Profit Declines

Delta Apparel’s profit edged down slightly to $2.1 million in Q4 ended Sept 30 as revenue dropped 19.9% to $91.3 million, due partly to its sale of Junk Food earlier this year.

Junk Food, which sells apparel under a variety of licensed entertainment brands, generated $17 million in revenue in Q4 a year ago. Delta, which acquired Junk Food for $20 million in 2005, sold it to JMJD Ventures in March for $27 million.

Delta is expanding its Salt Life brand business, which includes licensing agreements for Salt Life Food Shack restaurants in Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine, FL. Delta is opening a new company-owned Salt Life store in Daytona Beach, FL, in December and added a new location in Columbus, GA this month. It has three other locations (Jacksonville, FL and San Clemente and Huntington Beach, CA). It’s also expanding distribution of Salt Life apparel, which has largely been sold through surf shops, to the 400-store The Buckle chain in the spring.

Contact:

Delta Apparel, Deborah Merrill, Chief Financial Officer, 846-232-5200 x6620

Executives:

Sam Ferguson, Senior Director of Licensing at Jazwares, is promoted to VP of Licensing… Etta Saunders, ex-Parragon, named Head of Licensing at Half Moon Bay…

Contacts:

Jazwares, Sam Ferguson, Senior Dir. Licensing, +44 203 598 0270, sferguson@jazwares.com

Half Moon Bay, Etta Saunders, Head of Licensing, +44 1225 473873?

Barbasol Brand Expanding Outside Shaving Products

The Barbasol shaving brand will be extended outside shaving creams and disposable razors for the first time in many years, with licensee Evergreen Consumer Brands developing body wash, lotion and hair care products, while Xtreme Care readies electric and foil shavers along with beard and nose hair trimmers. The deals come as Barbasol parent Perio Inc. seeks to generate new revenue from a brand it acquired along with the Pure Silk label from Pfizer in 2001. Evergreen also signed a licensing agreement for Pure Silk to bring the brand into women’s body wash, lotions and hair care products. Seltzer Licensing Group is representing both brands.

Contact:

Evergreen Consumer Brands, Rick Crispi, Pres., 905-458-7002 x27, rcrispi@evergreenbrands.net

Perio Inc., Sky Borgerding, VP Sales, 614-791-1207

Seltzer Licensing Group, Ricky Yoselevitz, VP Strategy and Business Development, 212-244-5548, ricky@seltzerlicensing.com

Sears Loss Narrows as Store Closings Continue

Sears Holdings’ will close another 102 stores by year-end (78 Kmart, 24 Sears) as it takes an additional $70 million charge against Q4 earnings, the company said in an SEC filing. Sears will incur $134 million is costs tied to the restructuring, including $60 million for merchandise mark-downs. The closings by are in addition to the 330 shuttered earlier this year, including 100 Kmart and 47 Sears stores in Q3 ended Oct. 28.  The company had 1,104 stores as of Oct. 28.

Sears’ Q3 net loss narrowed to $558 million from $748 million, despite revenue plunging 28% to $3.6 billion on a 15.3% decline in same-store sales (13% decline at Kmart and 17% at Sears). Despite a decline in Sears’ net loss, the chain’s business isn’t likely to level off any time soon, GlobalData Retail’s Neil Saunders said in a research note. “The loss of customers at existing stores continues apace, and we believe there is a danger that this trend could accelerate into the new year,” Saunders said.

Q3 operating loss at Sears stores narrowed 5.8% to $341 million as sales declined 20.7% to $2.5 billion, while for Kmart stores the operating loss declined to $78 million despite a 37.3% decrease in revenue to $1.2 billion.

Contact:

GlobalData Retail, Neil Saunders, Managing Dir., +44 161 359 5813

Sears, Robert Riecker, Chief Financial Officer, 847-286-8500

Barnes & Noble Going Back to Roots

Barnes & Noble is going back to its roots, expanding its assortment of books, while narrowing the mix of toys, educational and gift products, CEO Demos Parneros told analysts.

The disclosure follows the bookseller having launched clearance sales of non-book products in Q2 ended Oct. 28 to remove an “over-assortment of slow-moving inventory,” Parneros said. Barnes & Noble won’t completely exit many of the non-book categories and “will be in those businesses in a better and more focused way,” Paneros said.

The chain has been expanding its selection of licensed collectibles in recent years.

The company’s Q2 net loss widened to $30 million from $20.4 million a year earlier on a 7.9% decline in revenue to $791.1 million.  Same-store sales fell 6.3%, reflecting tough comparisons with last year’s release of “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” and the sell-off of non-book products. Retail sales fell 7.3% to $769.7 million.

In addition to revamping its merchandise, Barnes & Noble is testing five small format stores ranging from 5,000-20,000-sq. ft., down from its standard 26,000-sq.-ft. locations.  The company will weigh deploying the new format as about half the leases for its 632 stores coming up for renewal through 2020.

“We want to have a small store that is more efficient,” Parneros said.  Sharpening its focus on books is “simply who we are and it is part of our heritage.”

Contact:

Barnes & Noble, Demos Parneros, CEO, 212-633-3300, dpaneros@bn.com