How’s Volcom Doing? Their Quarterly Results
I swear I wrote as fast as I possibly could during the conference call and hope I got all the good stuff. The press release was pretty much lacking in detailed management discussion and there were no footnotes to the financial statements. I know probably nobody will care by the time the actual quarterly report is filed with the SEC, but I promise to go through it and let you know what interesting info (if any) there is in the details.
Revenues for the quarter were up 15.4% to $62.4 million compared to $54.2 million in the same quarter the previous year. Gross profit in was up 13.2% to $29.8 million compared to $26.4 million. Gross profit margin was 47.7%, down from 48.6% in the same quarter last year. In its US segment, which includes the US, Canada, Asia/Pacific, Central and South America, it fell from 48.8% to 46.1%. It rose in Europe from 44.8% to 46.1% because of more direct retail selling and less to distributors.
In the first quarter of the year, the gross profit margin was 54.7%. In the complete years of 2007, 08, and 09 it was, respectively, 48.4%, 48.8%, and 50.2%.
Okay, let’s pause here and focus a bit. Volcom management tells us in the conference call that the lower gross margin percentage in the U.S. segment was primarily due to incentive pricing that was part of a strategy to gain market share. They also note that they carried more inventory to capture in season orders and that low margin liquidation sales were higher than in the second quarter last year in the U.S. segment. And CEO Richard Wolcott said they were “Getting great sell through.” They say that sell through reports show that Volcom product is “resonating” well with customers.
This is pretty much the part of the conference call where I go crazy with frustration because I don’t get to ask any questions. The ones I might have asked include:
- If sell through is so great, why is the gross margin down?
- If you are gaining market share, is it strictly because of the discounts you’re offering that lead to the lower gross margin or do you think you’ll hold that share when you raise prices? Anybody can get more share if they charge less.
- Does carrying more inventory to capture in season orders mean your prebooks were off? Do you get as good a margin on those in season sales as on the prebooks?
- Is carrying more inventory for in season orders a temporary tactic or do you expect to continue it?
- You noted that low margin liquidation sales were higher in the second quarter last year. There decline should contribute to a higher gross margin. Can you give us any insight as to the size of those sales and their impact on gross margin?
These questions might be particularly appropriate given that during the question section of the conference, they said to expect some gross margin pressure during the third quarter and that higher liquidation and incentive sales were expected. Some of these pressures come from problem with supply and costs in China right now. Volcom specifically notes delays in snow product delivery due to labor shortages in China. Almost every company, of course, has to deal with these same pressures.
Sales, general and administrative expenses stayed about the same as a percentage of sales at 47.6% but went up about $3.9 million. That’s part of their plan to increase market share and it’s probably the right time to do that. They have a balance sheet that allows them to.
Operating income tell from $504,000 last year to $67,000 for the quarter this year. For six months, operating income rose from $6.9 million to $11.1 million. Net income was $872,000 in 2009 for the quarter compared to $68,000 in the quarter ended June 30, 2010. You’re better off looking at operating income though. In last year there was a foreign exchange gain of $651,000 during the quarter. In the same quarter this year, it was loss of $66,000. The income tax provision fell from $352,000 to $31,000. Basically, in the quarter ended June 30, 2009, Volcom was a million bucks better off due to items below the operating income line.
In discussing the general economic environment, they say the macro demand environment has weakened a bit and retailers have become more cautious. In the U.S., they describe the retail attitude as “somewhat choppy.” They indicated that the core was continuing to grow (I wonder what that means exactly) but that some retailers were still having difficulties. In a related comment, they see the Billabong acquisition of West 49 as a positive because it will strengthen West 49. If you saw my analysis of that deal, you know that West 49’s most recent financials were weak and that I thought that weakness might have been a major motivator for the deal.
In Europe, Volcom sees a challenging environment. The business there has held steady for the last several quarters. Volcom in Japan is still “having problems” because of the macroeconomic situation.
But even with the current economic weakness, CEO Woolcott believes “…that investing now will serve us well when the recovery really begins to turn on.” I think he’s right. The issue for all of us is when is that going to happen. And of course it wouldn’t hurt if the sun would come out in Southern California. I was just down there for the Group Y Action Sports Conference, the Agenda show, and to see the U. S. Open and felt like I’d never left Seattle. I also got to see Jack’s, a retailer I’d never been in before. I was impressed and will have more to say about that in another article.
In the U.S., all of their categories were up except juniors which fell 22%. That seems to be the category from hell for everybody right now. I have a hunch that’s going to continue and some brands getting on the “fast fashion” band wagon isn’t going to improve the situation. Revenue from Volcom’s five largest U.S. accounts was down 2% to 15.3 million and represented 30% of U.S. product sales. PacSun was down 2% to $8.7 million (17% of U.S. segment). Volcom has new displays in 25 top PacSun doors, and noted that they were enjoying working with the new PacSun management. It will be interesting to watch the direction of Volcom’s sales there.
CEO Woolcott said, “The Macy’s business is doing particularly well, especially in men’s and boys’.” Volcom has become among the top surf skate brands in men’s, boys and kids there, he indicated, and they believe this is due to an increased focus on Volcom’s merchandising and marketing efforts there.
I sure hope they are working on the merchandising in Macy’s. I stopped off to see the Volcom presentation in Macy’s a while ago and you can see what I found about half way down this article. http://jeffharbaugh.com/2010/05/19/volcoms-1st-quarter-ended-march-31-numbers-macy-inventory-management/. It wasn’t pretty but of course it was only one store and, I hope, not typical.
I’d love to be able to explore the gross margin issue in more detail, and I’ll let you know if there’s any more info in the 10Q when it’s filed. In the meantime, Volcom is pursuing a strategy which makes great sense as long as some economic improvement isn’t too long in coming. I guess every brand is to some extent hostage to a recovery.
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