US-based footwear and accessory retailer Designer Brands has posted a 30.7% increase in net sales to $853.5m for the third quarter (Q3) of the fiscal year 2021 (FY21).
The company’s comparable sales for the quarter, which ended on 30 October, rose by 40.8%.
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Its net income for the quarter was $80.2m, equivalent to diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.04.
Designer Brands’ adjusted net income was $66.6m, which equates to a diluted EPS of $0.86.
The company also saw its gross profit grow to a record $313.6m from $165.7m in the same period of last year.
Designer Brands opened four stores in the US and closed a separate four stores in the country during Q3, resulting in no change to its domestic store footprint.
The company also opened one store in Canada during the three-month period.
At the end of the quarter, it operated a total of 515 stores in the US and 144 in Canada.
Designer Brands CEO Roger Rawlins said: “Designer Brands’ outstanding third-quarter results demonstrate the efficacy of our strategic plans that were set in motion prior to the onset of the pandemic and accelerated over the last 18 months.
“We continue to see strength in our key assortment distortion areas, including athletic and athleisure, kids’ and men’s, all powered by the Top 50 Brands in footwear, as well as a return to growth in our vertical brands.
“This drove record-setting margin expansion in the third quarter and our expectation is that these areas will continue to drive our long-term margin profile with these shifts being a permanent part of our go-forward model.”
For the upcoming fourth quarter (Q4), Designer Brands expects its consolidated net sales to increase by low single digits compared to Q4 2019.
Earlier this year, the company reported a 66.9% increase in net sales to $817.3m for the second quarter (Q2) of the year.
