VF Corp. Cowboy Clothing Transformation Has Achieved Initial Success

Latest news, VF Corp. (Wei Fu Group) has been committed to its $one billion brand Wrangler and Lee denim clothing transformation, and now it is beginning to bear fruit. The company's first quarter earnings showed low profit and high sales results in line with analysts' expectations. On the basis of earnings and constant currency exchange rates, its Cowboy brand collections gained higher sales and profits, ranking second in group's five largest business. Vans remained strong, growing by 16%.

VF Group Chairman, President and CEO Eric Wiseman told the media that the company is right. brand Stereotyped careers are still at an early stage. At present, the company can invest Wrangler in the middle end stores through the Western wide distribution channels, while Lee, a very strong terminal retailer in the US, will enter the department store.

company Jeans wear Sales volume increased by 1.4%, to $699 million 700 thousand, excluding exchange rate effects, an increase of 6%; operating income increased by 2.1%, to 131 million 900 thousand US dollars, and the effect of excluding exchange rate increased by 7%.

Although Lee has been regarded as a "terminal market challenge" in the US market, its sales volume dropped by 1% on the basis of the overall report and increased by 4% on a constant exchange rate basis. Wrangler has achieved 5% growth worldwide and 9% on a constant exchange rate basis.

Wiseman said, "the strength of our jeans business in big channel distribution is unbelievable, which fully illustrates the core strengths of our business. It is mainly dominated by men's clothing and is promoted by new products and new store activities. We have made many efforts to bring the brand to this step. "

Some of these work need to explore Wrangler channel vacancies. Company CEO said, "Wrangler has large channel elements and western channel elements, but we find that market There are more and more cross channel consumers, which brings us a lot of opportunities.

He pointed out that Plano, Tex. VF executives may talk to J.C.Penney, "the common interest in western culture will become an opportunity to connect Wrangler, Penney and Kohl's. But when we tested the terminal shopping mall, we found that Wrangler's Western products were the best in New York metropolitan area. This is a great encouragement for us. "

"In some ways, channel segmentation will be limited," he added. "Wrangler also has a lot of jackets business, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which is the company's planned push in the past 10 years."

18 months ago, before VF was looking for other channels for Wrangler, the company was already expanding its channels for Lee. "Will the target consumer group of Lee shop at Messi department store? Absolutely. Messi's department store has launched Lee products in the store, and only a small sale of Belk series is currently available. Wiseman commented.

In the first three months of April 4th, VF reported a net income of $288 million 700 thousand and a diluted share of 67 cents, compared with 297 million 200 thousand and 67 cents in the same period in 2014. The results are in line with analysts' expectations. The company said EPS grew by 13% on a constant exchange rate basis.

The company's profit rose from $2 billion 780 million last year to $2 billion 840 million, or 2%, which is also in line with expectations. Excluding exchange rate effects, profits rose by 8%.

The total profit of outdoor sports brands rose by 2.1% to $1 billion 610 million. Among them, The North Face increased by 1%, Vans increased by 8%, while Timberland remained unchanged. On the basis of neutral money, the total sales volume of the brand increased by 10%. Among them, The North Face increased by 8%, Vans increased by 16%, Timberland increased by 10%. Group revenue declined by 5% to $261 million.

The company's largest business alliance's operating profit dropped by 5% to $260 million 800 thousand, and its growth rate was 7% under the influence of the exchange rate. On a constant exchange rate basis, the company initially projected EPS growth of 12% throughout the year, and now it has increased to 14%. On Friday morning, after the release of the earnings report, the shares of the company fell slightly, closing at $72.05, or 0.5%.

Scott Roe, chief financial officer of VF, told analysts at the first conference call that the company will continue to consider repurchasing its shares, although this is not the first priority.

"Acquisition is still the top priority, followed by dividend distribution. As we have been emphasizing, we will not accumulate cash." Roe says. "So if we fail to fulfill at least one of the top two tasks, then we will consider returning shareholders through repurchase, which we have been doing in the past two years."

Although VF has always been considered a lot. company Potential acquirers. But since its acquisition of Timberland up to $2 billion 300 million in September 2011, it has not made significant acquisitions.