Quiksilver Swings To Profit, But Misses View - Update

(RTTNews) - Apparel and footwear retailer Quiksilver Inc. (ZQK), Thursday reported a return to profit for the first quarter despite lower sales, due to gains from discontinued operations and reduced costs. Excluding items, the company posted a loss that was more than Wall Street estimates, with revenues short of expectations.

Quiksilver has been facing lower sales across the U.S. and EMEA regions. To turnaround, the company has cut costs, optimized its supply chain and sold non-core assets.

Huntington Beach, California-based Quiksilver posted first-quarter net earnings of $15.4 million or $0.09 per share as against a loss of $31 million or $0.19 per share last year.

Results for the recent quarter included $37.6 million gain from discontinued operations and restructuring charges of $5 million.

Excluding one-time items, proforma loss for the quarter was $16 million or $0.10 per share versus a loss of $26 million or $0.16 per share a year ago.

On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated a loss of $0.06 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenue for the quarter edged down 2 percent to $393 million from $412 million in the prior year, missing Street expectations of $407.6 million.

Americas revenue slid 5 percent from a year ago, while Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa each dropped 4 percent.

The bottomline was partly helped by selling and general expenses that decreased by $12 million from last year, and a tax benefit of $4 million.

The company's stock closed Thursday at $7.68, down $0.12 or 1.54%, on a volume of 1.6 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock dropped $0.10 or 1.30% at $7.59.