Under Armour To Pay SEC $9 Mln To Settle Charges Of Revenue Misdirection

(RTTNews) - Under Armour has agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the company misled investors about its revenues.

According to the SEC's order, by the second half of 2015, Under Armour's internal revenue and revenue growth forecasts for the third and fourth quarters of 2015 began to indicate shortfalls from analysts' revenue estimates.

The SEC alleged that the company was not meeting internal sales projections for North America, and warm winter weather was negatively impacting sales of Under Armour's higher-priced cold weather apparel.

The SEC also alleged that in response, for six consecutive quarters beginning in the third quarter of 2015, Under Armour accelerated, or "pulled forward," a total of $408 million in existing orders that customers had requested be shipped in future quarters.

As per the SEC's order, Under Armour misleadingly attributed its revenue growth during this period to various factors without disclosing to investors material information about the impacts of its pull forward practices.

The SEC alleged that Under Armour failed to disclose that its increasing reliance on pull forwards raised significant uncertainty as to whether the company would meet its revenue guidance in future quarters. According to the order, using those undisclosed pull forwards, Under Armour was able to meet analysts' revenue estimates.