Wolverine Worldwide Reports First-Quarter Results And Updates Full-Year Earnings Guidance

ROCKFORD, Mich., May 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended April 1, 2017.

"We had a solid start to the year, highlighted by first-quarter revenue and earnings that surpassed expectations and strong progress toward our holistic, enterprise-wide strategic transformation initiative, the WOLVERINE WAY FORWARD," said Blake W. Krueger, Wolverine Worldwide's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. "The transformation of our business is well underway with our strategy focused on elevating our most powerful brands with consumers, delivering continuous product innovation and sustained organic growth, and unlocking incremental operational efficiencies, with an emphasis on pace and speed. We believe that the WOLVERINE WAY FORWARD will put us in the best position to compete and win in the "new normal" fast-changing global consumer retail environment."

WOLVERINE WAY FORWARD TRANSFORMATION UPDATE

• The WOLVERINE WAY FORWARD transformation includes key operational excellence initiatives with incremental operating profit benefits, further solidifying the Company's confidence in achieving its stated goal of 12% adjusted operating margin by the end of 2018.
• The previously announced Store Restructuring Plan has accelerated, with 180 stores now closed since the beginning of 2017. The Company incurred approximately $9.2 million of operating losses in Q1 2017 for stores within the Plan that will not reoccur next year. The losses include $4.4 million of inventory mark-downs related to accelerated store closures. All Stride Rite and Track-N-Trail concept stores are now closed. These store closures allowed the Company to liquidate inventory totaling approximately $20 million during the quarter.

FIRST-QUARTER 2017 REVIEW
Prior to fiscal 2017, the Company reported its quarterly results of operations on the basis of 12-week periods for each of the first three fiscal quarters and a 16 or 17-week period for the fiscal fourth quarter. Beginning in fiscal 2017, the Company's fiscal year will be comprised of 13-week quarters for each of the first three fiscal quarters and a 13 or 14-week period for the fiscal fourth quarter. There is no change to the Company's fiscal year-end date. References to the "quarter ended" or "fiscal quarter" refer to the 13-week period ended April 1, 2017 or the 12-week period ended March 26, 2016.

• Reported revenue of $591.3 million decreased 4.8% after taking into consideration the impact of the additional week of operations in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Underlying revenue declined 2.0%.
• Reported gross margin of 39.7%, compared to 39.6% in the prior year.  Adjusted gross margin on a constant currency basis was 41.7%, up 120 basis points versus the prior year. 
• Reported operating margin was 5.5%, compared to 5.9% in the prior year.  Adjusted operating margin on a constant currency basis was 11.0%, up 260 basis points versus the prior year and excludes $4.4 million of incremental inventory markdowns related to the accelerated store closings.
• Reported diluted earnings per share were $0.17, compared to earnings per share of $0.18 in the prior year.  Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.37, and, on a constant currency basis, were $0.40, compared to $0.31 in the prior year.
• Inventory at the end of the quarter was down 25.9% versus the prior year, meaningfully better than expected.
• The Company successfully exited 104 underperforming stores during the quarter and an additional 76 stores subsequent to quarter-end.

"We are pleased to deliver better-than-expected results for the first quarter, demonstrating the success of our strategy focused on operational excellence, growth and speed," stated Mike Stornant, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "Our proactive efforts aimed at overcoming the challenging global market conditions paid off in Q1, with nearly all brands in the portfolio exceeding their revenue plans for the quarter, while also over-delivering on our operating profit goals. We made tremendous progress on our store realignment plan including the closure of all Stride Rite stores, and now have line-of-sight to our go-forward store-fleet. We managed our working capital well in the quarter, with inventory down over 25% and DSOs improving by 1.1 days. We believe the strength of our global brands combined with the continued discipline in the management of our business and implementation of our WOLVERINE WAY FORWARD plan leaves us well placed to achieve our goals."

FISCAL 2017 OUTLOOK
A good first quarter, coupled with some improving trends in the business have resulted in the following update to the Company's full-year 2017 outlook:

• Reported revenue in the range of $2.270 billion to $2.370 billion - unchanged from the Company's original outlook. This is a decline of approximately 9.0% to 5.0%.  Underlying revenue is expected in the range of down 2.3% to growth of 1.9%, reflecting approximately $160 million to $180 million of impact from currency and retail store closures.
• Reported operating margin in the range of 5.2% to 5.9% and adjusted operating margin in the range of 10.2% to 10.7%, resulting from operational excellence initiatives focused on supply chain optimization, omnichannel transformation, and operational efficiencies.
• Reported diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.73 to $0.83 compared to $0.89 in fiscal 2016. Adjusted diluted earnings per share are now expected in the range of $1.50 to $1.60 compared to $1.36 in fiscal 2016 adjusted on the same basis. On a constant currency basis, adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.58 to $1.68.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
This earnings release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. References to "underlying" revenue indicate reported revenue adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange, closed retail stores, the impact of the additional week of operations and the exit of the Cushe business. Measures referred to as "adjusted" financial results exclude restructuring and impairment costs, organizational transformation costs, debt extinguishment and other costs, and the impact of the additional week of operations. In addition to these adjustments of the type the Company has made in recent periods, adjusted gross profit, adjusted operating income and adjusted earnings per share in this release are further adjusted to exclude incremental inventory markdowns related to 180 stores that are now closed under management's previously announced 2016 store restructure Plan. In light of the large scale of closures in a compressed time frame, management believes this treatment gives investors a better view of continuing operations. Pursuant to the requirements of Regulation G, the company has provided a reconciliation of the above of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

EARNINGS CALL INFORMATION
The Company will host a conference call today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss these results and current business trends. The conference call will be broadcast live and accessible under the "Investor Relations" tab at wolverineworldwide.com. A replay of the conference call will be available at the Company's website for a period of approximately 30 days.

ABOUT WOLVERINE WORLDWIDE
With a commitment to service and product excellence, Wolverine World Wide, Inc. is one of the world's leading marketers of branded casual, active lifestyle, work, outdoor sport, athletic, children's and uniform footwear and apparel. The Company's portfolio of highly recognized brands includes: Merrell^®, Sperry^®, Hush Puppies^®, Saucony^®, Wolverine^®, Keds^®, Stride Rite^®, Sebago^®, Chaco^®, Bates^®, and HYTEST^®.  The Company also is the global footwear licensee of the popular brands Cat^® and Harley-Davidson^®.  The Company's products are carried by leading retailers in the U.S. and globally in approximately 200 countries and territories.  For additional information, please visit our website, wolverineworldwide.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding: the Company's ability to successfully execute key strategic initiatives, elevate brands with consumers, and deliver product innovation, organic growth and operational efficiencies; the Company's ability to compete and win in the current environment; and the Company's fiscal 2017 outlook and guidance. In addition, words such as "guidance," "estimates," "anticipates," "believes," "forecasts," "step," "plans," "predicts," "projects," "is likely," "expects," "intends," "should," "will," "confident," variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions ("Risk Factors") that are difficult to predict with regard to timing, extent, likelihood, and degree of occurrence.  Risk Factors include, among others: changes in general economic conditions, employment rates, business conditions, interest rates, tax policies and other factors affecting consumer spending in the markets and regions in which the Company's products are sold; the inability for any reason to effectively compete in global footwear, apparel and consumer-direct markets; the inability to maintain positive brand images and anticipate, understand and respond to changing footwear and apparel trends and consumer preferences; the inability to effectively manage inventory levels; increases or changes in duties, tariffs, quotas or applicable assessments in countries of import and export; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; currency restrictions; capacity constraints, production disruptions, quality issues, price increases or other risks associated with foreign sourcing; the cost and availability of raw materials, inventories, services and labor for owned and contract manufacturers; labor disruptions; changes in relationships with, including the loss of, significant wholesale customers; the failure of the U.S. Department of Defense to exercise future purchase options or award new contracts, or the cancellation or modification of existing contracts by the Department of Defense or other military purchasers; risks related to the significant investment in, and performance of, the Company's consumer-direct operations; risks related to expansion into new markets and complementary product categories  as well as consumer-direct operations; the impact of seasonality and unpredictable weather conditions; changes in general economic conditions and/or the credit markets on the Company's distributors, suppliers and customers; increase in the Company's effective tax rates; failure of licensees or distributors to meet planned annual sales goals or to make timely payments to the Company; the risks of doing business in developing countries, and politically or economically volatile areas; the ability to secure and protect owned intellectual property or use licensed intellectual property; the impact of regulation, regulatory and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks; the potential breach of the Company's databases, or those of its vendors, which contain certain personal information or payment card data; problems affecting the Company's distribution system, including service interruptions at shipping and receiving ports; strategic actions, including new initiatives and ventures, acquisitions and dispositions, and the Company's success in integrating acquired businesses, and implementing new initiatives and ventures; the risk of impairment to goodwill and other acquired intangibles; the success of the Company's consumer-direct realignment initiatives; changes in future pension funding requirements and pension expenses; and additional factors discussed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and exhibits thereto. The foregoing Risk Factors, as well as other existing Risk Factors and new Risk Factors that emerge from time to time, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.  Furthermore, the Company undertakes no obligation to update, amend, or clarify forward-looking statements.

The following tables contain information regarding the non-GAAP adjustments used by the Company in the presentation of its financial results:

SOURCE Wolverine World Wide, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.wolverineworldwide.com