CANADA: Gildan Activewear Q4 Earnings Up 18%

By just-style.com | 6 December 2004

Casual clothing maker Gildan Activewear has posted higher fourth quarter earnings boosted by better unit sales, more favourable pricing and continued manufacturing efficiencies.

Fourth-quarter net earnings increased 18.3 per cent to $16.8 million from $14.2m in the year-before period.

Fourth-quarter sales grew 33.3 per cent to $145.6m from $109.2m in the same quarter of 2003.

The results were partly offset by higher cotton costs, increased SG&A and depreciation expenses, and a charge of around $0.07 per diluted share from the closure of the El Progreso sewing plant in Honduras in September.

Gildan said its performance was also impacted by a charge of $0.11 per share associated with the company's contractual commitments to Greg Chamandy, who resigned as chairman of the board, chairman of the executive committee and co-chief executive officer in August.

Looking forward, the company said it expects fiscal 2005 earnings of $2.60 per share on sales of $620 million.

For the first quarter of 2005, the company expects earnings of 20-25 cents per share, up from the 17 cents a year ago.

Companies: Gildan