Cliff Sifford, President and CEO, stated: “We experienced strong athletic and women’s fashion boot sales throughout the third quarter which helped drive our fifth consecutive quarter of positive comparable store sales and on-plan earnings performance. We also benefited from our multi-channel sales initiatives which drove higher quarterly conversion rates, average sales per transaction and units per transaction.”

The company reported net sales of 269.7 million US dollars for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, a 5.9% increase, compared to net sales of 254.7 million US dollars for similar period in 2014. Comparable store sales increased by 6.0% in the third quarter.

The gross profit margin for the third quarter stood at 30.1%, which was unchanged compared to similar period in 2014. The merchandise margin decreased 0.7%.

Net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 totaled 9.4 million US dollars, or 0.47 US dollars per diluted share. This compares to net earnings of 10.8 million US dollars, or 0.54 US dollars per diluted share, in similar period in 2014.

Net sales during the first nine months of fiscal 2015 increased 37.8 million US dollars reaching 750.3 million US dollars. Comparable store sales for the thirty-nine week period ended on the 31st of October increased by 3.3%. Net earnings for the first nine months of fiscal 2015 totaled 24.6 million US dollars, or 1.23 US dollars per diluted share, compared to net earnings of 22.6 million US dollars, or 1.12 US dollars per diluted share, in the first nine months of last year.

Shoe Carnival opened 18 stores and closed 14 stores during the first nine months of fiscal 2015.

The US-based footwear retailer expects fiscal 2015 net sales to be in the range of 980 million US dollars to 987 million US dollars, with a comparable store sales increase of approximately 3.0%. Earnings per diluted share for the fiscal year are expected to be in the range of 1.38 US dollars to 1.43 US dollars. This represents an increase of 9% to 13% over fiscal 2014 earnings per diluted share of 1.27 US dollars. The company expects to open 20 new stores and close 15 stores in fiscal 2015.