“Our strong start to the third quarter in August was interrupted by hurricanes in September and an unseasonably warm start to fall in October. Even though the quarter became progressively more challenging, we delivered improvement in gross margin and generated strong cash flow, while paying down our revolver borrowings”, commented Diane Sullivan, CEO, President and Chairman of Caleres. Sullivan continued: “While weather-related events had a negative impact to topline sales of approximately 35 million US dollars, sales have improved in November, as more seasonal weather arrived. As a result, we are maintaining our fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS guidance.”

Caleres consolidated sales in the third quarter of the year reached 774.7 million US dollars, up by 5.8% from similar period in 2016. Famous Footwear total sales reached 473.1 million US dollars, up by 1.1%, while back-to-school same-store-sales were up by 2.6% and third quarter same-store-sales were up by 0.9%. Brand Portfolio sales of 301.5 million US dollars increased by 14.0% including contribution from Allen Edmonds, which was acquired in December of 2016. In total, third quarter sales were negatively impacted by approximately 35 million US dollars, due to the hurricanes in Texas and Florida and the delayed start to the fall boot season.

Net earnings for the quarter totaled 34.4 million US dollars, while diluted earnings per share were 0.80 US dollars.

In the first nine months of 2017 consolidated sales for Caleres group totaled 2 083.1 million US dollars, up by 7.4%. Net earnings in the period totaled 66.9 million US dollars.