"Building off a very strong first half of Fiscal 2022, our excellent results this quarter were fuelled by an outstanding back-to-school season in the United States and United Kingdom, reinforcing Journeys' and Schuh's positions as the leading destinations for teen and youth fashion footwear. We were especially pleased with the performance of our stores, as sales in our current fleet were up for the first time since prior to the pandemic. The improvement in traffic trends bolsters our view that teens like to shop in person, making our stores strategic assets that work in tandem with our digital capabilities, serving our customers whenever and wherever they choose to engage with our brands”, commented Mimi E. Vaughn, Genesco board chair, president and chief executive officer.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2022, which ended on the 30^th of October, Genesco net sales’ increased by 25%, reaching 601 million US dollars, on a comparable basis to net sales of 479 million US dollars in the same quarter of fiscal 2021. This growth was driven by the return to in-store shopping and Genesco’s casual merchandise mix.

Overall sales grew in all segments during the third quarter of the current fiscal year, as compared to similar period last year: revenue at Journeys increased by 20%, totalling 379.9 million US dollars; at Schuh, sales were up by 33%, adding up to 119.8 million US dollars; revenue at Johnston & Murphy rose by 69%, which amounted to 66.8 million US dollars; and Licensed Brands sales were up by 6%, reaching 34.0 million US dollars.

Gross margin in the third quarter of this fiscal year increased by 210 basis points to 49.2%, on a comparable basis to gross margin of 47.1% in the same period last year, and flat, on a comparable basis with third quarter gross margin of fiscal 2020.

In the third quarter of the current year, operating income corresponded to 43.8 million US dollars, as compared to operating income of 8.2 million US dollars in the same quarter of fiscal 2021. On an adjusted basis, operating income was of 45.2 million US dollars, as compared to 13.9 million US dollars last year.

For the fiscal year of 2022, Genesco is expecting sales growth between 9% and 11%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations in the range of 6.40 US dollars to 6.90 US dollars, “with an expectation that earnings will be near the mid-point of the range, an increase of 45% over pre-pandemic Fiscal 2020”.