“What a way to start 2018”, commented Robert Greenberg, Skechers Chief Executive Officer, adding: “We truly felt 2017 was a banner year, but yet again we surpassed our expectations and hit a new quarterly sales record. With our men’s, women’s and kids’ product growing year-over-year and resonating with consumers globally, we believe our moment is now.”

Sales grew by 16.5% as a result of a 17.9% increase in the company’s international wholesale business, an 8.5% increase in the company’s domestic wholesale business, and a 26.4% increase in its company-owned global retail business. Comparable same store sales in company-owned stores worldwide increased by 9.5%, including 7.0% in the United States and 17.6$ internationally, as compared to the first quarter of 2017.

Net earnings totaled 117.7 million US dollars in the period and diluted earnings per share 0.75 US dollars.

 “We achieved yet another record sales quarter and continued to see significant growth across all our business segments including comp store sales increases of 9.5% worldwide,” stated David Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer of Skechers, adding: “During the first quarter, our North American Distribution Center experienced a record month for shipment volume, a testament to the strength in our wholesale and retail businesses in the United States and Canada. Further, our European Distribution Center experienced a record quarter for shipment volume, an indication of the strength of our operations in that region. Our international subsidiary and joint venture businesses are driving our growth with a combined quarterly increase of 25.7%, and there are now 2 197 company-owned or third-party Skechers stores outside the United States. Now at 54.0% of our total business, we continue to see international as our greatest growth opportunity.”

Second quarter forecast

For the second quarter of 2018, Skechers believes it will achieve sales in the range of 1.120 billion US dollars to 1.145 billion US dollars and diluted earnings per share of 0.38 US dollars to 0.43 US dollars.