Foot Locker Posts Record Profits

By Kara Murphy, contributing writer, Integrated Solutions For Retailers

CEO outlines future goals for athletic shoe company

Foot Locker, the largest athletic shoe chain in the United States, reported a slam-dunk fourth quarter and fiscal 2013 results.

In a press release announcing its fourth quarter and full year results, the company reported:

• a fourth quarter net income of 81 cents per share, a 19 percent increase over 2012;
• comparable-store sales had increased 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter;
• total sales increased by 5.2 percent in 2013 to $6.5 million, the highest sales ever recorded for the company;
• the fourth consecutive year with double digit earnings per share increase.

The annual sales and profit were the highest ever for the athletic shoe company, which is the largest athletic shoe retailer in the United States. In the same report, the company said it recorded a net income of $121 million for the 13 week quarter that ended Feb. 1, a 19 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago.

“The driver in achieving our best-ever financial results was the excellent execution by our team of the many initiatives we have underway,” Ken C. Hicks, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Foot Locker, Inc., said in the statement.

Hicks said those initiatives with immediate goals include growing the size of its children’s lines, the expansion of shop-in-shops in partnerships with vendors, and its online presence.

Long term, the company plans to expand in Europe, strengthen it’s women line, and continue remodeling stores.  It also plans to grow its team sales and service business and technology investments, Hicks said.

In fiscal 2013, Foot Locker opened 84 new stores, and remodeled or relocated an additional 320 stores. It also closed 140 stores. Foot Locker operates 3,473 stores in 23 countries.

Its ambitious goals seem realistic, given that Foot Locker’s strong performance shows no sign of slowing, an analyst report from Zacks said. In fact, Foot Locker’s solid earnings report and a recent rollout of new basketball shoes has sent Foot Locker’s stocks up 10 percent this year.

Hicks has shared his insights into why he believes Foot Locker is successful while other brick-and-mortar retailers have struggled. In January, he gave the keynote session at Retail’s BIG Show, hosted by the NRF. He talked about seeing brick-and-mortar stores as an advantage and the importance of being open to innovation. Read more about his comments here.