“I am incredibly proud of all Designer Brands' accomplishments this year. Our flexible business model supported by our dedicated and hardworking associates has allowed us to emerge from this unprecedented operating environment in a position of strength both strategically and financially. We now have the ability to quickly shift our assortment to match the product our consumer is demanding, and the infrastructure to meet that consumer wherever they are, which is powered by our best-in-class omnichannel capabilities”, stated Roger Rawlins, Chief Executive Officer.

Fourth Quarter Results

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, Designer Brands’ net sales grew by 35.0%, totalling 822.6 million US dollars, on a comparable basis to the same period of fiscal 2020. In this period, comparable sales increased by 36.9%.

Gross profit rose to 254.2 million US dollars in the fourth quarter of the past fiscal year, as compared with gross profit of 135.0 million US dollars in the previous year. Gross margin as a percentage of net sales corresponded to 30.9%, as compared to 22.2% and 24.8% ih the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and 2019, respectively.

In the last quarter of fiscal 2021, which ended on the 29^th of January 2022, the company reported net income of 14.4 million US dollars, or diluted earnings per share of 0.19 US dollars. Adjusted net income corresponded to 11.7 million US dollars, or diluted earnings per share of 0.15 US dollars.

Full Year 2021

During fiscal 2021, the company’s net sales increased by 43.%, reaching 3.2 billion US dollars, as compared with fiscal 2020. Last year, comparable sales rose by 51.6%.

Gross profit amounted to 1.1 billion US dollars in fiscal 2021, on a comparable basis to 311.2 million US dollars in 2020, which reflects growth of over 240% year-on-year. Gross margin as a percentage of net sales corresponded to 33.4%, as compared to gross margin of 13.9% and 28.6% in fiscal 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Designer Brands posted net income of 154.5 million US dollars in 2021, or diluted earnings per share of 2.00 US dollars. Adjusted net income totalled 131.2 million US dollars, or diluted earnings per share of 1.70 US dollars.

Fiscal 2022 Outlook

"Looking forward, our growth strategy is centred around increasingly establishing ourselves as a builder and grower of brands, including our four major national brands, our premier quality exclusive brands and the rest of the top 50 brands in footwear. We are seeing aggressive growth in the sales of our owned brands in our direct-to-consumer channels of DSW, Shoe Company and vincecamuto.com, which were up 98% in the fourth quarter versus the same period in 2020”, added Roger Rawlins.

For fiscal 2022, the company is expecting comparable sales growth in the high-single digits and diluted earnings per share in the range of 1.75 US dollars to 1.85 US dollars.