Robert J. Dennis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Genesco, commented: "Fourth quarter earnings came in just below our guidance range as a result of gross margin pressure related to our decision to make a final, aggressive push to complete our year-long program to right-size inventory in the Lids Sports Group and similarly aggressive efforts to clear inventory after a slow Holiday selling season at Schuh. While we are disappointed with our overall results, we are encouraged by the strong performance of Journeys and Johnston & Murphy and the work we've done to prepare the company for sustained, profitable growth going forward”.

Net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 increased by 4.4% totaling 932 million US dollars. Consolidated fourth quarter 2016 comparable sales, including same store sales and comparable ecommerce and catalog sales, increased by 4%, with a 5% increase in the Journeys Group, a 3% increase in the Lids Sports Group, a 2% decrease in the Schuh Group, and a 6% increase in the Johnston & Murphy Group. Comparable sales for the company reflected a 2% increase in same store sales and a 21% increase in ecommerce sales.

The company also reported net sales for the year ended on the 30th of January 30 totaling 3.0 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.7% from the fiscal year ended on the 31st of January 2015. 

Earnings from continuing operations for the fourth quarter reached 46.7 million US dollars coming down by 9.7% (51.8 million US dollars in similar period in the previous year).  For fiscal 2016 earnings from continuing operations totaled 97.1 million US dollars compared to of 99.4 million US dollars in 2015 (-2.3%).

Discounting operations continued to impact the company’s results, although at a smaller scale. Net earnings for the fourth quarter totaled 46.4 million US dollars (-7.9%), with the overall 2015 earnings reaching 96.3 million US dollars (-1.4%).

"We begin Fiscal 2017 in a solid position to execute our long-term strategic plans. We look forward to realizing some of the benefits of last year's hard work in the new fiscal year", Robert J. Dennis concluded.