Steve Madden posted net sales up to 304.6 million USD in the first quarter of the new fiscal year from 278.9 million USD in similar period in 2013.

Gross margin was 35.6% as compared to 36.8% in the same period last year due primarily to increased promotional activity in the retail segment. Net income increased to 23.6 million USD compared to 23.4 million USD.

Edward Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We were pleased to deliver solid overall financial results in the first quarter in a difficult environment. While a lack of fashion footwear trends and the soft overall retail climate continued to challenge our retail segment, our wholesale business was outstanding. Wholesale net sales increased 13.3%, led by strong growth across all Steve Madden brands".

Net sales from the wholesale business grew 13.3% to 265.0 million USD in the first quarter compared to 233.9 million USD in the first quarter of 2013, including double-digit percentage gains in the Steve Madden Women’s, Steve Madden Men’s and Madden Girl wholesale footwear divisions. Gross margin in the wholesale business was 32.6% compared to 32.3% in last year’s first quarter, driven by improvement in both branded and private label wholesale footwear margins. Retail net sales decreased 12.1% to 39.6 million USD  compared to 45.1 million USD in the first quarter of the prior year. The increase in net sales resulting from the net opening of 13 new stores since the end of the first quarter last year was more than offset by a same store sales decrease of 17.2% for the first quarter of 2014. Increased promotional activity resulted in retail gross margin of 55.7% in this period compared to 60.3% in similar quarter of 2013.

Reflecting on the company's outlook, Mr Rosenfeld says the company is on track to meet the sales and earnings targets for the year. The company announced expectations of 5% to 7% increase on net sales during 2014.

These predictions follow on 2013's performance marked by the 7.1% increase of net sales from 1 227.1 million USD to 1 314.2 million USD. Net income in 2013 was 133.3 million USD, up 10.3% from 119.6 million USD in 2012. Going back to 2013 results appreciation, Mr Rosenfeld commented: “We are pleased to have delivered solid sales and earnings growth in the fourth quarter despite a challenging retail environment. While our retail segment performance was below expectation, we recorded another strong quarter in our wholesale business. Most importantly, our flagship Steve Madden brand continues to be a leader in the fashion footwear space, and the long term growth prospects for our Company remain strong. While we are cautious on the near term outlook for our retail segment due to continued softness in traffic and sales trends, we are confident that we can maintain solid momentum in our wholesale business, and we expect to deliver another year of strong performance in 2014.”

Steve Madden, Ltd. Shares were last traded at 32.65 USD on the 22nd May 2014.

Steve Madden designs, sources and markets fashion-forward footwear and accessories for women, men and children. In addition to marketing products under its owned brands including Steve Madden, Steven by Steve Madden, Madden Girl, Freebird by Steven, Stevies, Betsey Johnson, Betseyville, Report Signature, Report, Big Buddha, Wild Pair, Cejon and Mad Love, the Company is the licensee of various brands, including Olsenboye for footwear, handbags and belts and Elizabeth and James, Superga, l.e.i. and GLO for footwear. The Company also designs and sources products under private label brand names for various retailers. Products are marketed through retail stores and e-commerce websites, as well as department stores, major department stores, mid-tier department stores, specialty stores, luxury retailers, value priced retailers, national chains, mass market merchants and catalog retailers throughout the United States and Canada. The company has distribution arrangements for the marketing of their products in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, South America and India.