“We were pleased to return to year-over-year earnings growth in the third quarter, demonstrating the strength and durability of our business model in challenging operating environments. Our team prudently managed inventory and expenses – which enabled us to drive operating margin improvement in both wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels – while continuing to invest in our long-term growth initiatives. While softer trends across the industry since September have left us incrementally more cautious on the near-term outlook, we remain confident that our core strengths – our people, brands and business model – will enable us to deliver sustainable revenue and earnings growth over the long term”, commented Edward Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Third Quarter Results

In the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the company’s revenue amounted to 552.7 million US dollars, decreasing by 0.7% on a comparable basis to the same period of 2022.

The wholesale business contributed 433.5 million US dollars to the total quarter revenue, down by 0.3%, as compared to the third quarter of last year, with the wholesale footwear revenue declining by 7.5% and the wholesale accessories/apparel revenue increasing by 22.7%.

The direct-to-consumer business revenue reached 116.4 million US dollars in the third quarter of 2023, down by 1.8% on a comparable basis to a similar period of the previous year, mostly driven by a decline in the e-commerce channel.

Steve Madden’s gross profit as a percentage of revenue improved to 42.1% in the third quarter of the year from 41.2% in the same period of 2022.

In the three months to the 30^th of September, the company’s income from operations totalled 82.7 million US dollars, as compared to the 78.8 million US dollars income from operations recorded in the same months of the previous year.

The designer and marketer of footwear, accessories and apparel also posted a net income attributable to the company of 64.4 million US dollars, or 0.87 US dollars per diluted share, on a comparable basis to the net income of 61.3 million US dollars, or 0.79 US dollars registered in the same quarter a year ago.

Additionally, the adjusted net income attributable to Steve Madden was 65.1 million US dollars, or 0.88 US dollars per diluted share, as compared to 61.5 million US dollars, or 0.79 US dollars per diluted share in the third quarter of 2022.

Full Year Outlook

Steve Madden updated its guidance for the full year and now expects its revenue to decrease by around 7% over last year’s revenue (previously: down between 6.5% and 8%).

In addition, diluted earnings per share will be approximately 2.35 US dollars and adjusted diluted earnings per share will stand at around 2.40 US dollars (previously: diluted earnings per share from 2.38 US dollars to 2.48 US dollars and adjusted diluted earnings per share from 2.40 US dollars to 2.50 US dollars.