Earnings Call Excerpt
Rocky Brands Inc. (RCKY)
Q4 2008 Earnings Call
February 19, 2009 4:30 pm ET
Executives
Brendon Frey - IR, ICR, Inc.
Mike Brooks - Chairman and CEO
David Sharp - President and COO
Jim McDonald - CFO and Treasurer
Analysts
Kevin Kim - Robert W. Baird & Co.
Dan Meyers - D.A. Davidson & Company
Timothy Stavros - Stavros Associate Management
Presentation
Operator
Welcome to the Rocky Brands Incorporated fourth quarter 2008 full year results conference call. (Operator Instructions).
I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Brendon Frey, please go ahead.
Brendon Frey
Thanks. Before we begin, please note that today's discussion, including the Q&A period, may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such statements are based on information and assumptions available at this time, and are subject to change, risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially. We assume no obligation to update such statements.
For a complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties, please refer to today's press release and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Rocky's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.
I'll now turn the conference over to Mr. Mike Brooks, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rocky Brands.
Mike Brooks
Thank you Brendon, and thanks to everyone for joining us this afternoon to review our fourth quarter and 2008 full year results. With me on today's call is David Sharp, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Jim McDonald, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.
We are very pleased with our fourth quarter operating performance, which represents a solid finish to the year for our company. 2008 was clearly one of the most challenging periods that the footwear retail industry has ever faced. Particularly the last six months, as the economy contracted more than expected and the consumer environment deteriorated even further.
As we expected, fourth quarter sales were down versus a year ago. However, we were able to report a significant earnings improvement for the fourth quarter.
For the fourth quarter, diluted earnings per share excluding the non-cash charge detailed in our earnings release was $0.13 versus a loss of $0.02. For the full year, diluted earnings per share on an operational basis improved over 800% to $0.75 from $0.08 in 2007, despite selling decline of 5.7% to $259.5 million.
Our enhanced profitability was achieved through a number of actions taken over the past 18 months, aimed at rationalizing our operation platform and improving our wholesale gross margin. In the fourth quarter alone we reduced our selling, general and administrative expenses by $4.6 million or 18%, and for the year lowered it by $8.9 million or 9%.
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