Fossil Group Provides Q1 & 2017 Guidance - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Fossil Group, Inc. (FOSL) announced, for fiscal 2017, the company expects: net sales to be in the range of a 6.5% decline to flat; and earnings per share in a range of a loss of $0.50 to profit of $0.20. For the first quarter of fiscal 2017, the company expects: net sales to decrease in the range of 13.0% to 9.5%; and a loss per share in a range of $1.06 to $0.92.

Kosta Kartsotis, CEO, stated: "Our mission in 2017 is very clear, to build upon the early success of wearables and execute against our New World Fossil initiative. We'll double our efforts in wearables by launching over 300 skus, introducing new brands to the platform and enhancing engineering to enable additional functionality in more stylish and slimmer cases. We'll continue to maximize the power of our owned brands and with an emphasis on innovation, work to stabilize and grow our licensed brands. We will also be relentless in pursuing the full potential of our New World Fossil initiative in 2017 and beyond."

The company reported net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 of $49.7 million compared to $70.4 million, prior year. Earnings per share were $1.03, compared to $1.46. The company noted that its earnings per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 of $1.03 included a restructuring charge of $0.21 per share, purchase accounting costs associated with Misfit, Inc. of $0.08 per share and negative impact from currency of $0.04 per share. Currencies, including both the translation impact on operating earnings and the impact of foreign currency hedging contracts, negatively affected the year-over-year EPS comparison by $0.22.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, reported worldwide net sales decreased 3% in constant currency (a 2% decline) as growth in the SKAGEN and FOSSIL brands was offset by a decline in the company's multi-brand licensed watch portfolio with declines in traditional watches largely offset by growth in connected watches. Declines in leathers and jewelry and changes in foreign currency also negatively impacted net sales. Global retail comps for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 decreased 7%.