The company said the net loss for the three months ended April 4 was $55.2 million, or 43 cents a diluted share, against net income of $46.2 million, or 37 cents, a year ago. On a continuing operations basis, the loss widened to $54 million, or 42 cents, compared with a year-ago loss of $38 million, or 31 cents.
Net sales rose 14.2 percent to $255.3 million from $223.6 million. The company said comparable store sales grew 6 percent, and was up 9 percent including e-commerce for all direct-to-consumer sales. Excluding the wind-down of certain business operations, gross profit as a percentage of sales was 62 percent.
Craig A. Leavitt, chief executive officer, said, “We are confident in the strength of our business model and are making significant progress toward becoming a $4 billion business at retail.”
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Separately, the company also said it has a new distribution agreement with Exclusive Brands International S.A. for the expansion of the Kate Spade New York brand in Latin America. Exclusive Brands now has distribution rights across 17 territories throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Because of the new strategic partnership, Kate Spade will no longer operate directly in Brazil. It will also work with Exclusive Brands to evaluate the Brazilian business. Kate Spade has a separate agreement with Grupo Axo in Mexico.