Shoe chain Foot Locker’s first quarter turnover grew 0.7 % to 2 billion dollars (1.8 billion euro), but its net profit did drop from 191 to 180 million dollars (160 million euro).
Slow start
Excluding exchange rate fluctuations, turnover would have grown 1.8 %, but there was still a 0.5 % like-for-like turnover increase. “The first quarter was one of our most profitable quarters ever, but it did fall short of our original expectations. The slow start we experienced in February, which we believe was largely due to the delay in income tax refunds, was unfortunately not fully offset by much stronger sales in March and April”, CEO Richard Johnson said.
The company opened another thirty new stores in the first quarter and remodeled or moved another 61 and shut down 39. By the end of the quarter, Foot Locker had 3,354 stores in 23 countries.
