Delta Apparel Sees Q2 EPS To Be $0.40-$0.43

Delta Apparel, Inc. DLA disclosed some select preliminary financial results for the second quarter ended April 2, 2016. Accordingly, the company expects its earnings to be $0.40-$0.43 a share for the second quarter. In comparison, the company earned $0.03 a share in the previous year quarter adjusting the gain of $0.43 a share on the sale of its Game unit. The Company indicated that it would report its final second quarter results on May 12.

Delta Apparel said its net sales were impacted to some extent by the bankruptcy of a big retail customer and were expected to be $109.2 million in the second quarter. Sales in the comparable quarter of the last year were $109.6 million after adjusting for $5.4 million of sales in the since-divested The Game business and sales of products under the Kentucky Derby license that did not seek to renew in 2016. Its overall gross margins continued to expand due to excellent growth in its higher margin businesses.

Chairman and CEO, Robert Humphreys commented, "Our Company made significant progress on a number of fronts during the second quarter. We are pleased with the performance of the business in the first half of this fiscal year, with expected earnings of $0.49 to $0.52 per share compared to a loss of $0.50 in the prior year first half."

He added, "We saw strong second quarter sales growth in areas of key focus for us, including Salt Life, ecommerce, fashion basics, and catalog full-package programs. Gross margins expanded in both our branded and basics segments, and our manufacturing expansion initiative, which gives us more flexibility in the products we can internally produce, is progressing as planned. We are excited about the direction of our business and look forward to providing additional information with our full second quarter results on May 12, 2016."

On Thursday, the stock traded 0.15 percent down in the pre-market trading.