Under Armour Raises Annual Profit Forecast on Cost-savings Plan

FILE PHOTO: Products are displayed in an Under Armour store in New York City, US, November 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Products are displayed in an Under Armour store in New York City, US, November 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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Under Armour Raises Annual Profit Forecast on Cost-savings Plan

FILE PHOTO: Products are displayed in an Under Armour store in New York City, US, November 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Products are displayed in an Under Armour store in New York City, US, November 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Sportswear maker Under Armour raised its annual profit forecast on Thursday, betting on its cost-saving strategy and efforts to sell more clothing and shoes at full price.

Shares of the company rose 6.3% in premarket trading.

Following several quarters of poor results, Under Armour founder Kevin Plank returned as CEO to reset the business and has been reducing headcount and cutting down on inventory of some products.

The company is also aiming to cut back on promotions and sell apparel and footwear at full prices.
It now expects annual adjusted per-share profit of between 24 cents and 27 cents, compared with its prior forecast of 19 cents to 21 cents.



Dr Martens Slips into the Red; Says Festive Season Off to a Good Start

FILE PHOTO: People enter in a Dr. Martens store in Manchester, Britain, May 26, 2023. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People enter in a Dr. Martens store in Manchester, Britain, May 26, 2023. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo
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Dr Martens Slips into the Red; Says Festive Season Off to a Good Start

FILE PHOTO: People enter in a Dr. Martens store in Manchester, Britain, May 26, 2023. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People enter in a Dr. Martens store in Manchester, Britain, May 26, 2023. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo

Dr Martens said on Thursday that the autumn-winter festive season had got off to an encouraging start after the struggling bootmaker swung to a first-half pretax loss on weak demand in the United States, its biggest market.
Its shares, which have lost about a quarter of their value so far this year, rose 16% in early trade, Reuters reported.
The British company, whose chunky lace-up boots popularly known as "Docs" or "DMs" were originally made for workers before becoming a fashion statement in the 1960s, has been contending with a weak North American market and is betting on the festive season to shore up its sales and profit.
Dr Martens expects to make cost savings of about 25 million pounds ($31.64 million) in its fiscal year to end-March, 2026 with around two-thirds of that coming from job cuts.
The company reported a pretax loss of 28.7 million pounds for the six months ended Sept. 29, compared with a profit of 25.8 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue dropped 18% to 325 million pounds.
To halt the decline in profit at a time when consumers are shying away from pricy items such as the brand's $170 classic boots, Dr Martens has sought to cut costs while also increasing spending on US marketing.
"Our new marketing campaigns are showing encouraging early signs, with strong sales of new product, giving us confidence that we will return USA (direct-to-consumer) to positive growth in the second half," outgoing CEO Kenny Wilson said in a statement.
Wilson, who announced in April that he would step down, will be replaced by Chief Brand Officer Ije Nwokorie on Jan. 6, the company confirmed on Thursday.
It maintained its fiscal 2025 outlook of a single-digit percentage year-on-year revenue drop, with a worst-case scenario of pretax profit at around one-third of the previous year's.