Foot Locker beats expectations

American shoe store chain Foot Locker‘s second quarter performance beat analysts’ expectations and partially offset a weak first quarter.

Higher turnover and profit

Foot Locker’s second quarter turnover grew 5 % to 1.78 billion dollars (1.6 billion euro), while analysts expected a mere 1.76 billion dollars. Like-for-like turnover grew 4.7 % and profit also grew, from 119 million dollars to 127 million dollars (112 million euro), basically 94 cents per share. Analysts targeted a 90 cents per share profit.

Over the course of the second quarter, the company shut down 18 stores and opened another 23, while remodeling or moving another 64. Currently the chain has 3,401 stores in 23 countries, 54 franchise stores in South Korea and the Middle East and 15 Runners Point franchise stores in Germany.

In the first quarter, Foot Locker did not manage to meet expectations when turnover only grew 3.7 % to 1.99 billion dollars (1.77 billion euro), while analysts had hoped for more than 2 billion dollars. Looking at like-for-like turnover, analysts wanted a 4.5 % increase, but the chain only managed 2.9 % in the first quarter.