Canada Goose shares soar to a record as own stores, online drive surprise profit

By Nichola Saminather and Parikshit Mishra

(Reuters) - Canada Goose Holdings Inc shares surged to a record on Friday as growing sales in the luxury coat maker's own stores and online channel helped double revenues and drive a surprise quarterly profit.

The Toronto-based company reported net income of C$8.1 million ($6.17 million), or 7 Canadian cents a share, in the three months ended March 31, beating analyst expectations for a loss of 8 Canadian cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It posted a loss of C$23.4 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier.

Canada Goose shares surged almost 30 percent to a record high of C$78.01 at 9:32 a.m. in Toronto (1332 GMT), compared with a 0.3 percent decline in the benchmark stock index.

The maker of $900 parkas has sought to expand margins by growing its direct-to-consumer business and relying less on struggling department stores. With its luxury pedigree helping cushion it from the retail industry's struggles, the company started opening its own stores in 2016, and is setting up operations in China and Hong Kong and manufacturing more of its goose-down coats itself.

Gross margin expanded to 62.7 percent in the quarter from 54.4 percent a year earlier.

Revenue from its direct-to-consumer segment jumped to C$95 million from C$36.5 million, while wholesale business doubled to almost C$30 million in the quarter from a year earlier.

"GOOS’s better-than-expected top line and money-earning quarter in typically a smaller volume, money-losing quarter serves as another proofpoint for investors that the brand is well on its way to doubling revenues" by FY21, Brian Tunick, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note.

"Despite its 60-year history, we see Canada Goose as in the early stages of its growth trajectory, particularly in the fragmented and growing premium outerwear market."

Canada Goose said revenue grew 46 percent to C$591 million in the year ended March 31, and net income jumped to C$96 million, or 86 cents a share, from C$21.6 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier.

It said it expects revenue to grow at least 20 percent and adjusted net income per share to increase least 25 percent in fiscal 2019, and expects to sustain that pace of growth for the two subsequent years.

Separately, the company said it would open three new stores in North America, adding to its seven stores across the world. It has said it plans to have up to 20 stores globally by 2020.

($1 = 1.3131 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio)