News

Delta Apparel Reports Q3 Sales Increase

Top 40 supplier firm Delta Apparel (asi/49172) reported total net sales of $104.3 million for its fiscal third quarter ended July 1, 2017. Excluding 2016 sales from the recently divested Junkfood brand, Delta’s year-over-year quarterly revenue increase amounts to $4 million, or about 4%. For the first nine months of fiscal 2017, which included two quarters of Junkfood business sales, revenue was $293.8 million versus $310.9 million in the prior year period, Delta said.

“The company overall had a solid third quarter,” said Robert W. Humphreys, CEO and chairman of Delta Apparel. “We continue to be pleased with our e-commerce business.” Humphreys noted that e-commerce on Delta’s consumer sites was up 41% year over year, after excluding prior year Junkfood e-commerce sales, and up 15% on its business-to-business sites.

Net sales in Delta’s basics segments were $79 million, a 9.6% increase year over year. Delta’s activewear business was up 11%, driven both by growth in catalog sales and a 25% increase in its FunTees private label business. Net sales from Art Gun, Delta’s on-demand customized graphics business, were down $700,000 from the prior year, due to the loss of a customer as well as delayed partner launches.

In Delta’s branded segment, net sales for the quarter were $25.3 million, compared with $39.5 million in the third quarter of 2016. The 2016 revenue includes $11.3 million in sales from the Junkfood business. Delta blames the 2017 decline on retailer bankruptcies, partially offset by earnings from its Salt Life brand. Salt Life was up 48% year-over-year in its e-commerce business for the quarter, but softness in big-box retail resulted in an overall sales increase of just 2% for the brand.

Delta Apparel ranked 38 on Counselor’s Top 40 Supplier list this year, reporting $45 million in North American promo product sales for 2016, a 7.1% increase over 2015.