Delta Apparel Announces Stronger than Expected First Quarter Sales
GREENVILLE, S.C., January 12, 2021 — Delta Apparel, Inc. (NYSE American: DLA), a leading provider of core activewear and lifestyle apparel products, today announced preliminary sales results for its 2021 fiscal first quarter ended January 2, 2021.
The Company expects overall net sales for its December quarter to be approximately $94 million. The stronger than anticipated sales, resulting in only a slight decline from the $95.9 million achieved in the prior year, was driven by strong order demand coupled with impeccable manufacturing and operational execution at all levels.
Robert W. Humphreys, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are extremely pleased with the top-line results delivered this quarter, particularly considering the notable headwinds presented. We entered October with $31 million, or about 20%, less finished goods inventory than a year ago, as our manufacturing operations worked to replenish inventory following a fifteen-week government-mandated shutdown in the June quarter and the robust sales we achieved in the September quarter. Inventory availability was then further hampered by two major hurricanes that hit Central America in October and November. We are pleased to have quickly resumed production after the hurricanes and are now in expansion mode across our manufacturing platform to produce record level outputs.”
The Company also faced unforeseen challenges in its DTG2Go digital print business and across its e-commerce sites as major freight carriers limited daily package pickups and unexpectedly shortened the holiday shipping calendar by shifting to an earlier cutoff for guaranteed holiday deliveries.
Humphreys further commented, “We have proven over the past year that Delta Apparel is resilient and can successfully navigate the many challenges recently faced by the world. Our better than anticipated sales and operational performance in the December quarter should allow us to achieve positive net income in the first quarter, with sequential improvement in earnings as the year unfolds.”
About Delta Apparel, Inc.
Delta Apparel, Inc., along with its operating subsidiaries, DTG2Go, LLC, Salt Life, LLC, and M.J. Soffe, LLC, is a vertically- integrated, international apparel company that designs, manufactures, sources, and markets a diverse portfolio of core activewear and lifestyle apparel products under the primary brands of Salt Life®, COAST®, Soffe®, and Delta. The Company is a market leader in the on-demand, digital print and fulfillment industry, bringing DTG2Go’s proprietary technology and innovation to the supply chain of its customers. The Company specializes in selling casual and athletic products through a variety of distribution channels and tiers, including outdoor and sporting goods retailers, independent and specialty stores, better department stores and mid-tier retailers, mass merchants and e-retailers, the U.S. military, and through its business-to-business digital platform. The Company’s products are also made available direct-to-consumer on its ecommerce sites at www.saltlife.com, www.coastapparel.com, www.soffe.com and www.deltaapparel.com as well as through its branded retail stores. The Company’s operations are located throughout the United States, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico, and it employs approximately 7,900 people worldwide. Additional information about the Company is available at www.deltaapparelinc.com.
