NEW YORK — Strategic acquisitions — such as DC Shoes — helped shoot Quiksilver Inc.’s top and bottom lines into orbit for the fourth quarter while fueling year-end sales that soared beyond the $1 billion mark.
The surfing lifestyle brand said net income for the quarter ended Oct. 31 jumped 43.1 percent to $24.9 million, or 41 cents a diluted share, from $17.4 million, or 30 cents, on sales that rose 30.1 percent to $350.3 million from $269.2 million.
Selling, general and administrative costs as a percent of sales ticked up to 36.53 in the fourth quarter from 35.92 in the prior year. Operating income soared 33.4 percent to $39.1 million from $29.3 million a year ago.
In a statement, Robert B. McKnight, chairman and chief executive officer of the Huntington Beach, Calif. company, said Quiksilver “worked extremely hard to integrate our strategic acquisitions and add important components to our business in order to expand our global reach and further develop our leadership position in the marketplace.” As a result, the company has experienced an improved financial performance, “in particular, significant increases in sales and profits, market capitalization, and shareholder value,” he said.
Management also said the integration of DC Shoes, an acquisition made earlier this year, “has been ahead of schedule.”
For the year-end period, net revenue climbed 29.8 percent to $1.27 billion from $975 million in the previous period while net income rose 39 percent to $81.4 million, or $1.36 a share, from $58.5 million, or $1.03 a share.
On the balance sheet, Quiksilver’s long-term debt-to-sales ratio inched up to 12.9 percent in the year-end period from 11.8 percent in the prior period.
By region, sales in the Americas rose 25 percent in the fourth quarter while European sales gained 26 percent. In the Asia-Pacific market, sales jumped 58 percent.