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Hanes Announces 2015 Sales Growth

Hanesbrands (asi/59528) announced total net sales of $5.73 billion for 2015, a year-over-year increase of 8%. The apparel supplier also increased its operating profit by 13% to $861 million, and its adjusted EPS grew 17% to $1.66. Core sales, when adjusting for constant currency and excluding revenue from acquisitions among other factors, were essentially flat to the prior year.

After seven consecutive quarters of record results, however, fourth-quarter net sales decreased 7% and core sales dropped 5%. The Q4 operating profit climbed 6%, though. “We delivered our third consecutive record year in 2015, although we are disappointed with our fourth-quarter performance,” said Hanes Chairman and CEO Richard A. Noll.

Activewear net sales (which include its Hanes Branded Printwear promotional apparel business) jumped 11% for the year, while core sales decreased 1%. In the fourth quarter, Activewear net sales were down 1% and core sales dropped 12% – a decrease Hanes attributed due to historically warm weather that curbed retail traffic in November and December.

Last year, Hanes incurred $266 million in pretax charges, including $54 million in the fourth quarter, related to acquisitions such as Knights Apparel, a seller of licensed collegiate logo apparel. Hanes acquired Knights Apparel from private equity firm Merit Capital Partners last February for about $200 million. The company continues to integrate Knights Apparel as well as DB Apparel, a European marketer of intimate apparel which was acquired in 2014 for approximately $528 million.

In its full-year outlook, Hanes said it expects another year of double-digit earnings growth, issuing guidance for adjusted EPS of $1.85 to $1.91, with expected growth of 11% to 15%. Net sales are expected to be $5.8 billion to $5.9 billion, up 1% to 3%, and expectations for adjusted operating profit of $920 million to $950 million would be an increase of 7% to 10%. “For 2016, I feel confident in our growth expectations and outlook for a fourth consecutive year with a double-digit increase in adjusted EPS,” Noll said.