Canada Goose Back in Growth Mode
● The parka maker saw revenue climb again in the fourth quarter.
Canada Goose came charging back last quarter.
The company, which recovered from its early COVID-19 disruptions and posted modest revenue growth of 4.8 percent over the Christmas quarter, returned to snappier growth in its fourth quarter, ended March 28.
Revenues for the three months jumped 48.2 percent to 208.8 million Canadian dollars — logging its biggest fourth-quarter on record and pushing net income up 16 percent to 2.9 million Canadian dollars. (Some of that increase can be attributed to a somewhat kind comparison as the quarter a year earlier included the start of the COVID-19 lockdown in the U.S.)
“We have returned to growth, we are a growth company… and we expect to continue that growth in a meaningful way,” said Dani Reiss, president and chief executive officer, in an interview with WWD.
Reiss took the firm founded by his grandfather, Sam Tick, and built it into a hot parka label by sticking to a deceptively simple approach, fueled by brand power, functional and sturdy style and a methodical expansion.
The company has only 28 stores now and plans to open 10 this year, including its first in California at South Coast Plaza. The store will have a Snow Room that will daily bring temperatures down as low as minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit and simulate a snowstorm. It will also feature collaborations, such as the recent hook up with the NBA and Rhude or its past collaborations with Drake’s October’s Very Own, Vetements and Y/Project.
Reiss said the retail rollout would be measured, with something in the neighborhood of six to 10 stores a year.
“It really depends on finding the right locations for our brand to thrive and have important and meaningful stores,” he said. “There are brands that have too many stores and we don’t want to be in a situation where someday we’re closing stores.”
Canada Goose is also building online, where it’s e-commerce business expanded by 123 percent in the quarter, and fleshing out into a lifestyle positioning, building in knitwear, fleece, rain gear and more. The brand plans to introduce footwear this fall.
For the full year, the firm’s net income fell 53.7 percent to 70.2 million Canadian dollars as sales slipped 5.7 percent to 903.7 million Canadian dollars.
This year, the company is looking for revenues to top 1 billion Canadian dollars — producing growth of at least 10.7 percent — with the direct-to-consumer business making up nearly 70 percent of revenues. Wholesale revenues are expected to remain flat.
“We definitely still live in uncertain times and it’s hard to fully plan for,” Reiss said. “We’re living in a buy now, wear now environment still, we have to think about it that way. We’re going to continue to focus on digital and meeting our customers where and when they want to shop.”
Investors sounded a note of caution on the stock, trading shares of Canada Goose down 8.9 percent to $37.78 on Thursday, giving the company a market capitalization of $4.2 billion.
All together, Canada Goose is in an interesting spot. It’s large enough to have proven itself with a global presence, but still has room to grow as well as an elevated price point and brand power.
While many designer fashion brands of scale are finding that they just can’t compete against the luxury giants like LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton or Kering, Canada Goose is clearly standing on its own. But considering puffer competitor Moncler has a market cap of 13.8 billion euros, some might well look at Canada Goose’s positioning and do a little dreaming.
Reiss, for one, likes where he’s at and is focused on building growth on his own.
“We feel that we have a brand that is a little bit not like any other in the world,” Reiss said. “We have credentials that nobody else has and cannot be replicated very easily. We have a tremendous amount of runway to build this [as a] monobrand [company].”
While publicly traded, Canada Goose is controlled by Reiss along with private equity firm Bain Capital, which is lead investor, holding 60.5 percent of the stock. Bain controls 54.2 percent of the voting rights while Reiss controls another 35.3 percent.