Volcom’s Quarter Ended June 30, 2009

I should start by saying that their balance sheet was already strong last June, and it’s strengthened further. Cash and short term investments rose from $71 to $96 million. Accounts receivable and inventories fell by 20% and 18% respectively. Accrued payables and expenses were down 18% from a year ago. Those changes are consistent with the recession and how you manage in it.

 

Volcom’s current ratio rose from 4.78 to 6.22 while total debt to equity fell from 0.20 to 0.15. Those are both good things. They had no drawings under their line of credit (though $1.6 million in letters of credit were outstanding). Availability under the line was $38.4 million. Volcom has a balance sheet that allows it to continue to pursue its strategy and take advantage of competitor weaknesses during a tough economy. I may have mentioned a time or two that having a strong balance sheet right now is a real advantage for any company.

 

Revenues, to nobody’s surprise, declined. They fell 25% for the quarter to $54 million and 20% for six months to $123 million. Gross profit margin for the quarter actually rose from 48% to 48.6%. For six months it fell from 50.3% to 49.6%. Selling, general and administrative expenses fell 7.4% for the quarter, reflecting careful management of expenses and compensation. I’d note that these declines are not as dramatic as I’ve heard about in some other companies. Again, Volcom has the balance sheet to maintain its initiatives.

 

Net income, however, fell 82% in the quarter from $4.8 million to $872 thousand. For six months, it was down 64% from $14.2 to $5.1 million. Revenues and gross profit dollars were down for the quarter in Volcom’s three operating segments- United States, Europe, and Electric.

 

 Volcom reported that sales to PacSun decreased 23.7%, or $5.4 million, during the six months ended June 30, 2009 compared to the same six months the prior year. $5.4 million is approximately 18% of their total sales drop of $30 million from the first six months of 2008 compared to the first six months of 2009. They don’t say what the drop was for the quarter ended June 30 compared to the same quarter last year.

 

They say that PacSun represented 16% of product revenues in 2008 (I assume they mean the whole year), and 14% for the six months ended June 30, 2009. That would be $17 million.

    

Let’s try playing around with the numbers a bit more. If $5.4 million is a 23.7% drop, what were total sales to PacSun for the six months of the prior year? A little less than $23 million. That’s about 15% of total sales during that period.

 

Volcom “…expects a decrease in 2009 revenue from Pacific Sunwear when compared to 2008.” They go on to say, “Pacific Sunwear remains an important customer for us and we are working both internally and with Pacific Sunwear to maximize our business with them. We believe our brand continues to be an important part of the Pacific Sunwear business. We also recognize that any customer concentration creates risks and we are, therefore, assessing strategies to lessen our concentration with Pacific Sunwear.”

 

How can Volcom maximize their business with PacSun while lessening their concentration with them? Can you maximize your business while you decrease it? They seem to think so since 2009 revenue from PacSun will be less than 2008. You can lessen concentration either by selling PacSun less or by selling everybody else more. Those are the only two choices I can see.

 

Only from public companies who are required to focus on quarterly results can you get these kinds of semi-contradictory statements. Volcom has to figure out how to replace sales from PacSun in an environment where finding sales growth isn’t easy. They are “assessing strategies” for accomplishing this but don’t have it solved. Oh well- not even the best companies are having an easy time right now.