Hibbett Inc (HIBB) 2008 Q2 法說會逐字稿

完整原文

使用警語:中文譯文來源為 Google 翻譯,僅供參考,實際內容請以英文原文為主

  • Operator

  • Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Hibbett Sports Inc. conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mickey Newsome. Please go ahead, sir.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Thank you operator and good morning everyone. This is Mickey Newsome. I have with me also Jeff Rosenthal, our VP of Merchandise, and Gary Smith, our CFO. We appreciate your interest in Hibbett Sporting Goods and being on the call today.

  • But before we get started, Gary Smith will cover the Safe Harbor language.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • In order for us to take advantage of Safe Harbor rules I would like to remind you that any projections or statements made today reflect our current views in respect to future events and our financial performance.

  • There is no assurance that such events will occur or that any projections will be achieved. Our actual results could differ materially from any projections due to various risk factors which are described from time to time in our periodic reports with the SEC.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Thank you, Gary. As you know from our press release, late yesterday Hibbett Sporting Goods earnings per share were $0.15 versus $0.12 in the second quarter one year ago. Total sales increased 9.6% on a fiscal basis and same-store sales increased 2.6% on a fiscal basis.

  • Sales for May were negative approximately 26%, partially due to the calendar shift. In June they were -3% and in July they were +14%, again partially on the calendar shift.

  • Second quarter strip centers outperformed in closed malls. Strip centers were up approximately 4%. Malls were up approximately 1% both on a fiscal basis. That has been the trend for more than four years -- strip centers outperforming closed malls. Suburban stores outperformed urban stores. That has been a two-year trend.

  • In August, the first 19 days it has started stronger than expected. Calendar comps, which to me is the most accurate way of determining how you are really doing, are up 6% the first 19 days. And for the first time in four years enclosed malls are outperforming strip centers. Strip centers are up approximately 4% and are performing well this month but enclosed malls are up approximately 8%. Urban is approximately the same. The urban stores are up approximately 8% and suburban up approximately 4%.

  • Although malls are outperforming strip centers in the first 19 days of August it has been a four-year trend in the other direction and we feel the strip centers are the future in Hibbett Sporting Goods because they are building hundreds of them across the United States annually and building very few enclosed malls. In fact they are probably tearing and demodeling more malls then are being built.

  • Now why are August sales stronger than expected? Well the states of Texas and Florida pushed their school start date back and their tax-free holiday dates back approximately two weeks into August. We feel that consumers are waiting longer in general to make their purchases. We expect to see this same trend again in the fourth quarter surrounding Christmas.

  • Hot weather could be helping enclosed malls. It has been 100 degrees plus in the Deep South for a few weeks now. Although strip centers are performing well -- not as good as enclosed malls -- strip centers are doing well.

  • New stores. We opened 17 new stores and closed three. We are on track, as we speak, to open 90 to 95 new stores this year and close five to 10. 90% of our new stores will be in strip centers as opposed to enclosed malls. We have added to our real estate staff and they are doing a great job and we feel good about our new store count for this year.

  • Now for some specific remarks about merchandise and trends, Jeff Rosenthal will speak to you, our VP of Merchandise.

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • We have three major areas of business -- apparel, footwear and equipment. Our athletic performance and apparel continues to perform well from Under Armour and Nike in all genders -- men's, women's and kids. We see this trend continuing and becoming a bigger part of our business in the third and fourth quarters.

  • Urban apparel has been tough in May and June. However we're seeing some improvements in late July and in early August as our mix has become more fashionable. Licensed apparel has underperformed through the second quarter.

  • We expect our college business to be -- get much better as football season begins and to be a bigger part of our business. However pro apparel continues to be tough and will remain a little bit difficult for the second half of the year. We expect NFL to start getting somewhat better with Saints and Titans and having better assortments from last year.

  • Footwear was down single digits on a calendar basis for the second quarter. However August has been up high single digits as customers have weighted to purchase for back to school. Key items for back to school have been Nike Shock, Nike Impact and Air Force One. New Balance Zips, Adida's Bounce products and Cross.

  • Classic business has continued to be a little soft for Reebok and Case West. Equipment was difficult in the second quarter but has seen some improvement both in football and skateboards.

  • Our accessory business remains very strong in socks, backpacks and vendor bags. Days inventory is in good shape and we're ready with new merchandise for the third and fourth quarters.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Thank you, Jeff. Now Gary Smith will speak to you about our financial.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • For the second quarter total sales were $114.4 million, a 9.6% increase while comp store sales grew 2.6%. Gross profit increased due to improved retail product margins which was aided by better than planned shortage results and in improved markdown rates with only slightly deleveraging of both store, occupancy and warehouse cost.

  • Selling and administrative costs increased over the prior year due to the deleveraging of store in corporate payroll, increased advertising cost due to the back to school calendar shift, and inventory taking expense related to the above product margin expansion since we did not take any inventories in the first quarter, due to the JDA system implementation. EPS came in at $0.15 versus last year's $0.12 and operating margins improved to 6.8% from last year's 6.16%.

  • For the year, total sales increased 7.3% to $231.3 million while comp store sales declined slightly at .2. Gross profit increased due to improved product margins with some deleveraging of store and occupancy costs. Selling and admin cost increased 94 basis points from the prior year due to the increased stock option expense, the deleveraging of store payroll cost, increased data processing cost in increased advertising spend. EPS came in on a 26-week basis at $0.47 this year versus $0.47 last year. Operating margins were at 9.6 versus last year's 10.6.

  • From a balance sheet prospective the Company ended the quarter with $9.9 million in cash versus $5.5 million last year. We spent approximately $10.9 million on the stock buyback for the quarter and $118.1 million since inception. Inventories increased 14.2% over the previous year, a little higher than both store and sales growth but with the current results in August this should not be an issue.

  • We spent $3.6 million in CapEx for the quarter and $6.1 million net for the year.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Thank you, Gary. Operator, we are now ready for questions.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Jonathan Cramer. Cowen.

  • Jonathan Cramer - Analyst

  • A quick question about the key product drivers for the second half.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Yes.

  • Jonathan Cramer - Analyst

  • Could we get a little more color on what products you expect in footwear, apparel to drive the comps in the second half?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Well we see, especially, Under Armour playing a bigger role from a [Cold Gear] and Nike has their equivalent of that. That we expect great things from that. We're very underpenetrated in our kids' Under Armour business which we see as a lot of opportunity from an apparel standpoint.

  • Also our college business, which was Alabama and some of the other teams that are down here in the South, we expect a lot of good results from women's and men's. We are also having some success with some new of our urban brands that we have added to our mix that we did not have a year ago that we feel very good about.

  • In footwear we will continue with some of the new Nike products, some new New Balance. We expect our mix that we changed quite dramatically from last year and some of our performance categories like basketball to get a little bit better.

  • Jonathan Cramer - Analyst

  • Thank you. And could you give us a quick update on the DC, the new DC?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Certainly. We will be entering into a lease for that in the next few weeks. We expect to outfit it and do the leasehold improvements the latter part of this year. We would expect to transition into an approximately 4/1 of next year and be fully operational by back to school next year.

  • Jonathan Cramer - Analyst

  • Thanks a lot. Good luck on the quarter.

  • Operator

  • Dan Wewer. Raymond James.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Thinking on your comments about August sounds a lot more upbeat than the guidance you're providing for the third quarter. I recognize the calendar shift works against you for the entire period, but I'm curious as to why you would anticipate business softening in September and October?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Well, I don't know that we anticipate. It has only been 19 days. But now August is very important to the third quarter but it is just 19 days and things can change. We just want to be very conservative. We don't like having to do early press releases and we certainly did not want to do two.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Late press releases are not that great either.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Well, you are right. But we just wanted to be very conservative. And it is just 19 days but those 19 days are important to the third quarter, because that is your biggest weeks.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • It looks like using the midpoint of your guidance you are not making any changes on the fourth quarter. As I recall Heely's added about a percentage point to your comp sales growth the year ago during the fourth quarter. Are you anticipating some other new products to offset that lost Heely's business this year?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes. You know Heely's last year was a big part of our business. It is still in our mix for this year. We were not in that many doors so we are still getting comp store increases on it because of the store expansion a little bit. Even though it is not selling through apparatus was a year ago, we still feel pretty good about that and we do have some new product that we feel real strong about for the quarter.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • I guess if I can ask one last question. As I recall, the Michael Vick jerseys were successful for you and the past and with that product not on the shelves is that contributing to your pessimism on the NFL business this year?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • It was one of our bestsellers that we had in football jerseys. However, it is a small part of our business. And it just -- really where we're seeing the growth in the pro licensed business really has become more in the youth categories and women's. The adult business has been pretty tough from a jersey standpoint just from a fashion standpoint.

  • Operator

  • Sean McGowan. Wedbush Morgan.

  • Sean McGowan - Analyst

  • Two questions. First, Gary, can you give us any sense of quantification of the impact of the move in some of these sales tax holidays and how much that is either came out of the second quarter in the states where it moved, or how much it is shifting things until later in the third quarter?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Our feeling is it is probably $1 million to $1.5 million that came out of second and went into the third affecting Texas and Florida.

  • Sean McGowan - Analyst

  • Okay. And then the second question is maybe for Mickey or whoever it is. Relative to the markets, other retailers in the markets that you are in, are you seeing either greater or lesser sensitivity to macroeconomic factors? I guess more directly is the housing market affecting you any more or less than it's affecting other people in those same markets?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • I would not think it would be any more. I did see where Georgia was ranked in the top four in having problems with the subprime and we have a lot of stores in Georgia. But I don't think it would affect us any more than it would anybody else.

  • Sean McGowan - Analyst

  • Are you in fact seeing those stores doing worse than the overall average?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • They are performing about like the chain, so it is not that much difference.

  • Operator

  • Rick Nelson. Stephens.

  • Rick Nelson - Analyst

  • I wanted to follow up on the strength that you are seeing for the 19 days of August. The Texas and Florida issue. What would the comps have been -- you indicated up 6. What would that have been, excluding those two states?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • We don't have that, do we? We got it. We don't have it on the tip of our tongue here but we can look it up.

  • Rick Nelson - Analyst

  • I can follow up with you later on then. I'm also wondering (inaudible) JDA, any update there as to how that may have affected results during the period? What you see going forward as well as update on the enterprises software.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • We're having a little trouble hearing you but I think the question was about JDA and the planning system going forward. You know, JDA, we've got past the big hurdles. In the second quarter it has become more of a maintenance upgrade issue. I think we're starting to see some benefits of the system now. It is getting our people the ability to drill down and analyze things more to the detail level. And I think we are able to react a whole lot quicker.

  • The enterprise planning system is going on as we speak, and we're expecting to cut over into fourth quarter and have our plans on it for the first quarter next year. And that will integrate into the JDA retail idea and the main merchandising system.

  • So we are pretty excited about that because when we get a chance to plan things upfront, it is not as reactionary on the back end.

  • Rick Nelson - Analyst

  • Thank you for that. And just any general comments want on Foot Locker and how that might be affecting Hibbett especially in the urban stores?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Well, our urban stores are performing well in August. Better been expected. Now I think Foot Locker made it public yesterday they are going to close a couple of hundred stores this year. We have seen a handful close in some of our malls. I'm sure it is helping our malls some.

  • Otherwise, Jeff, do you want to comment on promotions? It is not that much different, is it?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • It may have affected us some. They were very promotional, but we feel pretty good about it.

  • Operator

  • Sam Poser. Stern Agee.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • I have a couple of questions about the inventory levels in JDA, to follow up on that. When you converted over to JDA did the inventories come in higher, leaving you with maybe slightly more age goods than you would have expected, and how does that affect the guidance, as far as maybe your promotional [stats]?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Well on a retail basis it did not come in higher because it was a one-to-one change. We moved to the cost basis of inventory calculation on the cut over. That came in a little bit higher on cost due to the fact that when you take permanent markdowns and you move into cost, the conversion moves them back up. But it was less than 1% of the inventory. So that's really hasn't affected us.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • Can you talk about the increased inventory levels there? Because generally, we have not seen that from you. Your inventories are much -- been in line or below your increase in sales even with the store growth.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Right, the increase in inventories for the second quarter was less than it was in the increase for the first quarter and it was a little bit higher than it we would have liked. But with the early business success that we have had in August those inventory levels are getting back to where we want them to be.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • Okay and then could you talk about -- somebody else asked the question earlier about Georgia and the subprime -- but could you talk about, like, which were your strongest states and which were your weaker states?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Our stronger states, and it has continued for a while, has been on the outer band of the Hibbett Empire, you know the lower Midwest, and the Mid-Atlantic. And I think that has to do with some of the weakness that we have seen in the urban malls.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • But we think part of that also is due to -- we're beginning to really learn those markets and we've got probably more of the right merchandise in the lower Midwest that we did a year ago. We certainly improved in those areas.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • And what about states like Florida and so on where there has been a lot of commentary that business has been tough there?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • We've had -- the first 19 days of August, Florida has been phenomenal really.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • Well let's talk about Q2, or where you're not anniversarying all these calendar changes with tax-free days on a normalized basis.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • I think Florida was down probably a little bit less than the chain on a calendar basis for the second quarter. But then we have the shift there to take account of also.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • Right. And then as far as Under Armour goes, you will be launching I believe the Cross Trainer next spring. Is that still on schedule?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes, I believe it is the first week of May of next year.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • Well, thank you very much. Continued success.

  • Operator

  • Jeff [Sonic]. Friedman Billings Ramsey.

  • Jeff Sonic - Analyst

  • Thank you. Can you describe again, just kind of from a gross margin perspective, what you're seeing happening in the second quarter, how that might translate into the back of the year and then where we might see some inflection as a function of this systems integration kind of starting to take hold? I think in the past you have noted the fourth quarter might be when we start to see some of the product that was ordered on these systems start to flow through the stores. Is that correct?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Is this product gross margin?

  • Jeff Sonic - Analyst

  • Yes, I guess just gross margin at large.

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Well we expect to expand our margin from a year ago, and our inventory is in good shape. I think as we continue to learn more about our new systems and stuff we should have some improvement.

  • Jeff Sonic - Analyst

  • And is that just primarily from reduced markdowns?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • It is from reduced markdowns. It is from buying better, getting better discounts, better allocations and just logistics in general.

  • Jeff Sonic - Analyst

  • Okay. Would you care to quantify directionally kind of how margins compare between the footwear and apparel categories?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Sure. Our apparel and equipment margins are in the mid to high 40% range and the footwear is low to mid 40 range.

  • Operator

  • David Magee. SunTrust.

  • David Magee - Analyst

  • It is in my perception that Hibbett has embraced the fashion side of the business more in recent years. Is that correct? And if that is the case can we expect I guess more volatility in the future with the numbers? Maybe higher margins when things are going well, but just more volatility in general because of that greater emphasis on fashion?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes, I meant we have always had a fashion element to our business. And from time to time probably the urban consumer is definitely more fashion-conscious on certain things. There is a little bit more volatility in those type centers.

  • David Magee - Analyst

  • Anything that can be done with the system upgrade that maybe would minimize some of the volatility?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • You know, a lot of what we are already finding is as we break businesses down further we see the opportunities for where we put our inventory, how we take our markdown. So as we get better at it I'm sure we will get better add learning how to flow our inventory and take our markdowns.

  • David Magee - Analyst

  • And Gary, are you anticipating higher gross margins for the balance of the year?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • I don't know if that would be -- I think slightly David, that is correct.

  • Operator

  • John Lawrence. Morgan Keegan.

  • John Lawrence - Analyst

  • Jeff, would you just give a -- sort of a breakdown. The comment about some of the outer states improving as you learn that product mix, can you give us -- is there a maturity curve alongside the differences between footwear and the pro and colleges as you move forward?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes, there is some of that. In some of those markets we are finding what type of shoes we sell seasonally. We're seeing a lot more on some of the trends just on from the license, then, on college versus pro. And then there's a lot more seasonality from long-sleeve to short-sleeve in the flow of inventory.

  • John Lawrence - Analyst

  • So it does take you a couple of seasons maybe, say, at the Arizona stores to get that licensed apparel exactly right?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • You know it takes a little -- it is usually the second or third year we usually mature a lot more in some of those store than we do the first-year. And it takes us a while to get ramped up but once we do we usually get on a pretty good roll.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • John, New Mexico/Arizona is the easy one because that is more like the Sunbelt. Where we have the maturity curve is in the lower Midwest like southern Illinois, southern Ohio, southern Indiana. It usually takes us another year or so. We're not recognizable up there to the consumer and the small market like we are in the Sunbelt. We understand Sunbelt merchandise but we have really improved in that lower Midwest.

  • John Lawrence - Analyst

  • Thank you and just one more. Jeff, can you take one more step on the fashion side of the urban? What does that mix look like now and what is the differences for second half?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Well, I think we got a little complacent. We were probably a little too basic in some of our assortments. I feel that we have kind of expanded on our vendor base there and I think we are more on trend than we were a year ago. And it just turns pretty fast. So I think we may have been a little bit behind and I think we're ready to see some improvements.

  • Operator

  • John Shanley. Susquehanna International.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Jeff, just staying on that urban focus, about a third of your stores are primarily urban. Is that correct?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Are you now remerchandising or merchandising those stores separately from the rest of the chain?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • They are still in our mix. We have looked -- we do have dedicated people who are looking just at those businesses a little bit different. And the way we break up our stores is no different than the way we were break up colleges and pro. We just have more eyes on certain parts of our business as we break -- as we grow. We're getting a little bit more specialized.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Now are those stores underperforming or performing differently then the rest of the chain as a whole?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Actually it is starting to get a lot better, John.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • But in the first half of the year were they better, or an average with the rest of the chain?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • They were a little bit below.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Just a little bit? Okay, good enough. And then the other question I had is, Mickey, is there a change in terms of the new store opening plans for neither fiscal '07 or '08, rather? Can you give us some guidance in terms of what you're now looking for in terms of store openings for '09?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Well, of course this year our stores are certainly backend-loaded third and fourth quarter. We're pretty confident we're going to get our 90 to 95 new stores. Now next year we have not set a specific goal for next year but the goal would be higher than that. We think we're going to come in right at 14% store growth this year. And we have not set our budget for next year but we're going to be real close to that.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Are most of the new stores scheduled for this year and next year backfill or, with the opening of the new DC center, do you anticipate a more aggressive move into the Southwest?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • They will be mostly backfill.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Okay, great. Gary, historically, how much of the third quarter's revenues are generated in August?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • I would say probably north of 40%, John.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Okay. Is it generally about the same percentage in terms of operating profit contribution?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Probably a little more.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Little more? Okay, that is great. And lastly the guidance that you gave us for fiscal '08, the $1.07 to $1.20, does that imply some margin pressure, particularly in the key fourth quarter? Or any issue in terms of product margins based on the competitive climate that you're anticipating in most of your major markets?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Probably not more than we have seen in the past.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Will fourth quarter [looks] like it is still going to be pretty much on track with what you did last year or better than last year?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • I think it is a little better than last year.

  • John Shanley - Analyst

  • Okay, all right. That is all from me. Thank you very much.

  • Operator

  • Anthony Lebiedzinski. Sidoti & Co.

  • Anthony Lebiedzinski - Analyst

  • I was just wondering. How much availability do you guys have on your revolver, and would you be willing to further dip into your short-term debt to fund a share buybacks?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • The revolver presently is at $15 million. It is a noncommitted, non-covenant type. And if you saw a little bit of the debt the short-term debt we had on the books, at the end of the second quarter, that was related to the buyback.

  • Anthony Lebiedzinski - Analyst

  • Okay, and my questions is would you be willing to further dip into -- past that $5.8 million to further buy back stock?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • We're looking at it, Anthony. We're continuing to look at it and study it and evaluate it and we are continuing to do that. We have not made a final decision.

  • Anthony Lebiedzinski - Analyst

  • Got it. And also how much of your advertising expenses have shifted from the third quarter to the second quarter?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • I think it was probably a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

  • Anthony Lebiedzinski - Analyst

  • Okay. And lastly in the past you guys have talked about sort of in the longer term you think you can increase the operating margin somewhere to the midteens levels. Are you still comfortable with that target?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Absolutely.

  • Operator

  • Mitch Kaiser. Piper Jaffray.

  • Mitch Kaiser - Analyst

  • Gary, you mentioned the DC transition. You said you were going to recognize some leasehold improvements this year. Part of I guess the revision to guidance, is there increased leasehold expense this year relative to what you were guiding to before or has that stayed pretty consistent?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • It is fairly consistent, yes.

  • Mitch Kaiser - Analyst

  • Okay, fair enough. I was curious. The classic category, it has been underperforming for a while. Has that gotten sequentially worse than Q1, and are you looking more broadly at that category to maybe supplant some of the product that you are offering there?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes, we have already made adjustments on putting our dollars in different categories. You know that has really become pretty much a nonfactor. So we are just reinvesting our dollars in some of the categories that are working for us.

  • Operator

  • Jim Chartier. Monness, Crespi & Hardt.

  • Jim Chartier - Analyst

  • Could you comment on the promotional -- your promotional stance in early August? I know last year you mentioned you were a little more promotional early in August to counteract the strong sales you saw after Katrina. So I was just curious how this year compares to last year.

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • We're right on plan. Last year we were more aggressive from a markdown standpoint. So we're right on our margin plan for the quarter for the month of August.

  • Jim Chartier - Analyst

  • So were you less promotional than last year early in August?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • I would say about the same.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Sean McGowan. Wedbush Morgan.

  • Sean McGowan - Analyst

  • Yes, I'm going to go back to a comment that I think you said in your opening comments, Mickey, regarding the relationship in the quarter or -- or rather in the first few days of August of urban versus suburban. Did I get it right that the urban stores are up 8% and suburban is up 4%? Is that being driven by any particular product do you think, or is this just an easy comp?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Jeff, do you want to comment on the product?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • You know, it was a little surprising it was up that much. We were performing well in apparel and footwear, so it was really all across the board on the urban side. So it was a little bit more of a surprise that we were up that much from where we were trending.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • That was a reversal of a pretty long trend really. We don't know if it will last. We hope it does.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Sam Poser. Stern Agee.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • I just wanted to follow up on your good business the first 19 days and sort of what is really concerning you, given your guidance looking ahead. And like one sort of got off of their tax-free. Did that slow down materially -- how are you looking at it going forward?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • It certainly slowed it down once you get past the tax-free, because you are up huge during the tax-frees. We're just being very conservative. We want to hit numbers or exceed numbers. And that is probably the root of the thing. We want to either hit or exceed numbers. We don't want to be below.

  • Sam Poser - Analyst

  • Okay, well, that makes sense. Thank you.

  • Operator

  • Dan Wewer. Raymond James.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • I wanted to follow up on a few things. First Gary, on the gross margin improvement during the second quarter was surprising given sales fell so short of plan. You noted that you are achieving higher product margins. There must be a few things that were unusually beneficial during the period.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Yes, I think in my comments, we took a lot of inventories in the second quarter because of the JDA implementation. We usually cycle count throughout the year. So we had more than normal in the second quarter, which -- when you bring that reserve back in, and we had very good shortages results. So that was a plus to product margin in the second quarter. But it also affected the expense line, also.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • So you are saying lower shrink?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Yes, that is correct.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Okay. On the distribution center did I understand correctly you had began taking product in in April and then start shipping them back to school?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Yes, we start transitioning their receipts and then be fully operational by the back to school timeframe.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Is that correct. Is that later then what you were anticipating, say, six or nine months ago?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • Yes, I think so. We were talking about probably the end of this year. But we have gotten additional warehouse space here in Birmingham to take some of the relief off of the normal product flow, plus the back-end loading of new store accumulation. And that was really the breaking point for us.

  • So we have been able to get additional space here to take that pressure off. So we will be moving it back to a less of a receipt timeframe in early spring next year.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • How much incremental period costs should we be thinking about from when you sign the lease in a few weeks to when you begin to flow inventory to the stores next, I guess, June or July?

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • In the back half of this year I think I put at a $0.01 or so. I'm not quite sure we will have that because a lot of it will be just basically capital. But I would think the first half of next year we would see a slight deleveraging on that line as we transition over to the new center. But as we reduce those stem miles, the savings in stem miles is almost equal to what the occupancy cost is in the new building.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Okay, and then we were disconnected so, Jeff, you may have been asked this question, but can you help us frame the urban component of your business? You alluded to us a third of your store base. Approximately what portion of your revenues are generated from these brands?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • It is probably a little higher than the 30, because primarily they are inside enclosed malls and we do more business in enclosed malls on average than in strip centers.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • So more than 30% of the stores or more than 30% of the revenues?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Revenues.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • The revenues?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Yes, a little more.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • And that would be in product that is specifically allocated to these urban locations rather than the suburban stores?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • [Not] necessarily. Yes, I would say it is half of that maybe.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Half of the 30%?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • And that is the part that is the most fashion-sensitive?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Jeff, have you ever considered weaning yourself off of the part of your business and maybe increasing the focus even more on sporting goods?

  • Jeff Rosenthal - VP of Merchandise

  • Yes, I think it really depends on the market and the store and the demographics. On some of these locations it depends on the demographics, on how much sporting goods you will sell or performance apparel or whatever. So we always look at that and we try to make sure that we have some type of base to build it off of.

  • But you can go to a store in Mississippi or in Alabama or in Georgia that it could be 80, 90% urban. And they really don't buy some of the sporting goods or some of the athletic apparel that we carry. So you have to -- you need to adjust to what the consumer is telling us that they want.

  • Dan Wewer - Analyst

  • Yes, and I promise this will be my last question. When you think in the future when you are looking at new store locations perhaps you would maybe avoid those type of locations and increase the focus on more of the athletic market?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Not really. We have chosen to stay generally tight geographically. Now we could do what you're suggesting but we would have to really spread out geographically. And we have chosen to build the other direction.

  • Operator

  • Mitch Kaiser. Piper Jaffray.

  • Mitch Kaiser - Analyst

  • Just a quick follow-up. Could you remind us how the comps progressed in Q3 last year? Do you recall?

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • I don't have that in front of me.

  • Gary Smith - CFO

  • I think August was the best comp. September and October, especially the last six weeks of the quarter we were coming up against Katrina effect from the year before. So I think, progressively throughout the quarter, they declined.

  • Operator

  • At this time I will turn the conference back to Mr. Newsome for any closing remarks.

  • Mickey Newsome - Chairman and CEO

  • Thank you, operator. To sum it up we are encouraged by our August start. The calendar we are up good in August and we are encouraged by that and we're encouraged that the enclosed mall sales have increased. And we certainly hope that certainly stays that way.

  • New stores are on track. The new store count and we are confident we can double our store count in the next five to six years, staying in small markets and generally staying tight geographically. We think that is very important.

  • We feel that Hibbett Sporting Goods has a great future. Thanks for being on the call today and we look forward to speaking with you on November 20, at 4:00 Central Standard Time. Now that is a change from what we have done before. It is a change because of Thanksgiving. We will be speaking to you about our third-quarter results. Thanks for being on the call.

  • Operator

  • That concludes today's conference call. We thank you for your participation.