Industry Eye: Catalogers’ Updates & Financial Briefs
Catalogers’ Updates
CDW Corp.: The multichannel computer marketer in May was sold to private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners for $7.3 billion. Upon completion of the deal, CDW shareholders will receive $87.75 in cash for each share of common stock.
McFeely’s Square Drive Screws: W.W. Grainger’s Lab Safety Supply subsidiary in early June said it had acquired all of the assets of McFeely’s Square Drive Screws, a B-to-B cataloger of specialty fasteners, hardware and tools for the professional woodworking industry. McFeely’s will be marketed as an independent brand by Lab Safety.
Casual Male: LivingXL is the name of a new catalog launched in May by Casual Male XL, a Canton, Mass.-based cataloger/retailer of clothing for plus-size and tall people. LivingXL is targeted at obese people. For instance, the catalog offers a lawn chair that copy touts “supports up to 800 lbs.” Even more specialized is the “Big John” toilet seat with a 1,200-lb. capacity.
Dockers/G&K Services: Dockers San Francisco has tapped branded identity apparel cataloger G&K Services to become Dockers’ exclusive direct catalog seller of rental apparel for the uniform industry.
At first, the G&K catalog will offer Dockers apparel as part of its uniform direct sale offering to large national B-to-B customers. But in the next year, the Minneapolis-based cataloger will expand its Dockers offer to direct sale catalog and rental customers.
Financial Briefs
dELiA*s: The teen and tween targeted cataloger/retailer posted an 11 percent increase in revenue from $51.9 million to $57.8 million for the quarter ended May 5. Direct sales also increased 11 percent on a comparable calendar basis, reflecting the impact of last year’s 53-week cycle on the timing of catalog mailings.
Coldwater Creek: The women’s apparel multichannel marketer enjoyed a 4 percent gain in net income for the quarter ended May 5, from $11.6 million to $12 million — both per diluted share.
The Sharper Image: The gadget marketer suffered a 27 percent decline in overall sales from $32.9 million to $24.1 million for the month of May. Catalog/direct sales plunged 61 percent from $8.3 million to $3.2 million, while Internet sales fell 38 percent from $5.2 million to $3.2 million.
Restoration Hardware: The furniture cataloger/retailer’s net revenue for the quarter ended May 5 increased 7 percent to $142.1 million from $133.4 million last year. An $11.9 million loss from operations was attributed to a shortfall in revenue from the second mailing of the company’s outdoor catalog, lower gross margins due to a greater mix of promotional selling, and growth and supply chain investments during the first quarter of 2007.
