‘More work to do’: Canada Goose outlines new goals as it reports $5M Q4 profit

TORONTO — The chief executive of Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says the luxury parka maker’s last fiscal year showed him the company has “more work to do,” in part because it was trying to accomplish too much all at once.

“We didn’t make as much financial progress as we would have liked,” Dani Reiss told a conference call with financial analysts Thursday.

“Some of this was due to external factors outside of our control such as the ongoing challenging consumer environment and the warm winter.” 

“But after a period of rapid growth and retail expansion, we also recognize that our resources were spread across too many priorities, impacting our ability to deliver our ambitious near- and long-term targets,” Reiss said.

The comments came as Canada Goose reported net income attributable to shareholders of $5 million or five cents per diluted share for its fourth quarter compared with a loss of $3.1 million or three cents per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 totalled $358 million, up from $293.2 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose said it earned 19 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 13 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Shares in the company closed $2.41 higher or more than 15 per cent to $17.93 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.

On the product front, Canada Goose’s president of brand commercial, said the company would keep working to be the “brand of choice beyond the parka.”

“Canada Goose is globally renowned for warmth and outer wear. Our opportunity and our aspirations, however, are much bigger,” Carrie Baker said on the same call as Reiss.

The company began selling and marketing more heavily its lightweight puffers, sweaters, wind and rain wear and its shoes in recent years.

Now, Baker said it will look to make “more significant strides on the style spectrum while retaining our heritage” and “more tightly curate our social media content to beef up our celebrity and influencer programs.”

Canada Goose named famed fashion director Haider Ackermann, as its first creative director on Wednesday. His first piece for the brand is a limited-edition hoodie that was modelled by actress Jane Fonda and will be sold with proceeds funnelled to the Polar Bears International.

Ackerman’s first seasonal capsule collection will launch in Fall/Winter 2024.

To “get more out of the store network” and refine the company’s luxury experience, Baker said Canada Goose will also slow the pace of new store openings, better balance team schedules with traffic levels and optimize their replenishment process.

The company’s final goal — simplifying its business — is based on “fewer people working more effectively on fewer priorities,” said Beth Clymer, Canada Goose’s president of finance, strategy and administration.

The company laid off 17 per cent of its global corporate workforce in March and through combining teams working on “overlapping tasks,” it eliminated more than 25 per cent of senior management roles, Clymer said.

The company also scraped meetings they found were unnecessary and killed reports “that took time but weren’t being used to drive the business.”

It will continue to scrutinize these areas in fiscal 2023, when it expects its total revenue to be in the low-single-digits year-over-year. It also expects its adjusted net income per diluted share for the full year to grow by a mid-teen percentage compared with a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GOOS)

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press