EARNINGS of the SSI Group, Inc. fell in the first three months of the year, dragged by the weakening peso despite a single-digit growth in sales for the period.
In a statement issued Friday, SSI said net income by the end of the first quarter stood at P132.9 million, lower by 1.5% year-on-year. This came on the back of an 8% uptick in revenues to P4.6 billion.
The listed specialty store retailer said that the weaker peso pulled down gross profit margins for the period, resulting in a lower net income.
“We continued to see strong demand from customers during the 1st quarter of the year, with double digit same store sales growth for some of our categories. We have already begun to see a pick up in gross margins and we expect that margins will continue to improve as the year progresses,” SSI President Anthony T. Huang was quoted as saying in a statement.
SSI has 108 brands under its portfolio, including international luxury names such as Hermes, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren.
It also has ventured into the e-commerce space with lacoste.com.ph, payless.ph, beautybar.com.ph, 158db.com.ph, superga.ph, and ssilife.com.ph.
Shares in SSI fell two centavos or 0.87% to close at P2.28 each at the stock exchange on Friday. — Arra B. Francia
