MALCOLM---Here is that story about the good and bad
of it for GYM.I think it's about time for Emerson
to release some news about upcoming web site
to create a little spark to start those Fire
Works,Don't you.
Dow Jones Newswires
DALLAS -- Sport Supply Group Inc. (GYM) expects to report a loss of $525,000 to $600,000 for its fiscal first quarter, a senior executive said.
John Walker, president and chief operating officer, also said the Dallas supplier of sports equipment expects to show stronger sales growth for the quarter ended Jan. 1 than the 3% growth it registered in the same period a year ago.
The company never has earned money in its fiscal first quarter, which is seasonally slow and accounts for just 15% of annual revenue. Its largest customers, schools and recreation agencies, make fewer purchases around the holidays.
Walker said he remains comfortable with a revenue growth target of 15% for the full year. Annual sales grew 13% in fiscal 1998.
In the year-ago fiscal first-quarter, Sport Supply Group posted a loss of $503,302, or six cents a share, on revenue of $14.4 million.
Sport Supply plans to report financial results Wednesday.
In the latest quarter, Sport Supply repurchased 370,000 shares,
bringing its base of shares to 7.6 million. Walker said the company also expects to show a reduction in sales, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue. Meanwhile, capital spending increased as Sport Supply completed the installation of a new computer system for manufacturing planning, fulfillment and electronic
commerce.
In June, the company plans to launch a Web site that will offer its equipment to existing institutional buyers, who now order by telephone from catalogs, and to consumers, a market the company hasn't previously served. With the new computer system in place, fulfillment for online orders will be the same as those on the telephone.
"Once that order comes in over the Internet, it's as if a telemarketer took it," Walker said. "We're going to be offering product we manufacture. We'll have that product in stock ready to go. It will not require additional resources."
To promote the Web site, Sport Supply will distributing instructional software to existing buyers and associate with Web sites that attract key customers, such as Little League baseball coaches. It doesn't plan major spending on banner ads in general Web sites, or portals, Walker said.
The company's second-fiscal quarter is typically the strongest,
accounting for as much as 35% of annual revenue, because of orders by youth baseball and softball leagues for summer play.
Walker declined to discuss performance in the quarter so far, but he said he believes youth interest in baseball was increased by the home run successes of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in the Major League last year. |
