Levi's Fourth-Quarter and Fiscal 2002 Results
Levi Straus & Company is beginning to come out of the fog—a bit.
The San Francisco-based denim maker reported fourth-quarter earnings and 2002 earnings results “in line” with its expectations amid company-wide cut backs.
The company reported fourth-quarter net sales grew 2 percent to $1.26 billion from $1.23 billion in the fourth quarter of 2001.
Levi’s spokesman Jeff Beckman said this is the second consecutive quarter in which the company has seen net sales increase— and the first time in six years that the company has seen consecutive quarters of growth.
“We’ve now stabilized our business after six years of sales declines,” said Beckman. “We’ve ended the last half of the year with positive momentum, positive net sales gains, and we’re planning for growth for next year.”
The gains came at the end of a year in which Levi’s saw a 2.4 percent decrease in full-year sales to $4.1 billion. And the company’s profits during fiscal year 2002 dropped 6 percent to $1.6 billion.
Still, the company implemented several restructuring strategies, which helped to lower its debt by $111 million to $1.85 billion.
The company said it spent a total of $49 million on restructuring-related expenses during the year as a result of the closure of some of its manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Scotland. —Claudia Figueroa
