Delta Apparel, Inc. (PPAI 188431, S9), based in Greenville, South Carolina, has released its sales results for the month of July. The supplier’s net sales grew more than 10 percent compared to the same period last year, with growth in each of its business units. The Delta Group and Salt Life segments reported year-over-year growth of nine percent and 23 percent, respectively, in July.
“The start to our fourth quarter has exceeded our expectations with July double-digit net sales growth,” says Robert W. Humphreys, the company’s chairman and CEO. “This marked our fourth consecutive month of sequential sales improvement for both the Delta Group and Salt Life Group segments. We are particularly pleased to see a return to growth across all business units, with notable strength in our DTG2Go digital print business achieving an over 50 percent sales increase year over year. Sales of Delta Catalog products grew double digits, propelled by strength in the retail licensing channel and improving dynamics in other sales channels. The Soffe business delivered solid growth during July. Consumers continued to seek Soffe products across multiple distribution channels, including the Soffe consumer website which enjoyed 115-percent growth over the prior year. The momentum in our Salt Life business continued in July with approximately 60-percent growth in our key direct-to-consumer ecommerce and retail channels, in addition to double-digit growth in the wholesale channel.”
The company met customer demand during the quarter ending in June and through July primarily with its on-hand inventory in the U.S. By the end of June, all manufacturing facilities were operating and producing inventory to meet current market demand. While the ramp-up of production has exceeded Delta Apparel’s expectations, the near-term growth momentum, particularly for Delta Catalog products, is expected to be somewhat hampered until inventory can be fully replenished.
Humphreys adds, “Our strong July performance further strengthens our commitment to return to fourth quarter profitability, on both a reported and adjusted basis. Our teams are working hard to satisfy the broad-based demand we are seeing in the market, and we look forward to updating you with our progress and other business initiatives as the quarter progresses.”
