VFC VF Corporation

VF Corp. on Friday reported softer-than-expected sales and edged down its revenue outlook for the year, in part due to a slowdown in oil exploration that is weighing on demand for its workwear.

Shares of the company fell 7.3% in morning trading to $67.88 a share.

The owner of apparel brands such as Wrangler and Jansport says it is now expecting revenue, backing out currency fluctuations, to grow 7.5%, down from its July guidance for 8% growth.

VF said it now expects sales in the segment that includes the workwear business, which also supplies uniforms to chefs and police officers, to be flat, compared with its prior expectation for a mid single-digit percentage increase.

VF also continues to struggle with weakness in its direct-to-consumer channels, sportswear and contemporary brands businesses.

For the period ended Oct. 3, the company booked a profit of $459.9 million, or $1.07 a share, down from $470.5 million, or $1.08 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 2.6% to $3.61 billion. Adjusted for currency fluctuations, sales were up 8%.

Analysts had projected earnings of $1.12 a share on $3.68 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

VF's outdoor segment, which includes brands such as North Face and Nautica, has driven results for VF lately as it struggles in other parts of its business.

In the most recent period, outdoor sales grew 5%, or 13% excluding currency impacts.

Jeanswear sales were flat, or up 4% excluding currency swings, while contemporary brands sales fell 13% excluding currency impacts. Earlier this year, VF said it wrote down the value of the once-hot denim brand Seven For All Mankind along with two other contemporary lines by $396 million.

Sportswear sales fell 1% on a currency-neutral basis.

VF also boosted its quarterly dividend by 16% to 37 cents a share.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 23, 2015 10:35 ET (14:35 GMT)

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