VFC VF Corporation

By Imani Moise 

VF Corp. trimmed its guidance Monday as the apparel conglomerate continued to cope with weak demand for denim and sportswear.

VF -- which owns brands like Wrangler, Timberland and North Face -- now anticipates revenue to increase 2% this year, compared with its previous guidance of 3%-to-4% growth. The company now expects per-share earnings for the year at $3.13, down from its earlier projection of $3.20.

Chief Executive Eric Wiseman said business suffered from softness in demand in the Americas, the company's largest market.

Shares fell 2% to $53.55 in premarket trading.

In the third quarter ended Oct. 1, VF said sales in its outdoor and action sports segment rose 1.7% to $2.33 billion, led by a 7% jump in sales for the Vans brand, which offset declines in North Face and Timberland.

Sportswear sales slid 13% to $140.7 million as a shift toward licensed women's sleepwear and men's underwear businesses hurt Nautica brand revenue.

Meanwhile, the much larger jeanswear unit declined 6.2% to $701.4 million.

Direct-to-consumer business, a bright spot for the company, jumped 6% led by strength in e-commerce. The company now expects full-year growth in this segment, which represents 23% of total revenue, to be up by a percentage in the high single digits, compared with its previous estimate in the low single digits.

In all for the quarter, VF posted a profit of $498.5 million, or $1.19 a share, above the year-ago earnings of $459.8 million, or $1.07 a share, and the average analyst of $1.15 a share on Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell 1.1% to $3.49 billion, below analysts' projection for $3.63 billion.

Write to Imani Moise at imani.moise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 24, 2016 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT)

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