Summer Infant posts 1Q sales increase, profit drop

WOONSOCKET – Summer Infant, a maker of products for the newborn to 3 age group, released its earnings report on Thursday, showing an increase in sales, but a net loss for the period that ended April 4.
The company also announced the appointment of Robert Stebenne as CEO.
Stebenne, the company’s president and chief operating officer since March, replaces Carol Bramson, who resigned. She will remain on Summer Infant’s board of directors.
Summer Infant reported $53 million in sales in the first quarter, a 4.3 percent increase from the $50.8 million reported during the year-ago period. The company reported a loss of $242,000, or 1 cent per diluted share, compared with profit of $189,000, or 1 cent per diluted share, a year ago.
“We have made good progress in building our brands as well as taking actions to drive long-term stability and improve profitability in our business,” Stebenne said in a statement. “We recently completed the refinancing of our credit agreements, providing for increased flexibility and expected savings of [4 cents] per share in annual interest expense going forward. … We remain dedicated to decreasing inventory levels and, at the same time, investing in innovative product line expansion opportunities and new channel development.”
He said that as a result of the focus on SwaddleMe, BornFree and Summer brands, the company had a nearly 13 percent increase in core-branded products. Including furniture, licensing agreements and private-label items, overall revenue rose 4.3 percent, he said.
“Although bottom line results were affected by foreign exchange, the West Coast port slowdown, and certain marketing costs, we have enacted a number of margin enhancement strategies which – along with lower interest expense and top line growth – should drive higher returns for our shareholders,” Stebenne said.
In other news, the company said that Alan Mustacchi has joined the board of directors and will replace Jason Macari, who will resign from the board on Aug. 1. Dan Almagor also was named executive chairman.

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