MarineMax second quarter revenue drops 44 percent

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Boat dealership chain MarineMax, Inc. reported today that revenue for its second quarter, which ended March 31, was down about 44 percent from a year ago. Revenue was $129.6 million compared with $233.3 million for the comparable quarter last year.

Same-store sales declined about 41 percent compared with a 28 percent decrease in the comparable quarter last year. The net loss for the second quarter was $20.3 million, or $1.09 per share, compared with a net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.19 per share, for the comparable quarter last year.

“We made significant progress in a number of areas during the second quarter despite the continued weak retail conditions,” William H. McGill, Jr., the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said in the report. “Our ongoing efforts to aggressively reduce our cost structure allowed us to realize an approximate $20-million decrease in expenses during the quarter, the largest year-over-year quarterly reduction we have reported to date. Additionally, our focus on tightly controlling our inventories allowed us to achieve another quarter of significant inventory reductions, with approximately a $155-million decline on a year-over-year basis.”

Included in the second quarter net loss was approximately $900,000 associated with store closing costs. Additionally, the company said it incurred losses and increased its inventory reserves for expected losses associated with brands that it no longer represents, which reduced gross profit by $4.1 million.

So far this fiscal year, MarineMax has seen revenue of $229.8 million compared with $448.5 million for the comparable period last year. Same-store sales for the six months that ended March 31 declined approximately 46 percent compared with a 20 percent decline in the comparable period last year. The net loss for the first two quarters was $34.6 million, or $1.87 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.9 million, or $0.54 per share, for the comparable period last year.

McGill said the industry will continue to struggle until the economy at large recovers. In the meantime, MarineMax will try to position itself for when customers do return.

“While we expect the industry to remain under pressure until the economy begins to improve, we are encouraged to see that our customers’ passion for boating remains strong and are pleased that our industry leading position is producing new business opportunities for us to consider,” he said in the report. “We remain committed to providing our customers the highest level of service and boating experiences so that, when consumers are ready to make a purchase, they continue to choose and recommend MarineMax.”

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