Kontoor Brands raises sales forecast after strong quarterly figures

US apparel supplier Kontoor Brands Inc. achieved unexpectedly strong growth in sales and earnings in the second quarter of the 2025 financial year. As a result, the company updated its annual forecasts on Thursday.

In the period from April to June, consolidated revenue amounted to 658.3 million dollars. This represented an increase of 8 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Outdoor outfitter Helly Hansen, whose acquisition was completed at the end of May, contributed 29 million dollars to total revenue. Excluding the initial contribution of the new addition, consolidated revenue grew by four percent.

Quarterly profit rises by 43 percent

Quarterly sales for the Wrangler brand increased by seven percent to 461 million dollars. Revenues for the Lee label, on the other hand, fell by 6 percent to 166 million dollars.

Operating profit was 78.5 million dollars, 4 percent above the prior-year level. Adjusted for special items, operating profit rose by 25 percent to 100 million dollars, according to the company. Net profit, which had been 51.8 million dollars in the prior-year quarter, rose by 43 percent to 73.9 million dollars.

CEO Baxter praises surprisingly strong growth

Scott Baxter, the chief executive officer, chairman and president of Kontoor Brands, acknowledged the positive development. “Our strong second quarter results were driven by better-than-expected organic revenue growth, gross margin expansion, operating efficiency and cash generation,” he emphasised in a statement. In addition, the initial contribution from Helly Hansen was surprisingly “strong”.

In light of the figures, management raised its revenue forecast for the full financial year. Growth of about 19 to 20 percent to 3.09 to 3.12 billion dollars is now expected. Helly Hansen is expected to contribute 455 million dollars, or about 18 percentage points, to the expected increase.

The target for adjusted operating profit is now 443 million dollars, which would represent a 16 percent increase on the previous year. The expected effects of the recent tariff increases are already included in the forecast.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com