Last year and the fourth-quarter were rough ones for ShopNBC, which reported its earnings Thursday.
The No. 3-ranked home shopping network saw its net sales dip 1 percent in 2012, to $558.4 million from $562.3 million.
For the fourth quarter, sales plummeted 18 percent, to $147.5 million from $178.8 million.
The home shopping network’s losses nearly doubled in 2011, to $48.1 million from $25.9 million the prior year. For the quarter, losses increased to $8.3 million from $1.4 million.
Here’s what the ShopNBC honchos had to say.
“As previously reported, Q4 results were primarily impacted by a sales shortfall in our consumer electronics business,” ShopNBC CEO Keith Stewart said in a canned statement. :Although volatility occurs in any turnaround process, we are disappointed with our sales performance in the quarter. We expect our consumer electronics business to remain challenging during the first half of the year. However, we have developed and are executing plans to help restore growth in this business segment.”
And that ain’t all.
“During Q4, we focused on significantly improving our balance sheet position and further optimizing our TV distribution footprint, which were successful initiatives announced last month,” Stewart said. “Also in the quarter, we strengthened our merchant organization with new personnel, added several high-profile national brands, and increased our digital sales penetration.”
Although on a full-year basis ShopNBC’s revenue declined, the company achieved an increase in gross profit dollars of 2.3 percent versus the prior fiscal year. Excluding the consumer electronics segment, 2011 revenue would have risen 4 percent over 2010 using the same measure.
ShopNBC reported adjusted EBITDA of $1 million, a net loss of $48.1 million, and a net loss per share of $1.03 for 2011.
ShopNBC ended the year with $35 million in cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, compared to the
ending third-quarter balance of $32.7 million.
“Throughout 2011, we were able to strengthen our balance sheet,” Chief Financial Officer William McGrath stated. “This process continued into the first quarter of 2012 as we secured a new $40 million credit facility. The expanded credit facility affords us added liquidity and more favorable terms, which combined with our continued focus on operational efficiency, puts us in a better position to meet our future working capital needs.”
Here are some more excuses.
“As previously announced, we also made progress in optimizing our TV distribution platform,” McGrath said. “Subsequent to year-end, three distribution agreements were renewed, representing over 50 percent of ShopNBC’s 81 million households. Two agreements were one-year extensions at comparable rates but with improvement in channel positioning. The third agreement was the early renewal of our largest TV distribution agreement. This renewal is expected to provide approximately $15 million in annual cost savings beginning January 2013, along with increased exposure via a second channel, also starting in January 2013.”