ShopHQ Posts 17 Percent Fourth-Quarter Sales Gain

It looks like ShopHQ finally had a strong quarter, much to the chagrin of its dissident shareholders.

The channel’s fourth-quarter net sales last year rose 17 percent over the prior-year period, to $193 million from $165 million, the No. 3 home shopping network reported Thursday.

For the full year 2013, ShopHQ’s net sales jumped 12 percent to $640 million from $574 million in 2012.

That’s more growth than QVC and HSN posted for the quarter, but of course, a lot less dough.

QVC posted a 6 percent gain in revenue in the fourth quarter, to $1.9 billion, and was up 5 percent, to $5.8 billion, for last year. HSN reported a 2 percent gain in net sales in the fourth quarter, to $697.4 million. For the full year 2013, HSN’s net sales were up 2 percent, to $2.31 billion.

“Our fourth-quarter performance marked our seventh consecutive quarter of sales growth and positive Adjusted EBITDA,” ShopHQ CEO Keith Stewart said in a canned statement.

“Our continued diversification of product mix resulted in strong sales growth across a much broader customer base,” he said. “We expanded our product assortment, improved our channel positions and continued to focus on the customer experience. These efforts drove record new customer counts in the quarter. With our rebranding to ShopHQ complete and more customers shopping with us than ever before, we believe we are well positioned for fiscal 2014.”

We wonder how this will play for The Clinton Group, which is trying to oust Stewart and many of ShopHQ’s board members.

The network’s sales were driven by strong performances in the categories of home & consumer electronics, fashion & accessories, and beauty, health & and fitness. ShopHQ, whose corporate name is ValueVision Media, saw its gross profit increase 14 percent in the fourth quarter, and as a percent of sales, it was 32.1 percent compared to 33.2 percent in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA improved to $5 million in the fourth quarter versus $4 million a year ago.

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $300,000, or breakeven per share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $300,000 in the year-ago quarter.

Net shipped units increased by 44 percent to a record 2.4 million from 1.6 million in the same quarter last year, reflecting a broader merchandise mix and a 20 percent decline in the average price point to $74 from $92.

Total customers purchasing over the last 12 months rose 20 percent to a record 1.4 million from 1.1 million in the prior year.

“The growth in customers reflects a broader merchandise mix at lower price points,” ShopHQ said in a press release. “In addition, the size of the total customer base who purchased during the three months of Q4’13 increased 30 percent versus last year’s same period.”

For the full year 2-13, adjusted EBITDA was $18 million for the full year 2013 versus $4 million last year. Adjusted net loss for the year was $400,000 compared to an adjusted net loss of $16 million in the prior year.

“Our balance sheet position is strong,” ShopHQ Chief Financial Officer William McGrath said in his canned statement. “We ended the year with $31 million in cash and restricted cash, an increase of $3 million from the start of fiscal year 2013. During the fourth quarter, we also expanded the size of our total credit facility with PNC Bank from $50 million to $75 million. The additional liquidity better positions us to support future growth as we evaluate options to increase our warehouse distribution capacity in 2014.”