Australia’s Billabong International Ltd., parent of Irvine surfwear maker Billabong USA, reported lower-than-expected yearly profit Friday and predicted slower growth for the company’s current 12-month period.
Billabong reported a 44% rise to $94 million in profit for the 12 months ended June 30. Company watchers had expected a better showing after Billabong twice upped its outlook earlier in the period.
Profit growth for the 12 months through next June is likely to ease to 15%, the company said.
Sales for the recently ended period were $636 million, up 25%.
Billabong’s shares slumped about 10% Friday on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The Irvine operation was a bright spot. Sales for Billabong USA rose 29% to $294 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 47% to $63.3 million.
The unit’s EBITDA margin on sales rose to 21.5% in the period, up from 19% a year earlier.
Billabong USA is Orange County’s second-largest surfwear maker after Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc.
The company gets about 40% of its profit from Billabong USA. Australian executives said they are watching U.S. consumer spending amid higher interest rates and oil prices.
“I haven’t really built anything like that into our forward expectations,” Chief Executive Derek O’Neill told Reuters. “A lot of our consumers are not as locked into interest rates, as much as say mums and dads are. We will just take it as it comes.”
Billabong plans to look for more acquisitions, O’Neill said. Billabong USA has led the company’s buying, adding Hawaii’s Honolua Surf Co. last year and local companies Von Zipper and Element in 2001.
