Levi Strauss tumbles as Q2 earnings slip 21%

Bloomberg

Levi Strauss & Co fell in late trading as profit in its second quarter as a public company tumbled from a year earlier.
The denim maker said on its conference call that adjusted diluted earnings slipped 21 percent from the prior year to 17 cents. When including $29 million of expenses associated with its IPO, second-quarter profit was 7 cents a share. “I’m not going to worry about the one-time cost of the IPO,” Chief Executive Officer Chip Bergh said in an interview. “That’s a one-time short-term hit. We’re in it for the long-term.”
Levi has been working to bolster its retail network and e-commerce sales, and said its direct-to-consumer business increased 9 percent last quarter, mostly due to those efforts. But that growth comes at a cost, with higher investment spending. Advertising costs were also higher.