Higher sales and gross profit combined with lower public-company expenses and a decrease in marketing and administrative expenses to help Vancouver-based online eyewear seller KITS Eyewear Ltd.'s (TSX:KITS) bottom line in the quarter that ended Dec. 31.
The online eyewear seller saw quarterly sales jump more than 29.4 per cent, to $26.239 million, compared with $20.270 million in the same quarter in 2021.
When the cost of producing goods that sold was deducted from that revenue, KITS generated $8.904 in gross profit in the quarter, up from $6.104 in gross profit in the same quarter in 2021.
Once all other business costs were factored in, KITS remained in the red. It lost $1.385 million in the quarter, which was down from a $4,054 net loss in the same quarter one year earlier.
The vast majority of KITS' sales come from online orders for glasses, contact lenses and eyewear accessories. Some sales come, however, from a coffee shop that doubles as an eyewear showroom on Cornwall Street in Vancouver.
This quarter comes on the heels of KITS' first-ever quarter to turn a profit: the quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2022, and came with a 20,000 net profit.
“We closed out the year with accelerated momentum and delivered another quarter of double-digit revenue growth, margin expansion, and impressive performance,” said Roger Hardy, co-founder and CEO of KITS. “In 2022, the team delivered record results as the KITS brand continued to resonate with new and returning customers.
Indeed, the company's revenue rose more than 11.2 per cent in 2022, to $91.639 million, up from $82,403 million in 2021.
Once the cost of producing the eyewear was deducted from those overall sales, the company generated $29.247 million in gross profit in 2022, up 40 per cent from $20.891 in 2021.
When costs for employees, leases and other expenses were factored in, the company lost $4.552 million in the 2022 calendar year, down from $14.617 million in 2021.
KITS' share price has been volatile. Its shares soared above $8.80 per share in spring 2021. Its shares then bottomed at $1.97 last May. Since then, shares have rebounded to close at $4.32 today.
