Finish Line Reports Smaller 4th-quarter Loss

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Finish Line Inc. reported a much smaller fiscal fourth-quarter loss Friday, helped by its decision to back out of its proposed Genesco Inc. acquisition.

A year ago, the sporting-goods retailer decided to pull out of its proposed $1.5 billion bid for Nashville, Tenn.-based Genesco. The decision weighed heavily on year-ago results in the form of $81.4 million in costs related to a settlement.

Finish Line still lost $1.4 million, or 3 cents per share, for the period ended Feb. 28. But that compares with a much bigger loss of $39.2 million, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding impairment charges and other items, income from continuing operations was $19.6 million, or 36 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, whose estimates typically exclude one-time items, expected net income of 32 cents per share.

Finish Line also said it had more outstanding shares in the current quarter due to the acquisition settlement.

Fourth-quarter sales declined to $364.1 million, off 5 percent from $382.8 million in the prior-year period. The company saw same-store sales fall 3.9 percent, with Man Alive tumbling 25 percent and its namesake stores down 2.3 percent.