Form 10-K SHOE CARNIVAL INC For: Jan 31

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark One)
[X]		Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
		For the fiscal year ended:   January 31, 2015
or
[   ]		Transition report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
		For the transition period from ____________________  to  ____________________

 

Commission File Number:				0-21360
Shoe Carnival, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Indiana		35-1736614
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(IRS Employer Identification Number)
7500 East Columbia Street Evansville, IN		47715
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip code)
(812) 867-6471
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Common Stock, $.01 par value		The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
(Title of Each Class)		(Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

[  ]

Yes

[ X]

No

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.

[  ]

Yes

[X]

No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

[X]

Yes

[  ]

No

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

	[X ]	Yes		[  ]	No

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. [ X ]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

[  ]

Large accelerated filer

[X]

Accelerated filer

[  ]

Non-accelerated filer

[  ]

Smaller reporting company

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

[  ]

Yes

[X]

No

  

The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant based on the last sale price for such stock at August 2, 2014 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $260,278,596 (assuming solely for the purposes of this calculation that all Directors and executive officers of the registrant are “affiliates”).

 

Number of Shares of Common Stock, $.01 par value, outstanding at April 3, 2015 was 20,479,912.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Certain information contained in the Definitive Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the Registrant to be held on June 11, 2015 is incorporated by reference into PART III hereof.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

PART I
Item 1.	Business	2
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	10
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	16
Item 2.	Properties	16
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	16
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	17

 

PART II
Item 5.	Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	17
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	19
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	20
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	30
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	30
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	52
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	52
Item 9B.	Other Information	56

 

PART III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	56
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	56
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	56
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	56
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	56

PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	57

 

 

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.
Evansville, Indiana

Annual Report to Securities and Exchange Commission
January 31, 2015

PART I

 

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

 

This annual report contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in the areas of the continental United States and Puerto Rico in which our stores are located; the effects and duration of economic downturns and unemployment rates; changes in the overall retail environment and more specifically in the apparel and footwear retail sectors; our ability to generate increased sales at our stores; the potential impact of national and international security concerns on the retail environment; changes in our relationships with key suppliers; the impact of competition and pricing; our ability to successfully manage and execute our marketing initiatives and maintain positive brand perception and recognition; changes in weather patterns, consumer buying trends and our ability to identify and respond to emerging fashion trends; the impact of disruptions in our distribution or information technology operations; the effectiveness of our inventory management; the impact of hurricanes or other natural disasters on our stores, as well as on consumer confidence and purchasing in general; risks associated with the seasonality of the retail industry; the impact of unauthorized disclosure or misuse of personal and confidential information about our customers, vendors and employees; our ability to manage our third-party vendor relationships; our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy, including the availability of desirable store locations at acceptable lease terms, our ability to open new stores in a timely and profitable manner, including our entry into major new markets, and the availability of sufficient funds to implement our growth plans; higher than anticipated costs associated with the closing of underperforming stores; our ability to successfully grow our e-commerce business; the inability of manufacturers to deliver products in a timely manner; changes in the political and economic environments in China, Brazil, Europe and East Asia, where the primary manufacturers of footwear are located; the impact of regulatory changes in the United States and the countries where our manufacturers are located; the continued favorable trade relations between the United States and China and the other countries which are the major manufacturers of footwear; the resolution of litigation or regulatory proceedings in which we are or may become involved; and our ability to meet our labor needs while controlling costs. See ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS of this report.

 

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest family footwear retailers, providing the convenience of shopping at any of our 400 store locations or online. We offer customers a broad assortment of moderately priced dress, casual and athletic footwear for men, women and children with emphasis on national and regional name brands. We differentiate our retail concept from our competitors’ by our distinctive, highly promotional marketing efforts. On average, our stores are 11,000 square feet, generate approximately $2.4 million in annual sales and carry inventory of approximately 28,200 pairs of shoes per location. As of January 31, 2015, we operated 400 stores in 33 states and Puerto Rico and offered online shopping at www.shoecarnival.com.

 

We are an Indiana corporation that was initially formed in Delaware in 1993 and reincorporated in Indiana in 1996. References to “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refer to Shoe Carnival, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

 

Key Competitive Strengths

We believe our financial success is due to a number of key competitive strengths that make Shoe Carnival a destination of choice for today’s retail consumer.

Distinctive shopping experience

 

Our stores combine competitive pricing with a highly promotional, in-store marketing effort that encourages customer participation and injects fun and surprise into every shopping experience. We promote a high-energy retail environment by decorating with exciting graphics and bold colors, and by featuring a stage and mic-person as the focal point in each store. With a microphone, this mic-person announces current specials, organizes contests and games, and assists and educates customers with the features and location of merchandise. Our mic-person offers limited-duration promotions throughout the day, encouraging customers to take immediate advantage of our value pricing. We believe this highly promotional atmosphere results in various competitive advantages, including increased multiple unit sales; the building of a loyal, repeat customer base; the creation of word-of-mouth advertising; and enhanced sell-through of in-season goods. The same customer experience is reflected in our e-commerce site through special promotions and limited time sales, along with relevant fashion stories featured on our home page.

 

Broad merchandise assortment

 

Our objective is to be the destination retailer-of-choice for a wide range of consumers seeking value priced, current season name brand and private label footwear. Our product assortment includes dress and casual shoes, sandals, boots and a wide assortment of athletic shoes for the entire family. Our average store carries approximately 28,200 pairs of shoes in four general categories – women’s, men’s, children’s and athletics – which are organized within the store by category and brand, thus fashioning strong brand statements within the aisles. We engage our customers by presenting creative branded merchandise statements and signage upon entering our stores. Key brands are further emphasized by prominent displays on end caps, focal walls, and within the aisles. These displays may highlight a product offering of a single vendor, highlight sales promotions, advertise promotional pricing to meet or beat competitors’ sale prices or may make a seasonal or lifestyle statement by highlighting similar footwear from multiple vendors. These visual merchandising techniques make it easier for customers to shop and focus attention on key name brands. Our e-commerce site offers customers an opportunity to choose from a large selection of products in all of the same categories of footwear, and introduces our concept to consumers who are new to Shoe Carnival, in both existing and new markets. Customers who enroll in our loyalty program (“Shoe Perks”) or register on our website receive periodic personalized e-mail communication from us. This communication affords us additional opportunity to highlight our broad product assortment.

 

Value pricing for our customers

 

Our marketing effort targets moderate income, value conscious consumers seeking name brand footwear for all age groups. We believe that by offering a wide selection of popular styles of name brand merchandise at competitive prices, we generate broad customer appeal. Additionally, the time conscious customer appreciates the convenience of one stop shopping for the entire family, whether it is at any of our 400 store locations or online at shoecarnival.com. We also believe our highly promotional shopping environment contributes to a reputation of value pricing.

 

Efficient store level cost structure

 

Our cost efficient store operations and real estate strategy enable us to price products competitively. We achieve low labor costs by housing merchandise directly on the selling floor in an open stock format, allowing customers to serve themselves, if they choose. This reduces the staffing required to assist customers and reduces store level labor costs as a percentage of sales. We locate stores predominantly in open-air shopping centers in order to take advantage of lower occupancy costs and maximize our exposure to value oriented shoppers.

 

Heavy reliance on information technology

 

We have invested significant resources in information technology. Our proprietary inventory management and advanced point-of-sale (“POS”) systems provide corporate management, buyers and store managers with the timely information necessary to monitor and control all phases of operations. The POS provides, in addition to other features, full price management (including price look-up), promotion tracking capabilities (in support of the spontaneous nature of the in-store price promotions), real-time sales and gross margin by product category at the

store level and customer tracking. Using the POS, store managers are able to monitor sales and gross profit margins on a real-time basis throughout the day. Reacting to sales trends, our mic-people use POS reports to choose from among a number of product promotions supplied by our centralized merchandising staff.

 

Our centralized network connects our corporate office to our distribution center and retail stores via a wide area network, providing up-to-date sales and inventory information as required. Our data warehouse enables our merchandising and store operations staff to analyze sales, margin and inventory levels by location, by day, down to the size of shoe. Using this information, our merchandise managers meet regularly with vendors to compare their product sales, gross margins and return on inventory investment against previously stated objectives. We believe timely access to key business data has enabled us in the past to drive annual comparable store sales increases, manage our markdown activity and improve inventory turnover.

 

Growth Strategy

 

Our goal is to continue to grow our net sales and earnings by opening additional stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and growing our e-commerce business. On January 31, 2015, we operated 400 stores located across 33 states and Puerto Rico. Our stores averaged approximately 11,000 square feet, ranging in size from 6,000 to 26,500 square feet. Our current store prototype utilizes between 8,000 and 12,000 square feet, depending upon, among other factors, the location of the store and the population base we expect the store to service. Our stores are located predominantly in open-air shopping centers. The sales area of most stores is approximately 85% of the gross store size.

 

		Historical Store Count
Fiscal Years		2014				2013				2012				2011				2010
Stores open at the beginning of the year			376				351				327				314				311
New store openings			31				32				31				17				10
Store closings			7				7				7				4				7
Stores open at the end of the year			400				376				351				327				314
Stores relocated			3				9				6				9				3
Percentage of store base remodeled			7	%			9	%			5	%			8	%			4	%

 

In addition to our continued store growth, we are committed to establishing Shoe Carnival as a world class
multi-channel retailer. Our e-commerce business continues to grow, and in fiscal 2014, we continued to make enhancements to capitalize on our increasing website traffic and optimize conversion rates. In fiscal 2014, we began to fulfill e-commerce orders directly from our stores. This allows us to expand the depth and breadth of our online product assortment and drastically reduce our out-of-stock rate. Mobile was a priority during the year and we launched our first mobile app, which presents our customers with the same fun and engaging experience that we offer in-store, and provides our Shoe Perks members with convenient access to their account and perks. Overall, we believe that our ongoing multi-channel initiatives represent the cornerstone for our long-term growth and are in-line with rapidly changing consumer trends and expectations.

 

Expanding our store base both in number of stores, as well as geographic footprint

 

Increasing market penetration by opening new stores is a key component of our growth strategy. We believe our strong unleveraged financial position provides a solid platform for additional growth. For fiscal 2014, we opened 31 new stores and closed seven stores. Approximately 60% of these new store locations served to fill-in certain under-penetrated markets with additional stores, with the goal of increasing the performance of the overall market. The majority of the remaining 40% of our new store openings were in new major markets. For fiscal 2015, we expect to open approximately 18 to 22 stores. Our planned new store expansion for fiscal 2015 includes locations serving to fill-in existing markets including locations in Philadelphia, which was a new market for us in fiscal 2014.

 

Critical to the success of opening new stores in larger markets or geographic areas is our ability to cluster stores. In larger markets (populations greater than 400,000), clustering involves opening two or more stores at approximately

the same time, and in smaller markets that can only support a single store, clustering involves seeking locations in reasonably close proximity to other existing markets. This strategy creates cost efficiencies by enabling us to leverage store expenses with respect to advertising, distribution and management costs. We believe the advantages of clustering stores in existing markets will lead to cost efficiencies and overall incremental sales gains that should more than offset any adverse effect on sales of existing stores.

 

We lease all store locations, as we believe the flexibility afforded by leasing allows us to avoid the inherent risks of owning real estate, particularly with respect to under-performing stores. Before entering a new market, we perform a market, demographic and competition analysis to evaluate the suitability of the potential market. Potential store site selection criteria include, among other factors, market demographics, traffic counts, the tenant mix of a potential open-air shopping center, visibility within the center and from major thoroughfares, overall retail activity of the area and proposed lease terms. The time required to open a store after signing a lease depends primarily upon the property owner’s ability to deliver the premises. After we accept the premises from the property owner, we can generally open a turnkey store within 60 days and open an ‘as-is’ store within up to 115 days.

 

Merchandising and Pricing

We offer a large selection of value priced footwear for the entire family. Our stores carry an average of approximately 28,200 pairs of shoes featuring a broad assortment of current-season name brand footwear, supplemented with private label merchandise. Our stores also carry complementary accessories such as handbags, shoe care items and socks. The mix of merchandise and the brands offered in a particular store reflect the demographics of each market, among other factors. Our e-commerce site offers customers an opportunity to choose from a large selection of products in all of the same categories of footwear, and introduces our concept to consumers who are new to Shoe Carnival, in both existing and new markets.

 

Initial pricing levels are typically established in accordance with the manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing structure. Subsequent to this initial pricing, our buying staff manages our markdown cadence based on product-specific sell-through rates to achieve liquidation of inventory within the natural lifecycle of the product. We emphasize our value proposition to customers by combining current season name brand product with promotional pricing. Our promotions include both advertised limited time sale offerings in addition to in-store timed specials.

 

The table below sets forth our percentage of sales by product category:

 

Fiscal Years		2014				2013				2012				2011				2010
Non-Athletics:
Women's			27				27				26				26				26
Men's			14				15				15				15				16
Children's			5				5				5				5				5
Total			46				47				46				46				47
Athletics:
Women's			16				16				17				17				17
Men's			21				21				21				21				20
Children's			13				12				12				12				12
Total			50				49				50				50				49
Accessories			4				4				4				4				4
Total			100	%			100	%			100	%			100	%			100	%

 

Women’s, men’s and children’s non-athletic footwear categories are further divided into dress, casual, sport, sandals and boots. We classify athletic shoes by functionality, such as running, basketball or fitness shoes.

 

During fiscal 2014, we continued to focus on growing our women’s category at a rate higher than the balance of our other footwear categories, with the long term goal of expanding our women’s non-athletic sales to 30% of our total sales. We believe that development of new brands traditionally found in department stores plays a vital role in

achieving this goal, and during fiscal 2014, our women’s better brands were sold in 140 stores. For fiscal 2015, we plan to expand our better brands initiative to approximately 175 stores before the second half of the fiscal year.

 

Building Brand Awareness

 

Our goal is to communicate a consistent brand image across all aspects of our operations. We utilize a blend of advertising mediums and marketing methods to communicate who we are and the values we offer. Special emphasis is made to highlight brands as well as specific styles of product, and visual graphics are used extensively in our stores to emphasize the lifestyle aspect of the styles we carry. The use of social media has become an increasingly important medium in our digital marketing efforts, allowing us to directly communicate with, as well as advertise to our core customers. For fiscal 2014, approximately 57% of our total advertising budget was directed to television, radio and digital media. Print media (including inserts, direct mail and newspaper advertising) and outdoor advertising accounted for the balance. We make a special effort to utilize the cooperative advertising dollars and collateral offered by vendors whenever possible. During fiscal 2015, we plan to continue advertising on cable television. This serves to deliver a balanced mix of both branding and seasonal product messaging across the year beginning with the Easter selling season. Moreover, it enables us to provide a message of offering value priced, current season footwear.

 

In addition to a dynamic, lively and fun shopping experience, we offer our customers our Shoe Perks rewards program. This program provides customers with a heightened shopping experience, which includes exclusive offers and personalized messaging. Rewards are earned by making purchases either in-store or online and through participating in other point earning opportunities that facilitate engagement with our brand.

 

Continuing an initiative began in 2013, we remain highly focused on expanding Shoe Perks enrollment. In fiscal 2014, our Shoe Perks rewards program membership doubled, with purchases from Shoe Perks members increasing to 43% of our net sales. We believe our Shoe Perks program affords us tremendous opportunity to communicate, build relationships, engage with our most loyal shoppers and increase our customer touch points, which we believe will result in long-term sales gains.

 

We strive to make each store opening a major retail event. Major promotions during grand openings and peak selling periods feature contests and prize giveaways. We believe our grand openings help establish the high-energy, promotional atmosphere that develops a loyal, repeat customer base and generates word-of-mouth advertising.

 

Distribution

We operate a single 410,000 square foot distribution center located in Evansville, Indiana. Our facility is leased from a third party and can support the processing and distribution needs of a minimum of 460 stores to facilitate future growth. We have the right to expand the facility by 200,000 square feet, which would provide us processing capacity to support approximately 650 stores.

 

Our distribution center is equipped with state-of-the-art processing and product movement equipment. The facility utilizes cross docking/store replenishment and redistribution methods to fill store product requirements. These methods may include count verification, price and bar code labeling of each unit (when not performed by the manufacturer), redistribution of an order into size assortments (when not performed by the manufacturer) and allocation of shipments to individual stores. Throughout packing, allocating, storing and shipping, our distribution process is essentially paperless. Merchandise is typically shipped to each store location once per week. For stores within the continental United States, a dedicated carrier, with occasional use of common carriers, handles the majority of shipments. Our shipments to Puerto Rico are loaded for containerized overseas shipment, with final delivery by a third party provider.

 

During the third quarter of fiscal 2014, we brought fulfillment of our e-commerce orders in house, utilizing the inventory in our physical stores. By fulfilling e-commerce orders from our store level inventory, we are able to minimize out-of-stocks, offer our customers an expanded online assortment, and leverage store level inventory and overhead. At January 31, 2015, 250 of our store locations had the capability of fulfilling e-commerce orders on a daily basis. During peak sales periods, e-commerce orders for certain key items and promotional product are fulfilled from our distribution center.

 

Buying Operations

Maintaining fresh, fashionable merchandise is critical to our success. Our buyers stay in touch with evolving trends by subscribing to an industry leading trend service, shopping fashion-leading markets, attending national trade shows, gathering vendor input and monitoring the current styles shown in leading fashion and lifestyle magazines. Management of the purchasing function is the responsibility of our Executive Vice President - General Merchandise Manager. Management encourages store operations personnel to provide input to our merchandising staff regarding market specific fashion trends.

 

We purchase merchandise from approximately 160 footwear vendors. In fiscal 2014, two branded suppliers, Nike, Inc. and Skechers USA, Inc., collectively accounted for approximately 40% of our net sales. Nike, Inc. accounted for approximately 29% of our net sales and Skechers USA, Inc. accounted for approximately 11%. Name brand suppliers also provide us with cooperative advertising and visual merchandising funds. A loss of any of our key suppliers in certain product categories or our inability to obtain name brand or other merchandise from suppliers at competitive prices could have a material adverse effect on our business. As is common in the industry, we do not have any long-term contracts with our suppliers.

 

Competition

The retail footwear business is highly competitive. We believe the principal competitive factors in our industry are merchandise selection, price, fashion, quality, location, shopping environment and service. We compete with department stores, shoe stores, sporting goods stores, online retailers and mass merchandisers. Our specific competitors vary from market to market. We compete with most department stores and traditional shoe stores by offering competitive prices. We compete with off-price retailers, mass merchandisers and discount stores by offering a wider and deeper selection of merchandise.

 

Many of our competitors are significantly larger and have substantially greater resources. However, we believe that our distinctive retail format, in combination with our wide merchandise selection, competitive prices and low operating costs, enables us to compete effectively.

 

Store Operations

 

Management of store operations is the responsibility of our Executive Vice President - Store Operations, who is assisted by divisional managers, regional managers and the individual store general managers. Generally, each store has a general manager and up to three assistant managers, depending on sales volume. Store operations personnel make certain merchandising decisions necessary to maximize sales and profits primarily through merchandise placement, signage and timely clearance of slower selling items. Administrative functions are centralized at the corporate headquarters. These functions include accounting, purchasing, store maintenance, information systems, advertising, human resources, distribution and pricing. Management oversight for e-commerce is also located at our corporate headquarters.

 

Employees

At January 31, 2015, we had approximately 5,900 employees, of which approximately 2,400 were employed on a part-time basis. The number of employees fluctuates during the year primarily due to seasonality. None of our employees are represented by a labor union.

 

We attribute a large portion of our success in various areas of cost control to our inclusion of virtually all management level employees in incentive compensation plans. We contribute all or a portion of the cost of medical, disability and life insurance coverage for those employees who are eligible to participate in Company-sponsored plans. Additionally, we sponsor retirement plans that are open to all employees who have met the minimum age and work hour requirements. All employees are eligible to receive discounts on purchases from our stores. We consider our relationship with our employees to be satisfactory.

 

Seasonality

 

Our quarterly results of operations have fluctuated, and are expected to continue to fluctuate in the future, primarily as a result of seasonal variances and the timing of sales and costs associated with opening new stores. Non-capital expenditures, such as advertising and payroll, incurred prior to the opening of a new store are charged to expense as incurred. Therefore, our results of operations may be adversely affected in any quarter in which we incur pre-opening expenses related to the opening of new stores.

 

We have three distinct peak selling periods: Easter, back-to-school and Christmas. To prepare for our peak shopping seasons, we must order and keep in stock significantly more merchandise than we would carry during other parts of the year. Any unanticipated decrease in demand for our products during these peak shopping seasons could require us to sell excess inventory at a substantial markdown, which could reduce our net sales and gross margins and negatively affect our profitability. Our operating results depend significantly upon the sales generated during these periods.

 

Trademarks

 

We own the following federally registered trademarks and service marks:  Shoe Carnival^® and associated trade dress and related logos, The Carnival^®, Donna Lawrence^®, Victoria Spenser^®, Innocence^®, Y-NOT?^®, UNR8ED^®, Solanz^®, Cabrizi^®, Shoe Perks^®, SC Work Wear^®, WHEN YOU WANT 2^®, JUMP BACK IN^®, STEP OUT OF BORING^®, A SURPRISE IN STORE^® and Laces for Learning^®. We believe these marks are valuable and, accordingly, we intend to maintain the marks and the related registrations. We are not aware of any pending claims of infringement or other challenges to our right to use these marks.

 

Environmental

 

Compliance with federal, state and local provisions regulating the discharge of material into the environment or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment has not had a material effect upon our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position. We believe the nature of our operations have little, if any, environmental impact. We therefore anticipate no material capital expenditures for environmental control facilities for our current fiscal year or for the near future.

 

Available Information

 

We make available free of charge through the investor relations portion of our website at www.shoecarnival.com our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have included our website address throughout this filing as textual references only. The information contained on our website is not incorporated into this Form 10-K.

 

Our annual report on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is available without charge to shareholders, investment professionals and securities analysts upon written request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations at our corporate address.

 

Executive Officers

 

Name	Age		Position
J. Wayne Weaver	80		Chairman of the Board and Director
Clifton E. Sifford	61		President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Merchandising Officer and Director
W. Kerry Jackson	53		Senior Executive Vice President - Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer
Timothy T. Baker	58		Executive Vice President - Store Operations
Carl N. Scibetta	56		Executive Vice President - General Merchandise Manager
Kathy A. Yearwood	48		Senior Vice President - Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

 

Mr. Weaver is Shoe Carnival’s largest shareholder and has served as Chairman of the Board since March 1988. From 1978 until February 2, 1993, Mr. Weaver had served as president and chief executive officer of Nine West Group, Inc., a designer, developer and marketer of women’s footwear. He has over 40 years of experience in the footwear industry. Mr. Weaver is a former director of Nine West Group, Inc. Mr. Weaver served as chairman and chief executive officer of Jacksonville Jaguars, LTD, a professional football franchise, until January 2012. During June 2014, Mr. Weaver returned to the Board of Directors of Stein Mart, Inc., a publicly traded chain of off-price retail stores. Mr. Weaver served as a director of Stein Mart, Inc. from November 2002 until April 2008.

 

Mr. Sifford has been employed as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Merchandising Officer and has served as a Director since October 2012. From June 2001 to October 2012, Mr. Sifford served as Executive Vice President - General Merchandise Manager and from April 1997 to June 2001, Mr. Sifford served as Senior Vice President - General Merchandise Manager. Prior to joining us, Mr. Sifford served as merchandise manager-shoes for Belk, Inc.

 

Mr. Jackson has been employed as Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer since October 2012. From August 2004 to October 2012, Mr. Jackson served as Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. From June 2001 to August 2004, Mr. Jackson served as Senior Vice President – Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. From September 1996 to June 2001, Mr. Jackson served as Vice President – Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. From January 1993 to September 1996, Mr. Jackson served as Vice President - Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to January 1993, Mr. Jackson held various accounting positions with us. Prior to joining us in 1988, Mr. Jackson was associated with a public accounting firm. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

 

Mr. Baker has been employed as Executive Vice President - Store Operations since June 2001. From March 1994 to June 2001, Mr. Baker served as Senior Vice President - Store Operations. From May 1992 to March 1994, Mr. Baker served as Vice President - Store Operations. Prior to that time, he served as one of our regional managers. From 1983 to June 1989, Mr. Baker held various retail management positions with Payless ShoeSource.

 

Mr. Scibetta has been employed as Executive Vice President - General Merchandise Manager since December 2012. Prior to joining us, Mr. Scibetta served as Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager-Footwear for Belk, Inc. since 2008. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Scibetta served as Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager-Footwear for Parisian Department Stores. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Scibetta served as Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager for Shoe Corporation of America. Mr. Scibetta began his retail career with Wohl Shoe Company in 1980.

 

Ms. Yearwood has served as Senior Vice President - Controller since March 2011, principal accounting officer since March 2010 and Chief Accounting Officer since June 2010. From March 2005 through February 2011, Ms. Yearwood served as Vice President - Controller and prior to that served as corporate Controller since joining us in December 2002. Before joining us, Ms. Yearwood served in various financial positions in the radio, newspaper and public accounting industries. She is a Certified Public Accountant. As previously disclosed, Ms. Yearwood will be retiring from her positions as Senior Vice President – Controller and Chief Accounting Officer at such time as a suitable replacement has been hired and her duties have been effectively transitioned, which we expect will occur on or about July 1, 2015.

Our executive officers serve at the discretion of the Board of Directors. There is no family relationship between any of our Directors or executive officers.

 

(Pursuant to General Instruction G (3) of Form 10-K, the foregoing information is included as an unnumbered Item in PART I of this annual report in lieu of being included in our Proxy Statement for our 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.)

 

ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

 

Carefully consider the following risk factors and all other information contained in this annual report before making an investment decision with respect to our common stock. Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. If any of the following risks actually occur, we may not be able to conduct our business as currently planned and our financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. See PART I “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information” at the beginning of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

Economic conditions and unemployment rates may adversely affect consumer spending and may significantly harm our business. The success of our business depends to a significant extent upon the level of consumer spending. A number of factors may affect the level of consumer spending on merchandise that we offer, including, among other things:

 

·

general economic, industry and weather conditions;

·

unemployment trends and salaries and wage rates;

·

energy costs, which affect gasoline and home heating prices;

·

the level of consumer debt;

·

consumer credit availability;

·

real estate values and foreclosure rates;

·

consumer confidence in future economic conditions;

·

interest rates;

·

health care costs;

·

tax rates and policies; and

·

war, terrorism, other hostilities and security concerns.

 

The merchandise we sell generally consists of discretionary items. Adverse economic conditions and unemployment rates, and any related decrease in consumer confidence and spending may result in reduced consumer demand for discretionary items. Any decrease in consumer demand could reduce traffic in our stores, limit the prices we can charge for our products and force us to take inventory markdowns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Reduced demand may also require increased selling and promotional expenses. Reduced demand and increased competition could increase the need to close underperforming stores, which could result in higher than anticipated closing costs.

 

We face significant competition in our markets and we may be unable to compete favorably. The retail footwear industry is highly competitive with few barriers to entry. We compete primarily with department stores, shoe stores, sporting goods stores, online retailers and mass merchandisers. Many of our competitors are significantly larger and have substantially greater financial and other resources than we do. Economic pressures on or bankruptcies of our competition could result in increased pricing pressures. This competition could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition in the future.

 

Failure to successfully manage and execute our marketing initiatives could have a negative impact on our business. Our success and growth is partially dependent on generating customer traffic in order to gain sales momentum in our stores and drive traffic to our website. Successful marketing efforts require the ability to reach customers through their desired mode of communication, utilizing various media outlets. Media placement decisions are generally made months in advance of the scheduled release date. Our inability to accurately predict our consumers’ preferences, to utilize their desired mode of communication, or to ensure availability of advertised products could adversely affect our business and operating results.

 

Our failure to identify fashion trends could result in lower sales, higher markdowns and lower gross profits. Our success depends upon our ability to anticipate and react to the fashion tastes of our customers and provide merchandise that satisfies consumer demand. Our failure to anticipate, identify or react appropriately to changes in consumer fashion preferences may result in lower sales, higher markdowns to reduce excess inventories and lower gross profits. Conversely, if we fail to anticipate or react to consumer demand for our products, we may experience inventory shortages, which would result in lost sales and could negatively affect our customer goodwill, our brand image and our profitability. Moreover, our business relies on continuous changes in fashion preferences. Stagnating consumer preferences could also result in lower sales and would require us to take higher markdowns to reduce excess inventories.

 

A failure to increase sales at our existing stores may adversely affect our stock price and affect our results of operations. A number of factors have historically affected, and will continue to affect, our comparable store sales results, including:

 

·

competition;

·

timing of holidays including sales tax holidays;

·

general regional and national economic conditions;

·

inclement weather and/or unseasonable weather patterns;

·

consumer trends, such as less disposable income due to the impact of higher prices on consumer goods;

·

fashion trends;

·

changes in our merchandise mix;

·

our ability to efficiently distribute merchandise;

·

timing and type of, and customer response to, sales events, promotional activities or other advertising;

·

the effectiveness of our inventory management;

·

new merchandise introductions; and

·

our ability to execute our business strategy effectively.

 

Our comparable store sales results have fluctuated in the past, and we believe such fluctuations may continue. The unpredictability of our comparable store sales may cause our revenue and results of operations to vary from quarter to quarter, and an unanticipated decline in revenues or operating income may cause our stock price to fluctuate significantly.

 

We would be adversely affected if our distribution or information technology operations were disrupted. We currently operate a single, 410,000 square foot distribution center in Evansville, Indiana. Virtually all merchandise received by our stores is and will be shipped through our distribution center. During fiscal 2014, we began fulfilling our e-commerce orders primarily from our store locations and suspended utilization of a third party fulfillment agent for our e-commerce orders. During peak sales periods, e-commerce orders for certain key items and promotional product are fulfilled from our distribution center. Our corporate computer network is essential to our distribution process. If our distribution center is shut down for any reason, such as a natural disaster, power outage or terrorist attack, or if our information technology systems do not operate effectively, or if we are the target of attacks or security breaches, we could incur significantly higher costs and longer lead times associated with distributing our products to our stores. Our insurance only covers costs relating to specified, limited matters such as a shutdown due to fire and windstorms, as well as certain cyber security incidents, but does not cover other events such as acts of war or terrorist attacks. Even in the event of a shutdown due to covered matters, we cannot assure you that our insurance will be sufficient, or that the insurance proceeds will be paid to us in a timely fashion. Shutdowns or information technology disruptions could have an adverse effect on our operating and financial performance.

Failure to protect the integrity and security of individually identifiable data of our customers and employees could expose us to litigation and damage our reputation. We receive and maintain certain personal, sensitive and confidential information about our customers, vendors and employees. The collection and use of this information is regulated at the international, federal and state levels, and is subject to certain contractual restrictions in third party contracts.  Although we have implemented processes to collect and protect the integrity and security of this personal information, there can be no assurance that this information will not be obtained by unauthorized persons, or collected or used inappropriately. If our security and information systems or the systems of our employees or

external business associates are compromised or our employees or external business associates fail to comply with these laws and regulations and this information is obtained by unauthorized persons, or collected or used inappropriately, it could negatively affect our reputation, as well as our operations and financial results, and could result in litigation or regulatory action against us or the imposition of costs, fines or other penalties. As privacy and information security laws and regulations change, we may incur additional costs to remain in compliance.

We outsource certain business processes to third-party vendors and have certain business relationships that subject us to risks, including disruptions in business and increased costs. We outsource some of our business processes to third party vendors. We make a diligent effort to ensure that all providers of these outsourced services are observing proper internal control practices; however, there are no guarantees that failures will not occur. Failure of third parties to provide adequate services or our inability to arrange for alternative providers on favorable terms in a timely manner could disrupt our business, increase our costs or otherwise adversely affect our business and our financial results.

 

Failure to maintain positive brand perception and recognition could have a negative impact on our business. Maintaining a good reputation is critical to our business.  The considerable expansion in the use of social media over recent years has increased the risk that our reputation could be negatively impacted in a short amount of time. If we are unable to quickly and effectively respond to any incidents negatively impacting our reputation, we may suffer declines in customer loyalty and traffic and we may experience vendor relationship issues and other issues, all of which could negatively affect our financial results.

 

We will require significant funds to implement our growth strategy and meet our other liquidity needs. We cannot assure you that we will continue to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or obtain sufficient borrowings under our existing credit facility to finance our growth strategy and meet our other liquidity needs. In fiscal 2015, capital expenditures are expected to range from $23 million to $24 million. Our actual costs may be greater than anticipated. We also require working capital to support inventory for our existing stores. Failure to generate or raise sufficient funds may require us to modify, delay or abandon some of our future growth or expenditure plans. We utilize our existing credit facility to issue merchandise and special purpose standby letters of credit as well as to fund working capital requirements, as needed. Significant decreases in cash flow from operations could result in our borrowing under the credit facility to fund operational needs. If we borrow funds under our credit facility and interest rates materially increase from present levels, our results could be adversely affected.

 

Various risks associated with our e-commerce business may adversely affect our business and results of operations. We launched our e-commerce business during the third quarter of 2011, selling shoes and related accessories through our website at www.shoecarnival.com. During the third quarter of fiscal 2014, we enabled 250 stores with the capability of fulfilling e-commerce orders on a daily basis and suspended utilization of a third party fulfillment agent for our e-commerce orders. We also fulfill e-commerce orders from our distribution center during peak periods. Although our e-commerce operations are not at this time material in relation to our total sales, we anticipate that the percentage of our sales through our e-commerce site will grow and thus the risks associated with these operations could have an impact on our overall operations. Our e-commerce operations are subject to numerous risks, including unanticipated operating problems, reliance on third party computer hardware, software and service providers, and the need to invest in additional computer systems. Any significant interruptions in the operations of these third party providers, over which we have no control, could have a material adverse effect on our e-commerce business. Our e-commerce operations involve additional potential risks that could have an impact on our results of operations including hiring, retaining and training personnel to conduct our e-commerce operations, diversion of sales from our stores, our ability to manage any upgrades or other technological changes, exposure to potential liability for online content, risks related to the failure of the computer systems that operate our e-commerce site and its related support systems, including computer viruses, telecommunication failures and cyber-attacks and break-ins and similar disruptions, and security risks related to our electronic processing and transmission of confidential customer information. There can be no assurance that our e-commerce operations will achieve growing sales and profitability.

 

An increase in the cost or a disruption in the flow of imported goods may decrease our sales and profits. We rely on imported goods to sell in our stores. Substantially all of the footwear product we sell is manufactured overseas, including the merchandise we import directly from overseas manufacturers and the merchandise we purchase from

domestic vendors. The primary footwear manufacturers are located in China, East Asia, Bangladesh, Brazil and Europe. A disruption in the flow of imported merchandise or an increase in the cost of those goods may decrease our sales and profits. In addition, we do not control our vendors or their labor and business practices. The violation of labor, product safety or other laws by one of our vendors could have an adverse effect on our business.

 

If imported merchandise becomes more expensive or unavailable, the transition to alternative sources may not occur in time to meet our demands. Products from alternative sources may be of lesser quality and more expensive than those we currently import. Other risks associated with our use of imported goods include:

 

·

disruptions in the flow of imported goods because of factors such as electricity or raw material shortages, work stoppages, strikes, political unrest and natural disasters;

·

problems with oceanic shipping, including shipping container shortages and piracy;

·

port congestion at arrival ports causing delays;

·

additional oceanic shipping costs to reach non-congested ports;

·

inland transit costs and delays resulting from port congestion;

·

economic crises and international disputes;

·

currency exchange rate fluctuations;

·

increases in the cost of purchasing or shipping foreign merchandise resulting from the failure to maintain normal trade relations with source countries;

·

import duties, import quotas and other trade sanctions;

·

increases in shipping rates imposed by the trans-Pacific shipping cartel; and

·

compliance with the laws and regulations, and changes to such laws and regulations, in the United States and the countries where our manufacturers are located, including but not limited to requirements relating to shipping security, product safety testing and environmental requirements.

 

We may not be able to successfully execute our growth strategy, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We intend to open new stores as a part of our growth strategy. We may not be able to open all of the new stores contemplated by our growth strategy and the new stores that we open may not be as profitable as existing stores.

 

The complexity of our operations and management responsibilities will increase as we grow. Our growth strategy requires that we continue to expand and improve our operating and financial systems and expand, train and manage our employee base. In addition, as we open new stores, we may be unable to hire a sufficient number of qualified store personnel or successfully integrate the new stores into our business.

 

The success of our growth strategy will depend on a number of other factors, many of which are out of our control, including, among other things:

 

·

our ability to locate suitable store sites and negotiate store leases (for new stores and renewals) on favorable terms;

·

the acceptance of the Shoe Carnival concept in new markets;

·

our ability to provide adequate distribution to support growth;

·

our ability to source sufficient levels of inventory to meet the needs of new stores;

·

particularly in new markets, our ability to open a sufficient number of new stores to provide the critical mass needed for efficient advertising and effective brand recognition;

·

the availability of financing for capital expenditures and working capital requirements;

·

our ability to improve costs and timing associated with opening new stores; and

·

the impact of new stores on sales or profitability of existing stores in the same market.

 

Due to the risks involved, we may be unable to open new stores at the rates expected. If we fail to successfully implement our growth strategy, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

 

We depend on our key suppliers for merchandise and advertising support and the loss of key suppliers could adversely affect our business. Our business depends upon our ability to purchase fashionable, name brand and

other merchandise at competitive prices from our suppliers. In fiscal 2014, two branded suppliers, Nike, Inc. and Skechers USA, Inc., collectively accounted for approximately 40% of our net sales. Nike, Inc. accounted for approximately 29% of our net sales and Skechers USA, Inc. accounted for approximately 11%. Name brand suppliers also provide us with cooperative advertising and visual merchandising funds. A loss of any of our key suppliers in certain product categories or our inability to obtain name brand or other merchandise from suppliers at competitive prices could have a material adverse effect on our business. As is common in the industry, we do not have any long-term contracts with our suppliers.

 

Our quarterly operating results will fluctuate due to seasonality and other factors. Our quarterly results of operations have fluctuated, and are expected to continue to fluctuate in the future, primarily as a result of seasonal variances and the timing of sales and costs associated with opening new stores. Other factors that may affect our quarterly results of operations include:

 

·

fashion trends;

·

calendar shifts of holiday or seasonal periods;

·

the effectiveness of our inventory management;

·

weather conditions;

·

changes in general economic conditions and consumer spending patterns; and

·

actions of competitors or co-tenants.

 

We have three distinct peak selling periods: Easter, back-to-school and Christmas. To prepare for our peak shopping seasons, we must order and keep in stock significantly more merchandise than we would carry during other parts of the year. Any unanticipated decrease in demand for our products during these peak shopping seasons could require us to sell excess inventory at a substantial markdown, which could reduce our net sales and gross margins and negatively affect our profitability. Our operating results depend significantly upon the sales generated during these periods.

 

We also increase our inventory levels to offer styles particularly suited for the relevant season, such as sandals in the early summer season and boots during the winter season. If the weather conditions for a particular season vary significantly from those typical for such season, such as an unusually cold early summer or an unusually warm winter, consumer demand for the seasonally appropriate merchandise that we have available in our stores could be adversely affected and negatively impact net sales and margins. Lower demand for seasonally appropriate merchandise may leave us with an excess inventory of our seasonally appropriate products, forcing us to sell these products at significantly discounted prices and adversely affecting our net sales margins and operating cash flow. Conversely, if weather conditions permit us to sell our seasonal product early in the season, this may reduce inventory levels needed to meet our customers’ needs later in that same season. Consequently, our results of operations are highly dependent on somewhat predictable weather conditions and our ability to react to changes in weather conditions. If our future quarterly results fail to meet the expectations of research analysts, then the market price of our common stock could decline substantially.

 

If our long-lived assets become impaired, we may need to record significant non-cash impairment charges. Periodically, we review our long-lived assets for impairment whenever economic events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. Significant negative industry or general economic trends, disruptions to our business and unexpected significant changes or planned changes in our use of the assets (such as store relocations or closures) may result in impairment charges. Any such impairment charges, if significant, would adversely affect our financial position and results of operations.

 

We are subject to periodic litigation and other regulatory proceedings, which could result in the unexpected expenditure of time and resources. We are a defendant from time to time in lawsuits and regulatory actions relating to our business. Due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation and regulatory proceedings, we cannot accurately predict the ultimate outcome of any such proceedings. An unfavorable outcome could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, regardless of the outcome of any litigation or regulatory proceedings, such proceedings are expensive and will require that we devote substantial resources and executive time to defend, thereby diverting management’s attention and resources that are needed to successfully run our business.

 

Our failure to manage key executive succession and retention and to continue to attract qualified personnel could adversely affect our business. Our success depends largely on the continued service of our executive management team. Our business would be adversely affected if we fail to adequately plan for the succession and retention of our executive management team. While we have succession plans in place for members of our executive management team, and continue to review and update those plans, and we have employment agreements with certain key executive officers, these plans and agreements do not guarantee that the services of our executive officers will continue to be available to us or that we will be able to find suitable management personnel to replace departing executives on a timely basis.

 

Furthermore, our strategy requires us to continue to train, motivate and manage our employees and to attract, motivate and retain additional qualified managerial and merchandising personnel. The ability to meet our labor needs while controlling costs is subject to external factors such as unemployment levels, prevailing wage rates, health care and minimum wage legislation and changing demographics. If we are unable to attract and retain quality sales associates and management, the ability to meet growth goals or to sustain expected levels of profitability may be compromised.

 

Our stock price may be volatile and could decline substantially. The stock market has, from time to time, experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Many factors may cause the market price for our common stock to decline, including:

 

·

operating results failing to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors in any quarter;

·

downward revisions in securities analysts’ estimates;

·

material announcements by us or our competitors; and

·

the other risk factors cited in this annual report.

 

In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been the subject of securities class action litigation. If we become involved in a securities class action litigation in the future, it could result in substantial costs and diversion of management attention and resources, thus harming our business.

 

Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have a material adverse effect on our stock price. We must continue to document, test and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires annual reports by management regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and a report by our independent registered public accounting firm attesting to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. We have expended, and expect that we will continue to expend, significant management time and resources documenting and testing our internal control over financial reporting. If we conclude in future periods that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, it could result in lost investor confidence in the accuracy, reliability and completeness of our financial reports. Any such events could have a material adverse effect on our stock price.

 

We are controlled by our principal shareholder. J. Wayne Weaver, our Chairman of the Board of Directors and principal shareholder, and his spouse together own approximately 24.6% of our outstanding common stock. Accordingly, Mr. Weaver is able to exert substantial influence over our management and operations. In addition, his interests may differ from or be opposed to the interests of our other shareholders, and his control may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control that may be favored by other shareholders.

 

Provisions of our organizational documents and Indiana law might deter acquisition bids for us. Our Restated Articles of Incorporation and Indiana corporate laws contain provisions that may discourage other persons from attempting to acquire control of us, including, without limitation, a Board of Directors that has staggered terms for its members, supermajority voting provisions, restrictions on the ability of shareholders to call a special meeting of shareholders and procedural requirements in connection with shareholder proposals or director nominations. The Board of Directors has the authority to issue preferred stock in one or more series without the approval of the holders of our common stock. Further, Indiana corporate law contains business combination provisions that, in general, prohibit for five years any business combination with a beneficial owner of 10% or more of our common stock unless the holder’s acquisition of the stock was approved in advance by our Board of Directors. Indiana

corporate law also contains control share acquisition provisions that limit the ability of certain shareholders to vote their shares unless their control share acquisition is approved. In certain circumstances, the fact that corporate devices are in place that inhibit or discourage takeover attempts could reduce the market value of our common stock.

 

ITEM 1B. Unresolved staff comments

 

None.

 

ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES

 

We lease all existing stores and intend to lease all future stores. Approximately 98% of the leases for our existing stores provide for fixed minimum rentals and approximately 50% provide for contingent rental payments based upon various specified percentages of sales above minimum levels. Certain leases also contain escalation clauses for increases in minimum rentals, operating costs and taxes.

 

The following table identifies the number of our stores in each state and Puerto Rico as of January 31, 2015:

 

State/Territory					State/Territory
	Alabama		13		Nebraska	2
	Arkansas		10		New York	2
	Arizona		6		North Carolina	21
	Colorado		4		North Dakota	3
	Florida		28		Ohio	19
	Georgia		16		Oklahoma	8
	Idaho		4		Pennsylvania	12
	Iowa		12		Puerto Rico	9
	Illinois		28		South Carolina	12
	Indiana		24		South Dakota	2
	Kansas		4		Tennessee	19
	Kentucky		12		Texas	46
	Louisiana		12		Utah	7
	Michigan		15		Virginia	9
	Missouri		21		Wisconsin	3
	Mississippi		7		West Virginia	5
	Montana		3		Wyoming	2
					Total Stores	400

 

In February 2006, we entered into an operating lease with an independent third party to lease our 410,000 square foot distribution center located in Evansville, Indiana. The lease has an initial term of 15 years, commencing on December 1, 2006. We have the right to extend the initial lease term for up to three additional periods of five years each, and to expand the facility by up to 200,000 square feet.

 

In June 2006, we entered into an operating lease with an independent third party to lease our corporate headquarters for an initial term of 15 years, expiring in 2021. We have the right to extend the initial lease term for up to three additional periods of five years each, and to expand the facility by up to 30,000 square feet.

 

For additional information with respect to our properties, see ITEM 1. BUSINESS – “Growth Strategy” and “Distribution” as well as PART II, ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS – “Executive Summary” of this report.

 

ITEM 3.    LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

From time to time, we are involved in certain legal proceedings in the ordinary course of conducting our business. We cannot provide assurance as to the ultimate outcome of any litigation involving us. The following is a description of pending litigation that falls outside the scope of litigation incidental to the ordinary course of our business. On October 31, 2013, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “District Court”) captioned Nicaj v. Shoe Carnival, Inc. The

complaint alleged that we violated certain provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“FACTA”), which amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act, by printing the month of the expiration date of our customers’ credit cards on transaction receipts. The plaintiff sought, among other things, the designation of this action as a class action, an award of monetary damages of between $100 and $1,000 per violation, counsel fees and costs, and such other relief as the court deemed appropriate.

 

On January 16, 2014, the District Court granted our motion and dismissed the plaintiff’s action with prejudice and denied his motion to certify a class as moot, finding that our actions did not violate FACTA and that our conduct, even if it did violate FACTA, was not willful. On February 12, 2014, the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal of the District Court’s order with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In September 2014, the Seventh Circuit entered an order affirming the District Court’s order.  The plaintiff petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari, and the Supreme Court denied that petition on February 23, 2015. The Supreme Court’s order concludes this litigation.

 

ITEM 4.    MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

 

Not applicable.

PART II

 

ITEM 5.

MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

 

Market Information and Holders

 

Our common stock has been quoted on The NASDAQ Stock Market, LLC under the trading symbol “SCVL” since March 16, 1993. As of April 10, 2015, there were approximately 166 holders of record of our common stock. We did not sell any unregistered equity securities during fiscal 2014.

 

The quarterly intraday high and low trading prices, in addition to dividends per share, were as follows:

 

Fiscal 2014		High				Low				Dividends Per Share
First Quarter		$	27.44			$	21.71			$	0.06
Second Quarter			22.98				17.30				0.06
Third Quarter			22.59				16.68				0.06
Fourth Quarter			26.84				18.30				0.06
Fiscal 2013
First Quarter		$	21.80			$	18.98			$	0.06
Second Quarter			27.21				20.16				0.06
Third Quarter			27.99				24.35				0.06
Fourth Quarter			29.75				23.59				0.06

 

Cash Dividends

 

The declaration and payment of any future dividends are at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will depend on our results of operations, financial condition, business conditions and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. Our credit agreement permits the payment of dividends as long as the dividends distributed do not exceed 30% of our consolidated net income for the preceding fiscal year, and in no event may the total distributions in any fiscal year exceed 25% of the prior year’s ending net worth.

 

On March 17, 2015, the Board of Directors approved the payment of a cash dividend to our shareholders in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.  The quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share will be paid on April 20, 2015 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 6, 2015.

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

Throughout fiscal 2014, we issued treasury shares to employees for the exercise of stock options and for the issuance of restricted stock awards. We also repurchased 2,460 shares of common stock as a result of our withholding shares or allowing our employees to deliver shares to us for the income taxes resulting from the vesting of certain restricted stock awards. It is our intention to continue these practices as they relate to the issuance of treasury shares.

 

On December 11, 2014, our Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program for up to $25 million of outstanding common stock, effective January 1, 2015. The purchases may be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions, from time-to-time through December 31, 2015, and in accordance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. The program may be amended, suspended or discontinued at any time and does not commit us to repurchase shares of our common stock. We have funded, and intend to continue to fund, the share repurchase programs from cash on hand and any shares acquired will be available for stock-based compensation awards and other corporate purposes. The actual number and value of the shares to be purchased will depend on the performance of our stock price and other market conditions. As of January 31, 2015, no shares had been repurchased under the new share repurchase program.

 

The new share repurchase program replaced the prior $25 million share repurchase program that was authorized in August 2010 and expired in accordance with its terms on December 31, 2014. At its expiration, we had purchased approximately 625,000 shares at an aggregate cost of $12.2 million under the prior repurchase program.

 

The following table summarizes repurchase activity during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014:

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

												Total Number				Approximate
												Of Shares				Dollar Value
												Purchased				of Shares
												as Part				that May Yet
				Total Number				Average				of Publicly				Be Purchased
				of Shares				Price Paid				Announced				Under
Period				Purchased				per Share				Programs				Programs(2)
	November 2, 2014 to November 29, 2014				0			$	0.00				0			$	12,800,000
	November 30, 2014 to January 3, 2015 (1)				1,623			$	23.25				0			$	25,000,000
	January 4, 2015 to January 31, 2015				0			$	0.00				0			$	25,000,000
					1,623								0

 

(1)

Total number of shares purchased represents shares delivered to or withheld by us in connection with employee payroll tax withholding upon the vesting of certain restricted stock awards.

(2)

On December 11, 2014, our Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program for up to $25 million of our outstanding common stock, effective January 1, 2015 and expiring on December 31, 2015. The new share repurchase program replaced the prior $25 million share repurchase program that was authorized in August 2010, and expired in accordance with its terms on December 31, 2014.

 

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

 

The information required by this Item concerning securities authorized for issuance under our equity plans has been incorporated by reference into PART III, ITEM 12 of this report.

 

ITEM 6.   SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

 

The following selected financial data should be read in conjunction with Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations as contained in PART II, ITEM 7 along with our consolidated financial statements and notes to those statements included in PART II, ITEM 8 of this report.

 

(In thousands, except per share and operating data)

 

Fiscal years (1)		2014				2013				2012				2011				2010
Income Statement Data:
Net Sales		$	940,162			$	884,785			$	854,998			$	762,534			$	739,189
Cost of sales (including buying,   distribution and occupancy costs)			666,483				625,468				597,521				537,681				517,650
Gross Profit			273,679				259,317				257,477				224,853				221,539
Selling, general and administrative expenses			231,826				215,650				208,983				182,716				179,154
Operating income			41,853				43,667				48,494				42,137				42,385
Interest income			(14	)			(12	)			(32	)			(79	)			(165	)
Interest expense			165				173				273				266				258
Income before income taxes			41,702				43,506				48,253				41,950				42,292
Income tax expense			16,175				16,635				18,915				15,568				15,471
Net income		$	25,527			$	26,871			$	29,338			$	26,382			$	26,821
Net income per share:
Basic (4)		$	1.27			$	1.33			$	1.44			$	1.32			$	1.41
Diluted (4)		$	1.27			$	1.32			$	1.43			$	1.31			$	1.37
Weighted average shares:
Basic (4)			19,777				19,926				19,911				19,524				19,085
Diluted (4)			19,791				19,947				19,972				19,694				19,587
Dividends declared per share		$	0.24			$	0.24			$	1.15			$	0.00			$	0.00
Selected Operating Data:
Stores open at end of year			400				376				351				327				314
Square footage of store space
at year end (000’s)			4,419				4,147				3,823				3,554				3,390
Average sales per store (000’s) (2)		$	2,390			$	2,425			$	2,478			$	2,390			$	2,384
Average sales per square foot (2) (5)		$	221			$	223			$	229			$	221			$	221
Comparable store sales (2)(3)			1.8	%			0.0	%			4.5	%			0.7	%			8.2	%
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	61,376			$	48,253			$	45,756			$	70,602			$	60,193
Total assets		$	465,016			$	436,851			$	407,196			$	386,562			$	345,145
Long-term debt		$	0			$	0			$	0			$	0			$	0
Total shareholders’ equity		$	331,198			$	316,872			$	292,368			$	283,684			$	254,343

 

(1)	Our fiscal year is a 52/53 week year ending on the Saturday closest to January 31.  Unless otherwise stated, references to years 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 relate respectively to the fiscal years ended January 31, 2015, February 1, 2014, February 2, 2013, January 28, 2012, and January 29, 2011.  Fiscal year 2012 consisted of 53 weeks and the other fiscal years consisted of 52 weeks.
(2)	Selected Operating Data for fiscal 2012 has been adjusted to a comparable 52-week period ended January 26, 2013.  The 53rd week in fiscal 2012 caused a one-week shift in our fiscal calendar.  To minimize the effect of this fiscal calendar shift on comparable store sales, our reported annual comparable store sales results for fiscal 2013 compare the 52-week period ended February 1, 2014 to the 52-week period ended February 2, 2013.  Comparable store sales for fiscal 2012 compare the 52-week period ended January 26, 2013 to the 52-week period ended January 28, 2012.
(3)	Comparable store sales for the periods indicated include stores that have been open for 13 full months prior to the beginning of the period, including those stores that have been relocated or remodeled.  Therefore, stores opened or closed during the periods indicated are not included in comparable store sales.  Our e-commerce sales were included in comparable sales starting with fiscal 2013.
(4)	On March 23, 2012, our Board of Directors authorized a three-for-two stock split of the shares of our common stock, which was effected in the form of a stock dividend.  All share and per share amounts in this table give effect to the stock split and have been adjusted retroactively for all periods presented.
(5)	Average sales per square foot includes net e-commerce sales for fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012.

 

 

ITEM 7.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and notes to those statements included in PART II, ITEM 8 of this report.

 

Overview of Our Business

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest family footwear retailers, providing the convenience of shopping at any of our 400 store locations or online at shoecarnival.com. Our stores combine competitive pricing with a highly promotional, in-store marketing effort that encourages customer participation and injects fun and surprise into every shopping experience. We believe this highly promotional atmosphere results in various competitive advantages, including increased multiple unit sales; the building of a loyal, repeat customer base; the creation of word-of-mouth advertising; and enhanced sell-through of in-season goods. The same customer experience is reflected in our e-commerce site through special promotions and limited time sales, along with relevant fashion stories featured on our home page.

 

Our objective is to be the destination retailer-of-choice for a wide range of consumers seeking value priced, current season name brand and private label footwear. Our product assortment includes dress and casual shoes, sandals, boots and a wide assortment of athletic shoes for the entire family. Our average store carries approximately 28,200 pairs of shoes in four general categories - women’s, men’s, children’s and athletics. In addition to footwear, our stores carry selected accessory items complementary to the sale of footwear. Our e-commerce site offers customers an opportunity to choose from a large selection of products in all of the same categories of footwear with a depth of sizes and colors that may not be available in some of our smaller stores, and introduces our concept to consumers who are new to Shoe Carnival, in both existing and new markets.

 

Our fiscal year is a 52/53 week year ending on the Saturday closest to January 31. Unless otherwise stated, references to years 2014, 2013 and 2012 relate respectively to the fiscal years ended January 31, 2015, February 1, 2014, and February 2, 2013. Fiscal year 2012 consisted of 53 weeks and the other fiscal years consisted of 52 weeks. The 53rd week in fiscal 2012 caused a one-week shift in our fiscal calendar. To minimize the effect of this fiscal calendar shift on comparable store sales, our reported annual comparable store sales results for fiscal 2013, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our other public disclosures, compare the 52-week period ended February 1, 2014, to the 52-week period ended February 2, 2013. Comparable store sales for fiscal 2012 compare the 52-week period ended January 26, 2013 to the 52-week period ended January 28, 2012. As such, changes in comparable store sales are not consistent with changes in net sales reported for the fiscal periods.

Executive Summary

 

Fiscal 2014

 

From a top-line sales perspective, fiscal 2014 began as one of the most challenging years in recent memory. During both the first and second quarters of the year, we experienced moderate declines in comparable store sales finishing the first half of the fiscal year with a 1.8% decrease in comparable store sales. We were pleased with our ability during this period to maintain our conversion ratio and raise our average unit retail price even when faced with declining consumer traffic in our stores. As we navigated through this difficult sales environment, we continued to make investments in our business that we believed would benefit our long-term sales and earnings growth. In the near term, we refined our fall footwear assortment to provide us with what we believed would result in a strong competitive position in the family footwear channel.

 

We were not disappointed by the consumer’s response to our fall fashion boot assortment, as this product category contributed significantly to our third quarter comparable store sales increase of 2.3%. Our positive sales performance in the third quarter along with our 9.5% comparable store sales increase reported for the fourth quarter drove a second half comparable store sales increase of 5.6%. Our fashion boot selection resonated well with consumers throughout the second half of the fiscal year, and we experienced a strong response to our athletic footwear assortment. The decision to bring fulfillment of our e-commerce orders in house, utilizing the inventory in our physical stores, played a key role in our second-half sales performance, as we were able to minimize out-of-stocks and offer the consumer an expanded online assortment.

Despite the challenges presented by the continuing fluctuations in consumer demand, we were able to manage our inventories and deliver an improved operating margin as compared to the prior fiscal year. Our net sales gains for fiscal 2014 were driven by sales at the 63 new stores opened since the beginning of fiscal 2013 and by a 1.8% comparable store sales increase.

 

Notwithstanding the challenges faced, throughout fiscal 2014 we remained focused on growing our business both through enhancing the Shoe Carnival brand and store expansion.

 

·

Our national cable television advertising strategy, which kicked off in April 2014, is intended to leverage national cable television to increase our brand awareness in existing, new and future markets. Throughout the fiscal year, we continued to refine the messaging and at the end of the third quarter began to see measurable results and believe the campaign significantly contributed to our improved fourth quarter performance.

 

·

Through a continued focused effort on enrollment at the point-of-sale, our Shoe Perks rewards program membership once again doubled, with purchases from Shoe Perks members increasing to 43% of our net sales for fiscal 2014. We continue to believe our Shoe Perks program affords us tremendous opportunity to communicate, build relationships and engage with our most loyal shoppers, which we believe will result in long-term sales gains.

 

·

During the third quarter of fiscal 2014, we successfully launched our first ever mobile app and brought fulfillment of our e-commerce orders in house, utilizing the inventory in our physical stores. By fulfilling our e-commerce orders from our store level inventory, we are able to minimize out-of-stocks, offer our customers an expanded online assortment and leverage store level inventory and overhead. By mid-November 2014, we had enabled 250 stores with the capability of fulfilling e-commerce orders from store locations. During peak sales periods, orders for certain key items and promotional product are being fulfilled from our distribution center.

 

·

For fiscal 2014, we opened 31 new stores, including stores in Buffalo (New York), Detroit (Michigan), Madison (Wisconsin), Miami (Florida) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), which were new markets for us. Also during fiscal 2014, we closed seven stores and relocated three stores locations which we believe will be more productive.

 

·

We utilize a formalized review process in our evaluation of potential new store sites as well as for decisions surrounding leases on existing store locations. Our approach is both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. We look to continually enhance this process and during fiscal 2014, we incorporated additional real estate specific software tools for portfolio analysis. With the incorporation of these additional tools, we believe our process will be enhanced in regards to identifying the best possible locations for future expansion and identifying potential store closings and relocations that will enable us to realize positive long-term financial performance of our portfolio.

 

Fiscal 2015

 

In fiscal 2015, we remain focused on growing our business both through store expansion and enhancing the Shoe Carnival brand. For fiscal 2015, we expect to open approximately 18 to 22 stores, primarily serving to fill-in existing markets. Consistent with prior year, we also plan to continue to reinvest in our existing physical store base, focusing on in-store graphics, including signage updates to focal walls and end-caps. Dependent upon successful lease negotiations, we plan to remodel approximately 22 stores during the fiscal year.

 

We will continue with many of the same points of focus from fiscal 2014 including the further evolution of our national cable television advertising strategy and development of effective communication campaigns to employ with our Shoe Perks membership. Also for fiscal 2015, we are proceeding towards our ultimate goal of opening our inventory to be accessible to every store, thus putting us in a position to satisfy our in-store customers with the footwear they are seeking. Overall, we believe that our ongoing multi-channel initiatives represent the cornerstone for our long-term growth and are in-line with rapidly changing consumer trends and expectations.

Critical Accounting Policies

 

It is necessary for us to include certain judgments in our reported financial results.  These judgments involve estimates based in part on our historical experience and incorporate the impact of the current general economic climate and company-specific circumstances.  However, because future events and economic conditions are inherently uncertain, our actual results could differ materially from these estimates.  The accounting policies that require the more significant judgments are included below.

 

Merchandise Inventories – Our merchandise inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market (LCM) as of the balance sheet date and consist primarily of dress, casual and athletic footwear for women, men and children. The cost of our merchandise is determined using the first-in, first-out valuation method (FIFO). For determining market value, we estimate the future demand and related sale price of merchandise in our inventory. The stated value of merchandise inventories contained on our consolidated balance sheets also includes freight, certain capitalized overhead costs and reserves.

 

We review our inventory at the end of each quarter to determine if it is properly stated at LCM. Factors considered include, among others, recent sale prices, the length of time merchandise has been held in inventory, quantities of the various styles held in inventory, seasonality of the merchandise, expected consideration to be received from our vendors and current and expected future sales trends. We reduce the value of our inventory to its estimated net realizable value where cost exceeds the estimated future selling price. Merchandise inventories as of January 31, 2015, and February 1, 2014, totaled $287.9 million and $284.8 million, respectively, representing approximately 62% and 65% of total assets. Given the significance of inventories to our consolidated financial statements, the determination of net realizable value is considered to be a critical accounting estimate. Material changes in the factors noted above could have a significant impact on the actual net realizable value of our inventory and our reported operating results.

 

Valuation of Long-Lived Assets – Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment subject to depreciation, are evaluated for impairment on a periodic basis if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. This evaluation includes performing an analysis of the estimated undiscounted future cash flows of the long-lived assets. Assets are grouped and the evaluation performed at the lowest level for which there are identifiable cash flows, which is generally at a store level.

 

If the estimated future cash flows for a store are determined to be less than the carrying value of the store’s assets, an impairment loss is recorded for the difference between estimated fair value and carrying value. We estimate the fair value of our long-lived assets using store specific cash flow assumptions discounted by a rate commensurate with the risk involved with such assets while incorporating marketplace assumptions. Our assumptions and estimates used in the evaluation of impairment, including current and future economic trends for stores, are subject to a high degree of judgment. Assets subject to impairment are adjusted to estimated fair value and, if applicable, an impairment loss is recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses. Our long-lived assets as of January 31, 2015, and February 1, 2014, totaled $101.3 million and $90.2 million, respectively, representing approximately 22% and 21% of total assets. From our evaluations performed during fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2013, we recorded impairments of long-lived assets of $1,000,000 and $947,000, respectively. If actual operating results or market conditions differ from those anticipated, the carrying value of certain of our assets may prove unrecoverable and we may incur additional impairment charges in the future.

 

Insurance Reserves – We self-insure a significant portion of our workers’ compensation, general liability and employee health care costs and also maintain insurance in each area of risk protecting us from individual and aggregate losses over specified dollar values. We review the liability reserved for our self-insured portions on a quarterly basis, taking into consideration a number of factors, including historical claims experience, severity factors, statistical trends and, in certain instances, valuation assistance provided by independent third parties. Our self-insurance reserves include estimates of both claims filed, carried at their expected ultimate settlement value, and claims incurred but not yet reported. As of January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014, our self-insurance reserves totaled $2.9 million for both years. While we believe that the recorded amounts are adequate, there can be no assurance that changes to management’s estimates will not occur due to limitations inherent in the estimating

process. If actual results are not consistent with our estimates or assumptions, we may be exposed to future losses or gains that could be material.

 

Income Taxes – As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our current and future income taxes for each tax jurisdiction in which we operate. Significant judgment is required in determining our annual tax expense and evaluating our tax positions. As a part of this process, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized based on the difference between the consolidated financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Our temporary timing differences relate primarily to inventory, depreciation, accrued expenses, deferred lease incentives and stock-based compensation. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using the tax rates enacted and expected to be in effect in the years when those temporary differences are expected to reverse. Deferred tax assets are reduced, if necessary, by a valuation allowance to the extent future realization of those tax benefits are uncertain.

 

We are also required to make many subjective assumptions and judgments regarding our income tax exposures when accounting for uncertain tax positions associated with our income tax filings. We must presume that taxing authorities will examine all uncertain tax positions and that they have full knowledge of all relevant information. However, interpretations of guidance surrounding income tax laws and regulations are often complex, ambiguous and frequently change over time and a number of years may elapse before a particular issue is resolved. As such, changes in our subjective assumptions and judgments can materially affect amounts recognized in our consolidated financial statements. Although we believe we have adequately provided for all uncertain tax positions, tax authorities could assess tax liabilities greater or less than our accrued positions for open tax periods.

 

Results of Operations

 

The following table sets forth our results of operations expressed as a percentage of net sales for the following fiscal years:

 

 

		2014				2013				2012
Net Sales			100.0	%			100.0	%			100.0	%
Cost of sales (including buying, distribution, and occupancy costs)			70.9				70.7				69.9
Gross profit			29.1				29.3				30.1
Selling, general and administrative expenses			24.6				24.4				24.4
Operating income			4.5				4.9				5.7
Interest income			(0.0	)			(0.0	)			(0.0	)
Interest expense			0.0				0.0				0.0
Income before income taxes			4.5				4.9				5.7
Income tax expense			1.8				1.9				2.3
Net income			2.7	%			3.0	%			3.4	%

 

In the regular course of business, we offer our customers sales incentives including coupons, discounts, and free merchandise. Sales are recorded net of such incentives and returns and allowances. If an incentive involves free merchandise, that merchandise is recorded as a zero sale and the cost is included in cost of sales. Comparable store sales for the periods indicated below include stores that have been open for 13 full months prior to the beginning of the period, including those stores that have been relocated or remodeled. Therefore, stores opened or closed during the periods indicated are not included in comparable store sales. Our e-commerce sales were included in comparable sales starting in fiscal 2013.

 

2014 Compared to 2013

 

Net Sales

 

Net sales increased $55.4 million to $940.2 million for fiscal 2014, a 6.3% increase, from net sales of $884.8 million for fiscal 2013. Of the $55.4 million increase in net sales, approximately $50.2 million was attributable to the 63 new stores we opened since the beginning of fiscal 2013 and $15.4 million was attributable to our 1.8% increase in comparable store sales. These increases were partially offset by the loss of $10.4 million in sales from the fourteen stores closed since the beginning of fiscal 2013.

Gross Profit

 

Gross profit increased $14.4 million to $273.7 million in fiscal 2014. The gross profit margin in fiscal 2014 decreased to 29.1% from 29.3% in the prior fiscal year. Our merchandise margin remained flat between years while buying, distribution and occupancy costs, as a percentage of sales, increased 0.2%. Buying, distribution and occupancy costs increased approximately $8.1 million during fiscal 2014 as compared to the prior fiscal year primarily as a result of the operation of additional store locations.

 

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $16.2 million in fiscal 2014 to $231.8 million, primarily due to an additional $11.9 million in incremental expense in fiscal 2014 related to the operation of new stores, net of expense reductions for stores that have closed since the beginning of fiscal 2013. Incentive compensation, inclusive of stock-based compensation, decreased $2.4 million in fiscal 2014 as compared to fiscal 2013. This reduction was primarily attributable to our reversal of our cumulative prior period expense for performance-based awards that management deemed were not probable to vest prior to their expiration.

 

In both fiscal 2014 and 2013, pre-opening costs included in selling, general and administrative expenses were $2.1 million, or 0.2% as a percentage of sales. We opened 31 stores during fiscal 2014 at an average cost of $68,000 as compared to 32 stores last year at an average cost of $66,000. Pre-opening costs, such as advertising, payroll and supplies, incurred prior to the opening of a new store are charged to expense in the period in which they are incurred. The total amount of pre-opening expense incurred will vary by store depending on the specific market and the promotional activities involved.

 

The portion of store closing costs and non-cash asset impairment charges included in selling, general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2014 was $1.5 million or 0.2% as a percentage of sales. These costs related to the closing of seven stores, non-cash asset impairment of certain underperforming stores and acceleration of expenses associated with management’s determination to close certain underperforming stores in future periods. The portion of store closing costs and non-cash asset impairment charges included in selling, general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2013 was $1.2 million or 0.1% as a percentage of sales. These costs related to the closing of seven stores, non-cash asset impairment of certain underperforming stores and acceleration of expenses associated with management’s determination to close a store in fiscal 2014. The timing and actual amount of expense recorded in closing a store can vary significantly depending, in part, on the period in which management commits to a closing plan, the remaining basis in the fixed assets to be disposed of at closing and the amount of any lease buyout.

 

Income Taxes

 

The effective income tax rate for fiscal 2014 was 38.8% as compared to 38.2% for fiscal 2013. Our provision for income tax expense is based on the current estimate of our annual effective tax rate and is adjusted as necessary for quarterly events.

 

2013 Compared to 2012

 

Net Sales

 

Net sales increased $29.8 million to $884.8 million for fiscal 2013, a 3.5% increase, from net sales of $855.0 million for fiscal 2012. Of the $29.8 million increase in net sales, the 63 new stores we opened since the beginning fiscal 2012 contributed an additional $51.4 million in sales. These increases were partially offset by a $5.5 million decline in sales within our comparable store base along with the loss of $5.4 million in sales from the fourteen stores closed since the beginning of fiscal 2012. Similar to other retailers, we follow the retail calendar, which included an extra week in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 (the 53^rd week). The loss of this one week of sales in fiscal 2013 negatively affected our net sales comparison, as approximately $10.7 million in net sales were recorded for this extra week in fiscal 2012. Comparable store sales for the 52-week period ended February 1, 2014, remained flat as compared to the 52-week period ended February 2, 2013.

 

Gross Profit

 

Gross profit increased $1.8 million to $259.3 million in fiscal 2013. The gross profit margin in fiscal 2013 decreased to 29.3% from 30.1% in the prior fiscal year. Our merchandise margin decreased 0.4% while buying, distribution and occupancy costs, as a percentage of sales, increased 0.4%. Buying, distribution and occupancy costs increased approximately $6.3 million during fiscal 2013 as compared to the prior fiscal year primarily as a result of the operation of additional store locations.

 

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $6.7 million in fiscal 2013 to $215.7 million. Significant changes in expense between the comparative periods included the following:

 

·

We incurred an additional $10.6 million of expense during fiscal 2013, as compared to the prior fiscal year, in the operation of new stores. This increase was net of expense reductions for stores that have closed since the beginning of fiscal 2012.

 

·

Incentive compensation, inclusive of stock-based compensation, decreased $4.5 million in fiscal 2013 as compared to fiscal 2012 when our financial performance drove material increases in performance-based compensation.

 

·

In connection with his retirement, we paid a one-time retirement and severance payment of $1.4 million to our former President and Chief Executive Officer in October 2012, which was included as incentive compensation in selling, general and administrative expenses. Also included were incentive compensation expense reductions of approximately $154,000 in fiscal 2012 to reflect the forfeiture of certain of his non-vested restricted stock awards.

 

In fiscal 2013, pre-opening costs included in selling, general and administrative expenses were $2.1 million, or 0.2% as a percentage of sales, as compared to $2.7 million, or 0.3% as a percentage of sales, for fiscal 2012. We opened 32 stores during fiscal 2013 at an average cost of $66,000 as compared to 31 stores last year at an average cost of $88,000. Pre-opening costs, such as advertising, payroll and supplies, incurred prior to the opening of a new store are charged to expense in the period in which they are incurred. The total amount of pre-opening expense incurred will vary by store depending on the specific market and the promotional activities involved. The decrease in the average expenditures per new store was primarily the result of decreases in the expenditures for onsite training and support and advertising.

 

The portion of store closing costs and non-cash asset impairment charges included in selling, general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2013 was $1.2 million or 0.1% as a percentage of sales. These costs related to the closing of seven stores, non-cash asset impairment of certain underperforming stores and acceleration of expenses associated with management’s determination to close a store in fiscal 2014. The portion of store closing costs and non-cash asset impairment charges included in selling, general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2012 was $646,000, or 0.1% as a percentage of sales. These costs related to the closing of seven stores, non-cash asset impairment of certain underperforming stores and acceleration of expenses associated with management’s determination to close certain underperforming stores in future periods. The timing and actual amount of expense recorded in closing a store can vary significantly depending, in part, on the period in which management commits to a closing plan, the remaining basis in the fixed assets to be disposed of at closing and the amount of any lease buyout.

 

Income Taxes

 

The effective income tax rate for fiscal 2013 was 38.2% as compared to 39.2% for fiscal 2012. Our provision for income tax expense is based on the current estimate of our annual effective tax rate and is adjusted as necessary for quarterly events. The decrease in our effective tax rate between comparative periods was primarily due to the non-deductible portion of compensation attributable to the retirement of our former President and Chief Executive Officer during fiscal 2012.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Our sources and uses of cash are summarized as follows:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Net income		$	25,527			$	26,871			$	29,338
Depreciation and amortization			20,063				17,428				15,955
Deferred income taxes			(550	)			(721	)			(3,347	)
Lease incentives			8,307				8,112				7,189
Changes in operating assets and liabilities			3,209				(17,950	)			(27,396	)
Other operating activities			1,098				4,880				4,111
Net cash provided by operating activities			57,654				38,620				25,850
Net cash used in investing activities			(32,457	)			(30,766	)			(25,777	)
Net cash used in financing activities			(12,074	)			(5,357	)			(24,919	)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		$	13,123			$	2,497			$	(24,846	)

 

We anticipate that our existing cash and cash flows from operations will be sufficient to fund our planned store expansion along with other capital expenditures, working capital needs, potential dividend payments, potential share repurchases under our share repurchase program, and various other commitments and obligations, as they arise, for at least the next 12 months.

 

Cash Flow - Operating Activities

 

Our net cash provided by operating activities was $57.7 million in fiscal 2014 as compared to $38.6 million in fiscal 2013. These amounts reflect our income from operations adjusted for non-cash items and working capital changes. Working capital increased to $276.0 million at January 31, 2015, from $264.9 million at February 1, 2014. The current ratio was 4.3 at January 31, 2015, and 4.4 at February 1, 2014.

 

Cash Flow - Investing Activities

 

Our cash outflows for investing activities were primarily for capital expenditures. During fiscal 2014, we expended $33.5 million for the purchase of property and equipment, of which $27.2 million was for the construction and fixturing of new stores, remodeling and relocations. During fiscal 2013, we expended $31.0 million for the purchase of property and equipment, of which $26.3 million was for construction of new stores, remodeling and relocations.

The remaining capital expenditures in both periods were for continued investments in technology and normal asset replacement activities.

 

Cash Flow - Financing Activities

 

Cash outflows for financing activities have represented cash dividend payments and share repurchases. Shares of our common stock can be either acquired as part of a publicly announced repurchase program or withheld by us in connection with employee payroll tax withholding upon the vesting of restricted stock awards. Historically, our cash inflows from financing activities have represented proceeds from the issuance of shares as a result of stock option exercises. Since fiscal 2008, no stock options have been issued. The number and value of stock options remaining outstanding as of the end of fiscal 2014 will not result in a material amount of cash inflows when exercised.

 

During fiscal 2014, net cash used in financing activities was $12.1 million as compared to net cash used in financing activities of $5.4 million during fiscal 2013. The increase in cash used in financing activities was primarily attributable to the $7.5 million of common stock repurchased under our share repurchase program in fiscal 2014. There were no repurchases under the share repurchase program in fiscal 2013.

 

Store Openings and Closings – Fiscal 2014

 

We utilize a formalized review process in our evaluation of potential new store sites as well as for decisions surrounding leases on existing store locations. Our approach is both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. We look to continually enhance this process and during fiscal 2014, we incorporated additional real estate specific software tools for portfolio analysis. With the incorporation of these additional tools, we believe our process will be enhanced in regards to identifying the best possible locations for future expansion and identifying potential store closings and relocations that will enable us to realize positive long-term financial performance of our portfolio.

 

In fiscal 2014, we opened 31 new stores. On a per-store basis, the initial inventory investment for stores opened in the continental United States averaged $646,000, capital expenditures averaged $514,000 and lease incentives received from landlords averaged $208,000. On a per-store basis, the initial inventory investment for our new stores in Puerto Rico averaged $856,000, capital expenditures averaged $1.3 million and lease incentives received from landlords averaged $287,000.

 

Pre-opening expenses, including rent, freight, advertising, salaries and supplies, totaled approximately $3.7 million for fiscal 2014, or an average of $118,000 per store. During fiscal 2013 we opened 32 new stores and expended $3.4 million, or an average of $107,000 per store. The increase in the average expenditures per new store was primarily the result of an increase in pre-opening rent.

 

We closed seven stores during both fiscal 2014 and 2013, expending approximately $232,000 and $375,000, respectively, in each fiscal year. The timing and actual amount of expense recorded in closing an individual store can vary significantly depending, in part, on the period in which management commits to a closing plan, the remaining basis in the fixed assets to be disposed of at closing and the cost incurred in terminating the lease.

 

Capital Expenditures – Fiscal 2015

 

Capital expenditures are expected to be $23 million to $24 million in fiscal 2015. Of our total capital expenditures, between $9 million and $10 million is expected to be used for new store construction and fixturing, $600,000 will be used for store relocations and $6.5 million will be used to remodel approximately 6% of our existing store base. Lease incentives to be received from landlords are expected to range from approximately $6.0 million to $7.0 million. The remaining capital expenditures are expected to be incurred for various other store improvements, continued investments in technology and normal asset replacement activities. The actual amount of cash required for capital expenditures for store operations depends in part on the number of new stores opened and relocated, the amount of lease incentives, if any, received from landlords and the number of stores remodeled. The number of new store openings and relocations will be dependent upon, among other things, the availability of desirable locations, and the negotiation of acceptable lease terms and general economic and business conditions affecting consumer spending in areas we target for expansion.

 

Store Openings and Closings – Fiscal 2015

 

Our current store prototype for stores located in the continental United States uses between 8,000 and 12,000 square feet depending upon, among other factors, the location of the store and the population base the store is expected to service. Capital invested in these fiscal 2015 new stores is expected to average approximately $464,000 with landlord incentives averaging $200,000. The average initial inventory investment is expected to range from $450,000 to $550,000 depending on the size and sales expectation of the store and the timing of the new store opening. During fiscal 2015, we anticipate opening between 18 and 22 new stores and relocating two store locations.

 

Pre-opening expenses, such as rent, freight, advertising, salaries and supplies, are expected to average approximately $137,000 per store in fiscal 2015. This represents an increase of $19,000 over our average fiscal 2014 expenditure and is primarily the result of an anticipated increase in onsite training and advertising.

 

As we enter fiscal 2015, we currently expect to close 11 stores. Depending upon the results of lease negotiations with certain landlords of underperforming stores, we may increase the number of store closures in future periods. The timing and actual amount of expense recorded in closing a store can vary significantly depending, in part, on the period in which management commits to a closing plan, the remaining basis in the fixed assets to be disposed of at closing and the cost incurred in terminating the lease. We will continue to review our annual store growth rate based on our view of the internal and external opportunities and challenges in the marketplace.

 

Dividends

 

Our Board of Directors approved the payment of our first-ever quarterly cash dividend to our shareholders during the second quarter of fiscal 2012.  The initial dividend was followed by the approval and payment of two additional quarterly dividends during fiscal 2012, each in the amount of $0.05 per share of common stock.  Additionally, our Board of Directors approved the payment of a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share of common stock during December 2012. 

 

In both fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2013, four quarterly cash dividends, each in the amount of $0.06 per share, were approved and paid. During fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2013, we returned $4.8 million and $4.9 million, respectively, in cash to our shareholders through our quarterly dividends.

 

The declaration and payment of any future dividends are at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will depend on our results of operations, financial condition, business conditions and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. Our credit agreement permits the payment of dividends as long as the dividends distributed do not exceed 30% of our consolidated net income for the preceding fiscal year, and in no event may the total distributions in any fiscal year exceed 25% of the prior year’s ending net worth. The lenders under our credit agreement consented to the payment of the special cash dividend in December 2012, which was in excess of the amount of dividends otherwise permitted to be made under our credit agreement.

 

Share Repurchase Program

 

On December 11, 2014, our Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program for up to $25 million of our outstanding common stock, effective January 1, 2015. The purchases may be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions, from time-to-time through December 31, 2015, and in accordance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. The program may be amended, suspended or discontinued at any time and does not commit us to repurchase shares of our common stock. We intend to fund share repurchase programs from cash on hand and any shares acquired will be available for stock-based compensation awards and other corporate purposes. The actual number and value of the shares to be purchased will depend on the performance of our stock price and other market conditions. As of January 31, 2015, no shares had been repurchased under the new share repurchase program.

The new share repurchase program replaced the prior $25 million share repurchase program that was authorized in August 2010 and expired in accordance with its terms on December 31, 2014. At its expiration, we had repurchased approximately 625,000 shares at an aggregate cost of $12.2 million under the prior repurchase program.

Contractual Obligations

 

Significant contractual obligations as of January 31, 2015 and the fiscal years in which payments are due include:

 

(In thousands)		Payments Due By Fiscal Year
Contractual Obligations		Total				2015				2016 & 2017				2018 & 2019				2020 and after
Letters of credit		$	3,061			$	3,061			$	—			$	—			$	—
Operating leases			422,579				61,057				123,244				100,666				137,612
Purchase commitments			350,734				350,442				292				—				—
Deferred compensation			9,901				19				2				—				9,880
Total contractual obligations		$	786,275			$	414,579			$	123,538			$	100,666			$	147,492

 

Our unsecured credit agreement provides for up to $50.0 million in cash advances and commercial and standby letters of credit with borrowing limits based on eligible inventory. It contains covenants which stipulate: (1) Total Shareholders’ Equity, adjusted for the effect of any share repurchases, will not fall below that of the prior fiscal year-end; (2) the ratio of funded debt plus rent to EBITDA plus rent will not exceed 2.5 to 1.0; and (3) cash dividends for a fiscal year will not exceed 30% of consolidated net income for the immediately preceding fiscal year, and in no event may the total distributions in any fiscal year exceed 25% of the prior year’s ending net worth. We were in compliance with these covenants as of January 31, 2015. Should a default condition be reported, the lenders may preclude additional borrowings and call all loans and accrued interest at their discretion. There were no borrowings outstanding under the credit facility and letters of credit outstanding were $3.1 million at January 31, 2015. Estimated interest payments on our line of credit are not included in the above table as our line of credit provides for frequent borrowing and/or repayment activities, which does not lend itself to reliable forecasting for disclosure purposes. As of January 31, 2015, $46.9 million was available to us for additional borrowings under the credit facility.

 

For purposes of our contractual obligations table above, we have assumed that we will make all payments scheduled or reasonably estimated to be made under those obligations that have a determinable expiration date. We have disregarded the possibility that such obligations may be prematurely terminated or extended, whether automatically by the terms of the obligation or by agreement between us and the counterparty, due to the speculative nature of premature termination or extension. Except for operating leases, the balances included in the “2020 and after” column of the contractual obligations table includes amounts where we are not able to reasonably estimate the timing of the potential future payments.

 

See Note 5 – “Long-Term Debt”, Note 6 – “Leases”, Note 7 – “Income Taxes” and Note 8 – “Employee Benefit Plans” to our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in PART II, ITEM 8 of this report for a further discussion of our contractual obligations.

 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

Except for operating leases entered into in the normal course of business, including leases for stores and equipment, we have not entered into any off-balance sheet arrangements during fiscal 2014 or fiscal 2013. See Note 6 – “Leases” to our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in PART II, ITEM 8 of this report for further discussion of our lease obligations.

Seasonality

 

Our quarterly results of operations have fluctuated, and are expected to continue to fluctuate in the future, primarily as a result of seasonal variances and the timing of sales and costs associated with opening new stores. Non-capital expenditures, such as advertising and payroll, incurred prior to the opening of a new store are charged to expense as incurred. Therefore, our results of operations may be adversely affected in any quarter in which we incur pre-opening expenses related to the opening of new stores.

 

We have three distinct peak selling periods: Easter, back-to-school and Christmas. To prepare for our peak shopping seasons, we must order and keep in stock significantly more merchandise than we would carry during other parts of the year. Any unanticipated decrease in demand for our products during these peak shopping seasons could require us to sell excess inventory at a substantial markdown, which could reduce our net sales and gross margins and negatively affect our profitability. Our operating results depend significantly upon the sales generated during these periods.

 

New Accounting Pronouncements

Recent accounting pronouncements applicable to our operations are contained in Note 2 – “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” contained in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in PART II, item 8 of this report.

 

ITEM 7A.  QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

We are exposed to market risk in that the interest payable on our credit facility is based on variable interest rates and therefore is affected by changes in market rates. We do not use interest rate derivative instruments to manage exposure to changes in market interest rates. We had no borrowings under our credit facility during fiscal 2014 or fiscal 2013.

 

ITEM 8.    FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

The information required by this item appears beginning on page 32.

 

 

 

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

 

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Evansville, Indiana

 

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Shoe Carnival, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014, and the related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for the three years in the period ended January 31, 2015. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15. These financial statements and financial statement schedule are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial statements and financial statement schedule based on our audits.

 

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

 

In our opinion, such consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Shoe Carnival, Inc. and subsidiaries as of January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 31, 2015, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, such financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial statements taken as a whole, present fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein.

 

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2015, based on the criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated April 16, 2015 expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

 

Indianapolis, Indiana

April 16, 2015

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except share data)

 

 

		January 31, 2015				February 1, 2014
Assets
Current Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	61,376			$	48,253
Accounts receivable			2,928				4,337
Merchandise inventories			287,877				284,801
Deferred income taxes			957				1,208
Other			5,991				3,916
Total Current Assets			359,129				342,515
Property and equipment – net			101,294				90,193
Deferred income taxes			4,227				3,426
Other noncurrent assets			366				717
Total Assets		$	465,016			$	436,851
Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity
Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable		$	67,999			$	62,671
Accrued and other liabilities			15,123				14,988
Total Current Liabilities			83,122				77,659
Deferred lease incentives			29,908				24,430
Accrued rent			10,505				9,224
Deferred compensation			9,901				8,232
Other			382				434
Total Liabilities			133,818				119,979
Shareholders’ Equity:
Common stock, $.01 par value, 50,000,000 shares authorized,
20,673,234 and 20,482,185 shares issued, respectively			207				205
Additional paid-in capital			67,389				66,600
Retained earnings			270,686				250,070
Treasury stock, at cost, 380,890 and 114 shares, respectively			(7,084	)			(3	)
Total Shareholders’ Equity			331,198				316,872
Total Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity		$	465,016			$	436,851

 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Income
(In thousands, except per share data)

 

 

		January 31, 2015				February 1, 2014				February 2, 2013
Net sales		$	940,162			$	884,785			$	854,998
Cost of sales (including buying,
distribution and occupancy costs)			666,483				625,468				597,521
Gross profit			273,679				259,317				257,477
Selling, general and administrative expenses			231,826				215,650				208,983
Operating income			41,853				43,667				48,494
Interest income			(14	)			(12	)			(32	)
Interest expense			165				173				273
Income before income taxes			41,702				43,506				48,253
Income tax expense			16,175				16,635				18,915
Net income		$	25,527			$	26,871			$	29,338
Net income per share:
Basic		$	1.27			$	1.33			$	1.44
Diluted		$	1.27			$	1.32			$	1.43
Weighted average shares:
Basic			19,777				19,926				19,911
Diluted			19,791				19,947				19,972

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity
(In thousands)

 

 

		Common Stock												Additional Paid-In				Retained				Treasury
		Issued				Treasury				Amount				Capital				Earnings				Stock				Total
Balance at
January 28, 2012			20,478				(391	)		$	205			$	67,574			$	222,235			$	(6,330	)		$	283,684
Stock option exercises							233								(1,598	)							3,817				2,219
Dividends paid ($1.15 per share)																			(23,460	)							(23,460	)
Stock-based compensation
income tax benefit															1,402												1,402
Employee stock purchase
plan purchases							11								16								185				201
Restricted stock awards			(13	)			244								(4,561	)							4,561				0
Shares surrendered by employees
to pay taxes on restricted stock							(2	)															(41	)			(41	)
Purchase of common stock for
Treasury							(219	)															(4,675	)			(4,675	)
Stock-based compensation
Expense															3,700												3,700
Net income																			29,338								29,338
Balance at
February 2, 2013			20,465				(124	)			205				66,533				228,113				(2,483	)			292,368
Stock option exercises			6				1								54								15				69
Dividends ($0.24 per share)																			(4,914	)							(4,914	)
Stock-based compensation
income tax benefit															199												199
Employee stock purchase
plan purchases			5				5								113								96				209
Restricted stock awards			6				164								(3,322	)							3,322				0
Shares surrendered by employees
to pay taxes on restricted stock							(46	)															(953	)			(953	)
Stock-based compensation
expense															3,023												3,023
Net income																			26,871								26,871
Balance at
February 1, 2014			20,482				0				205				66,600				250,070				(3	)			316,872
Stock option exercises			6				(4	)							1								76				77
Dividends ($0.24 per share)																			(4,911	)							(4,911	)
Stock-based compensation
income tax benefit															68												68
Employee stock purchase
plan purchases			2				(9	)							37								173				210
Restricted stock awards			183				(13	)			2 2				(260	)							258				0
Shares surrendered by employees
to pay taxes on restricted stock							2																(55	)			(55	)
Purchase of common stock for
Treasury							405																(7,533	)			(7,533	)
Stock-based compensation
expense															943												943
Net income																			25,527								25,527
Balance at
January 31, 2015			20,673				381			$	207			$	67,389			$	270,686			$	(7,084	)		$	331,198

 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(In thousands)

 

 

		January 31, 2015				February 1, 2014				February 2, 2013
Cash Flows From Operating Activities
Net income		$	25,527			$	26,871			$	29,338
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net
cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization			20,063				17,428				15,955
Stock-based compensation			1,064				3,295				4,049
Net loss on retirement and impairment of assets			1,104				1,180				628
Deferred income taxes			(550	)			(721	)			(3,347	)
Lease incentives			8,307				8,112				7,189
Other			(1,070	)			405				(566	)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable			1,409				(2,135	)			470
Merchandise inventories			(3,076	)			(12,519	)			(34,627	)
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities			6,838				(4,158	)			9,269
Other			(1,962	)			862				(2,508	)
Net cash provided by operating activities			57,654				38,620				25,850
Cash Flows From Investing Activities
Purchases of property and equipment			(33,543	)			(30,966	)			(25,977	)
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment			836				0				0
Proceeds from note receivable			250				200				200
Net cash used in investing activities			(32,457	)			(30,766	)			(25,777	)
Cash Flow From Financing Activities
Proceeds from issuance of stock			287				278				2,420
Dividends paid			(4,828	)			(4,867	)			(23,460	)
Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation			55				185				837
Purchase of common stock for treasury			(7,533	)			0				(4,675	)
Shares surrendered by employees to pay taxes on restricted stock			(55	)			(953	)			(41	)
Net cash used in financing activities			(12,074	)			(5,357	)			(24,919	)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents			13,123				2,497				(24,846	)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year			48,253				45,756				70,602
Cash and Cash Equivalents at End of Year		$	61,376			$	48,253			$	45,756
Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information:
Cash paid during year for interest		$	166			$	179			$	270
Cash paid during year for income taxes		$	17,618			$	16,892			$	22,793
Capital expenditures incurred but not yet paid		$	1,596			$	2,034			$	1,562

 

 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

 

Note 1 – Organization and Description of Business

Our consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Shoe Carnival, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries SCHC, Inc. and Shoe Carnival Ventures, LLC, and SCLC, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SCHC, Inc. (collectively referred to as “we”, “our” or “us”). All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Our primary activity is the sale of footwear and related products through our retail stores in 33 states within the continental United States and in Puerto Rico. We also offer online shopping on our e-commerce site at www.shoecarnival.com.

 

Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Fiscal Year

Our fiscal year is a 52/53 week year ending on the Saturday closest to January 31. Unless otherwise stated, references to years 2014, 2013, and 2012 relate respectively to the fiscal years ended January 31, 2015, February 1, 2014, and February 2, 2013. Fiscal year 2012 consisted of 53 weeks and the other fiscal years consisted of 52 weeks.

 

Use of Estimates in the Preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements

 

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of certain assets and liabilities as of the financial statement reporting date in addition to the reported amounts of certain revenues and expenses for the reporting period.  The assumptions used by management in future estimates could change significantly due to changes in circumstances and actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents

We had cash and cash equivalents of $61.4 million at January 31, 2015 and $48.3 million at February 1, 2014. Credit and debit card receivables and receivables due from a third-party totaling $7.0 million and $4.4 million were included in cash equivalents at January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014, respectively. Credit and debit card receivables generally settle within three days; receivables due from a third-party generally settle within 15 days.

 

We consider all short-term investments with an original maturity date of three months or less to be cash equivalents. As of January 31, 2015, and February 1, 2014, all invested cash was held in a money market account. While investments are not considered by management to be at significant risk, they could be impacted if the underlying financial institutions fail or are subject to other adverse conditions in the financial markets. To date, we have experienced no loss or lack of access to either invested cash or cash held in our bank accounts.

 

Fair Value of Financial Instruments and Non-Financial Assets

 

Our financial assets as of January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014 included cash and cash equivalents. The carrying value of cash and cash equivalents approximates fair value due to its short-term nature. We did not have any financial liabilities measured at fair value for these periods. Non-financial assets measured at fair value included on our consolidated balance sheet as of January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014 were those long-lived assets for which an impairment charge has been recorded. We did not have any non-financial liabilities measured at fair value for these periods. See Note 3 – “Fair Value Measurements” for further discussion.

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – continued

 

 

Merchandise Inventories and Cost of Sales

 

Merchandise inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market (LCM) using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method. For determining market value, we estimate the future demand and related sale price of merchandise contained in inventory as of the balance sheet date. The stated value of merchandise inventories contained on our consolidated balance sheets also includes freight, certain capitalized overhead costs and reserves. Factors considered in determining if our inventory is properly stated at LCM includes, among others, recent sale prices, the length of time merchandise has been held in inventory, quantities of various styles held in inventory, seasonality of merchandise, expected consideration to be received from our vendors and current and expected future sales trends. We reduce the value of our inventory to its estimated net realizable value where cost exceeds the estimated future selling price. Material changes in the factors previously noted could have a significant impact on the actual net realizable value of our inventory and our reported operating results.

 

Cost of sales includes the cost of merchandise sold, buying, distribution, and occupancy costs, inbound freight expense, provision for inventory obsolescence, inventory shrink and credits and allowances from merchandise vendors. Cost of sales related to our e-commerce orders include charges paid to a third party service provider in addition to the freight expense for delivering merchandise to our customer.

 

Property and Equipment-Net

 

Property and equipment is stated at cost. Depreciation and amortization of property, equipment and leasehold improvements are taken on the straight-line method over the shorter of the estimated useful lives of the assets or the applicable lease terms. Lives used in computing depreciation and amortization range from two to twenty years. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are charged to expense as incurred. Expenditures that materially increase values, improve capacities or extend useful lives are capitalized. Upon sale or retirement, the costs and related accumulated depreciation or amortization are eliminated from the respective accounts and any resulting gain or loss is included in operations.

 

We periodically evaluate our long-lived assets if events or circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. The carrying value of long-lived assets is considered impaired when the carrying value of the assets exceeds the expected future cash flows to be derived from their use. Assets are grouped, and the evaluation performed, at the lowest level for which there are identifiable cash flows, which is generally at a store level. If the estimated future cash flows for a store are determined to be less than the carrying value of the store’s assets, an impairment loss is recorded for the difference between estimated fair value and carrying value. Assets subject to impairment are adjusted to estimated fair value and, if applicable, an impairment loss is recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses. We estimate the fair value of our long-lived assets using store specific cash flow assumptions discounted by a rate commensurate with the risk involved with such assets while incorporating marketplace assumptions. Our assumptions and estimates used in the evaluation of impairment, including current and future economic trends for stores, are subject to a high degree of judgment. If actual operating results or market conditions differ from those anticipated, the carrying value of certain of our assets may prove unrecoverable and we may incur additional impairment charges in the future. Our evaluations resulted in the recording of non-cash impairment charges of $1,000,000, $947,000 and $425,000 in fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

 

Insurance Reserves

 

We self-insure a significant portion of our workers’ compensation, general liability and employee health care costs and also maintain insurance in each area of risk, protecting us from individual and aggregate losses over specified dollar values. We review the liability reserved for our self-insured portions on a quarterly basis, taking into consideration a number of factors, including historical claims experience, severity factors, statistical trends and, in certain instances, valuation assistance provided by independent third parties. Self-insurance reserves include estimates of claims filed, carried at their expected ultimate settlement value, and claims incurred but not yet reported. As of January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014, our self-insurance reserves totaled $2.9 million for both years. While we believe that the recorded amounts are adequate, there can be no assurance that changes to

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

management’s estimates will not occur due to limitations inherent in the estimating process. If actual results are not consistent with our estimates or assumptions, we may be exposed to losses or gains that could be material.

 

Deferred Lease Incentives

 

All cash incentives received from landlords are recorded as deferred income and amortized over the life of the lease on a straight-line basis as a reduction of rental expense.

 

Accrued Rent

 

We are party to various lease agreements, which require scheduled rent increases over the initial lease term. Rent expense for such leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the initial lease term beginning the earlier of the start date of the lease or when we take possession of the property. The difference between rent based upon scheduled monthly payments and rent expense recognized on a straight-line basis is recorded as accrued rent.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

Revenue from sales of merchandise at our store locations is recognized at the time of sale. We record revenue from our e-commerce sales, including shipping and handling fees, based on an estimated customer receipt date. Our sales are recorded exclusive of sales tax. In the regular course of business, we offer our customers sales incentives including coupons, discounts, and free merchandise. Sales are recorded net of such incentives and returns and allowances. If an incentive involves free merchandise, that merchandise is recorded as a zero sale and the cost is included in cost of sales. Gift card revenue is recognized at the time of redemption.

 

Consideration Received From a Vendor

Consideration is primarily received from merchandise vendors. Consideration is either recorded as a reduction of the price paid for the vendor’s products and recorded as a reduction of our cost of sales or if the consideration represents a reimbursement of a specific, incremental and identifiable cost then it is recorded as an offset to the same financial statement line item.

 

Consideration received from our vendors includes co-operative advertising/promotion, margin assistance, damage allowances and rebates earned for a specific level of purchases over a defined period. Consideration principally takes the form of credits that we can apply against trade amounts owed.

 

Consideration received after the related merchandise has been sold is recorded as an offset to cost of sales in the period negotiations are finalized. For consideration received on merchandise still in inventory, the allowance is recorded as a reduction to the cost of on-hand inventory and recorded as a reduction of our cost of sales at the time of sale. Allowances received from vendors representing a reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs are offset to the same financial statement line item. Should the allowances received exceed the incremental cost then the excess consideration is recorded as a reduction to the cost of on-hand inventory and allocated to cost of sales in future periods utilizing an average inventory turn rate.

 

Store Opening and Start-up Costs

 

Non-capital expenditures, such as advertising, payroll and supplies, incurred prior to the opening of a new store are charged to expense in the period they are incurred.

 

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Advertising Costs

Print, television, radio, outdoor and digital media costs are generally expensed when incurred. Internal production costs are expensed when incurred and external production costs are expensed in the period the advertisement first takes place. Advertising expenses included in selling, general and administrative expenses were $41.6 million, $37.6 million and $37.4 million in fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

 

Stock-Based Compensation

 

We recognize compensation expense for stock-based awards based on the fair value of the awards. Stock-based awards may include stock options, stock appreciation rights, and restricted stock awards under our stock-based compensation plans. Additionally, we recognize stock-based compensation expense for the discount on shares sold to employees through our employee stock purchase plan. This discount represents the difference between the market price and the employee purchase price. Stock-based compensation expense is included in selling, general and administrative expense.

 

We apply an estimated forfeiture rate in calculating the stock-based compensation expense for the period. Forfeiture estimates are adjusted periodically based on the extent to which actual forfeitures differ, or are expected to differ, from previous estimates.

 

Segment Information

 

We have identified each retail store and our e-commerce store as individual operating segments. Our operating segments have been aggregated and are reported as one reportable segment based on the similar nature of products sold, merchandising and distribution processes involved, target customers and economic characteristics.

 

Income Taxes

 

We compute income taxes using the asset and liability method, under which deferred income taxes are provided for the temporary differences between the financial reporting basis and the tax basis of our assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets are reduced, if necessary, by a valuation allowance to the extent future realization of those tax benefits are uncertain. We account for uncertain tax positions in accordance with current authoritative guidance and report a liability for unrecognized tax benefits resulting from uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. We recognize interest expense and penalties, if any, related to uncertain tax positions in income tax expense.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Net Income Per Share

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share as shown on the face of the accompanying consolidated statements of income.

 

		Fiscal Year Ended
		January 31, 2015												February 1, 2014												February 2, 2013
		(In thousands except per share data)
Basic Earnings per Share:		Net Income				Shares				Per Share Amount				Net Income				Shares				Per Share Amount				Net Income				Shares				Per Share Amount
Net income		$	25,527											$	26,871											$	29,338
Amount allocated to participating securities			(461	)											(468	)											(698	)
Net income available for basic common shares and basic earnings per share		$	25,066				19,777			$	1.27			$	26,403				19,926			$	1.33			$	28,640				19,911			$	1.44
Diluted Earnings per Share:
Net income		$	25,527											$	26,871											$	29,338
Amount allocated to participating securities			(461	)											(468	)											(698	)
Adjustment for dilutive potential common shares			0				14								1				21								0				61
Net income available for diluted common shares and diluted earnings per share		$	25,066				19,791			$	1.27			$	26,404				19,947			$	1.32			$	28,640				19,972			$	1.43

 

Our basic and diluted earnings per share are computed using the two-class method. The two-class method is an earnings allocation that determines net income per share for each class of common stock and participating securities according to their participation rights in dividends and undistributed earnings or losses. Non-vested restricted stock awards that include non-forfeitable rights to dividends are considered participating securities. During periods of undistributed losses however, no effect is given to our participating securities since they do not share in the losses. Per share amounts are computed by dividing net income available to common shareholders by the weighted average shares outstanding during each period. No options to purchase shares of common stock were excluded in the computation of diluted shares for the periods presented.

 

New Accounting Pronouncements

 

In April 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance, which includes amendments that change the requirements for reporting discontinued operations and require additional disclosures about discontinued operations. Under the new guidance, only disposals representing a strategic shift in operations that have, or will have, a major effect on the organization’s operations and financial results should be presented as discontinued operations. Additionally, this guidance requires expanded disclosures about discontinued operations that will provide financial statement users with more information about the assets, liabilities, income, and expenses of discontinued operations. The standard is applied prospectively and is effective for public entities beginning in annual periods after December 15, 2014, and interim periods within those years, with early adoption permitted. We adopted the guidance in the first quarter of 2014. This adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

In May 2014, the FASB issued guidance on the recognition of revenue for all contracts with customers designed to improve comparability and enhance financial statement disclosures. The underlying principle of this comprehensive model is that revenue is recognized to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the payment to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

guidance will take effect for public companies for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim reporting periods, with early adoption not permitted. We are currently in the process of evaluating the impact of this guidance on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

 

Note 3 – Fair Value Measurements

 

The accounting standards related to fair value measurements define fair value and provide a consistent framework for measuring fair value under the authoritative literature. Valuation techniques are based on observable and unobservable inputs. Observable inputs reflect readily obtainable data from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect market assumptions. This guidance only applies when other standards require or permit the fair value measurement of assets and liabilities. The guidance does not expand the use of fair value measurements. A fair value hierarchy was established, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value into three broad levels.

 

·

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities;

·

Level 2 – Observable market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data;

·

Level 3 – Significant unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market data. Generally, these fair value measures are model-based valuation techniques such as discounted cash flows, and are based on the best information available, including our own data. Fair values of our long-lived assets are estimated using an income-based approach and are classified within Level 3 of the valuation hierarchy.

 

The following table presents assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis at January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014. We have no material liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring or non-recurring basis.

 

		Fair Value Measurements
(In thousands)		Level 1				Level 2				Level 3				Total
As of January 31, 2015:
Cash equivalents – money market account		$	5,2799			$	0			$	0			$	5,279
As of February 1, 2014:
Cash equivalents– money market account		$	10,2699			$	0			$	0			$	10,269

The fair values of cash, receivables, accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities approximate their carrying values because of their short-term nature. From time to time, we measure certain assets at fair value on a non-recurring basis, specifically long-lived assets evaluated for impairment. These are typically store specific assets, which are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that recoverability of their carrying value is questionable. If the expected future cash flows related to a store’s assets are less than their carrying value, an impairment loss would be recognized for the difference between estimated fair value and carrying value and recorded in selling, general and administrative expenses. We estimate the fair value of store assets using an income-based approach considering the cash flows expected over the remaining lease term for each location. These projections are primarily based on management’s estimates of store-level sales, gross margins, direct expenses, exercise of future lease renewal options and resulting cash flows and, by their nature, include judgments about how current initiatives will impact future performance. External factors, such as the local environment in which the store resides, including strip-mall traffic and competition, are evaluated in terms of their effect on sales trends. Changes in sales and operating income assumptions or unfavorable changes in external factors can significantly impact the estimated future cash flows. An increase or decrease in the projected cash flow can significantly decrease or increase the fair value of these assets, which would have an effect on the impairment recorded.

 

During the fifty-two weeks ended January 31, 2015, long-lived assets held and used with a gross carrying amount of $4.3 million were written down to their fair value of $3.3 million, resulting in an impairment charge of

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

$1.0 million, which was included in earnings for the period. Subsequent to this impairment, these long-lived assets had a remaining unamortized basis of $1.2 million. During the fifty-two weeks ended February 1, 2014, long-lived assets held and used with a gross carrying amount of $4.3 million were written down to their fair value of $3.4 million, resulting in an impairment charge of $947,000, which was included in earnings for the period. Subsequent to this impairment, these long-lived assets had a remaining unamortized basis of $883,000.

 

Note 4 – Property and Equipment-Net

The following is a summary of property and equipment:

 

(In thousands)		January 31, 2015				February 1, 2014
Furniture, fixtures and equipment		$	142,060			$	135,057
Leasehold improvements			98,421				85,786
Total			240,481				220,843
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization			(139,187	)			(130,650	)
Property and equipment – net		$	101,294			$	90,193

 

Note 5 – Long-Term Debt

 

On April 10, 2013 we amended our current unsecured credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) to extend the expiration date by five years and renegotiated certain terms and conditions. The Credit Agreement continues to provide for up to $50.0 million in cash advances and commercial and standby letters of credit with borrowing limits based on eligible inventory.

 

The Credit Agreement contains covenants which stipulate: (1) Total Shareholders’ Equity, adjusted for the effect of any share repurchases, will not fall below that of the prior fiscal year-end; (2) the ratio of funded debt plus rent to EBITDA plus rent will not exceed 2.5 to 1.0; and, (3) cash dividends for a fiscal year will not exceed 30% of consolidated net income for the immediately preceding fiscal year, and in no event may the total distributions in any fiscal year exceed 25% of the prior year’s ending net worth. Should a default condition be reported, the lenders may preclude additional borrowings and call all loans and accrued interest at their discretion. As of January 31, 2015, there were $3.1 million in letters of credit outstanding and $46.9 million available to us for borrowing under the Credit Agreement.

 

The credit facility bears interest, at our option, at (1) the agent bank’s prime rate as defined in the Credit Agreement plus 1% with the prime rate defined as the lesser of (a) the Federal Fund rate plus 0.50% or (b) the interest rate announced from time to time by the agent bank as its “prime rate” on commercial loans or (2) LIBOR plus 1.50% to 3.0%, depending on our achievement of certain performance criteria. A commitment fee is charged at 0.25% to 0.40% per annum, depending on our achievement of certain performance criteria, on the unused portion of the bank group’s commitment. The Credit Agreement expires April 10, 2018.

 

Note 6 – Leases

 

We lease all of our retail locations and certain equipment under operating leases expiring at various dates through fiscal 2026. Various lease agreements require scheduled rent increases over the initial lease term. Rent expense for such leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the initial lease term beginning the earlier of the start date of the lease or when we take possession of the property. The difference between rent based upon scheduled monthly payments and rent expense recognized on a straight-line basis is recorded as accrued rent. All incentives received from landlords are recorded as deferred income and amortized over the life of the lease on a straight-line basis as a reduction of rental expense.

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Certain leases provide for contingent rents that are not measurable at inception. These contingent rents are primarily based on a percentage of sales that are in excess of a predetermined level. These amounts are excluded from minimum rent and are included in the determination of total rent expense when it is probable that the expense has been incurred and the amount is reasonably estimable. Certain leases also contain escalation clauses for increases in operating costs and taxes.

 

We did not assign any store operating leases during fiscal 2014. The last two assignments of operating leases covering former store locations, which we assigned to third parties in prior years, expired during fiscal 2013.

 

Rental expense for our operating leases consisted of:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Rentals for real property		$	62,727			$	58,140			$	53,832
Contingent rent			59				189				189
Equipment rentals			66				83				110
Total		$	62,852			$	58,412			$	54,131

 

Future minimum lease payments at January 31, 2015 were as follows:

(In thousands)				Operating Leases
	2015			$	61,057
	2016				61,296
	2017				61,948
	2018				52,914
	2019				47,752
	Thereafter to 2026				137,612
	Total			$	422,579

 

Note 7 – Income Taxes

 

The provision for income taxes consisted of:

 

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Current:
Federal		$	14,575			$	15,366			$	19,581
State			1,800				1,805				2,601
Puerto Rico			350				185				79
Total current			16,725				17,356				22,261
Deferred:
Federal			(1,229	)			(139	)			(2,692	)
State			(115	)			(138	)			(304	)
Puerto Rico			(1,149	)			(444	)			(350	)
Total deferred			(2,493	)			(721	)			(3,346	)
Valuation allowance			1,943				0				0
Total provision		$	16,175			$	16,635			$	18,915

 

We realized a tax benefit of $69,000, $199,000 and $1.4 million in fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively, as a result of the exercise of stock options and the vesting of restricted stock, which is recorded in shareholders’ equity.

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Reconciliation between the statutory federal income tax rate and the effective income tax rate is as follows:

Fiscal years		2014				2013				2012
U.S. Federal statutory tax rate			35.0	%			35.0	%			35.0	%
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax benefit			3.1				3.8				4.8
Puerto Rico			0.2				(0.6	)			(0.6	)
Valuation allowance			4.7				0.0				0.0
Tax benefit on foreign losses			(4.3	)			0.0				0.0
Other			0.1				0.0				0.0
Effective income tax rate			38.8	%			38.2	%			39.2	%

 

We recorded $300,000, $346,000 and $162,000 in federal employment related tax credits in fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

 

Deferred income taxes are the result of temporary differences in the recognition of revenue and expense for tax and financial reporting purposes. The sources of these differences and the tax effect of each are as follows:

 

(In thousands)		January 31, 2015				February 1, 2014
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued rent		$	4,045			$	3,543
Accrued compensation			5,896				5,625
Accrued employee benefits			523				506
Inventory			740				411
Self-insurance reserves			592				593
Lease incentives			12,073				10,003
Net operating loss carry forward			1,943				449
Other			367				396
Total deferred tax assets			26,179				21,526
Valuation allowance			(1,943	)			0
Total deferred tax assets – net of valuation allowance			24,236				21,526
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation			17,767				15,265
Capitalized costs			1,284				1,180
Puerto Rico net operating loss carry forward impact to federal taxes			0				444
Other			1				3
Total deferred tax liabilities			19,052				16,892
Net deferred tax asset			5,184				4,634
Less current deferred income tax benefit			(957	)			(1,208	)
Long-term deferred income taxes		$	4,227			$	3,426

 

At the end of fiscal 2014, we estimated foreign net operating loss carry forwards of $5.1 million, which expire between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024. At January 31, 2015, we had a valuation allowance of $1.9 million. The valuation allowance relates to foreign net operating losses that would be realizable only upon the generation of future taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the losses were incurred.

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Our unrecognized tax liabilities presented below relate to tax years encompassing our fiscal years 1999 through 2014 for the tax years that remain subject to examination by major tax jurisdictions as of January 31, 2015. A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount for our unrecognized tax positions, which exclude interest and penalties, is as follows:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Beginning balance		$	0			$	69			$	69
Increases – tax positions in prior period			0				0				0
Decreases – tax positions in prior period			0				(69	)			0
Gross increases – current period tax positions			0				0				0
Decreases related to settlements with taxing authorities			0				0				0
Ending balance		$	0			$	0			$	69

 

As of January 31, 2015, we have recorded no unrecognized tax liabilities or related accrued penalties or interest in Other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Our policy is to record interest and penalty expense related to income taxes as a component of income tax expense in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

 

Note 8 – Employee Benefit Plans

 

Retirement Savings Plans

 

On February 24, 1994, our Board of Directors approved the Shoe Carnival Retirement Savings Plan (the “Domestic Savings Plan”).  The Domestic Savings Plan is open to all employees working in the continental United States who have been employed for at least one year, are at least 21 years of age and who work at least 1,000 hours in a defined year.  The primary savings mechanism under the Domestic Savings Plan is a 401(k) plan under which an employee may contribute up to 20% of annual earnings with us matching the first 4% at a rate of 50%.  Our contributions to the participants’ accounts become fully vested when the participant reaches their third anniversary of employment with us.  Contributions charged to expense were $639,000, $599,000, and $611,000 in fiscal years 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively.

 

On March 19, 2012, our Board of Directors approved the Shoe Carnival Puerto Rico Savings Plan (the “Puerto Rico Savings Plan”).  The Puerto Rico Savings Plan is open to all employees working in Puerto Rico who have been employed for at least one year, are at least 21 years of age and who work at least 1,000 hours in a defined year. This plan is similar to our Domestic Savings Plan whereby an employee may contribute up to 20% of his or her annual earnings, with us matching the first 4% at a rate of 50%.  Contributions charged to expense were $12,000 and $10,000 in fiscal years 2014 and 2013, respectively.

 

Stock Purchase Plan

 

On May 11, 1995, our shareholders approved the Shoe Carnival, Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “Stock Purchase Plan”) as adopted by our Board of Directors on February 9, 1995. The Stock Purchase Plan reserves 450,000 shares of our common stock (subject to adjustment for any subsequent stock splits, stock dividends and certain other changes in the common stock) for issuance and sale to any employee who has been employed for more than a year at the beginning of the calendar year, and who is not a 10% owner of our common stock, at 85% of the then fair market value up to a maximum of $5,000 in any calendar year. Under the Stock Purchase Plan, 11,000, 10,000 and 11,000 shares of common stock were purchased by participants in the plan and proceeds to us for the sale of those shares were approximately $209,000, $209,000 and $201,000 for fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. At January 31, 2015, there were 114,545 shares of unissued common stock reserved for future purchase under the Stock Purchase Plan.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

The following table summarizes information regarding stock-based compensation expense recognized for the Stock Purchase Plan:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Stock-based compensation expense before the recognized income tax benefit (1)		$	37			$	37			$	36
Income tax benefit		$	14			$	14			$	14

 

(1)  Amounts are representative of the 15% discount employees are provided for purchases under the Stock Purchase Plan.

 

Deferred Compensation Plan

In fiscal 2000, we established a non-qualified deferred compensation plan for certain key employees who, due to Internal Revenue Service guidelines, cannot take full advantage of the employer sponsored 401(k) plan. Participants in the plan elect on an annual basis to defer, on a pre-tax basis, portions of their current compensation until retirement, or earlier if so elected. While not required to, we can match a portion of the employees’ contributions, which would be subject to vesting requirements. The compensation deferred under this plan is credited with earnings or losses measured by the rate of return on investments elected by plan participants. The plan is currently unfunded. Compensation expense for our match and earnings on the deferred amounts was $856,000, $1.1 million and $867,000 for fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The total deferred compensation liability at January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014 was $9.9 million and $8.2 million, respectively.

 

Note 9 – Stock Based Compensation

 

Compensation Plan Summaries

 

On April 27, 2012, we completed a three-for-two stock split of the shares of our common stock, which was effected in the form of a stock dividend. All share and per share amounts referenced below give effect to the stock split and have been adjusted retroactively for all periods presented.

 

The Outside Directors Stock Option Plan (the “Directors Plan”) was approved by our Board of Directors on March 4, 1999. The plan reserved for issuance 37,500 shares of common stock (subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends and certain other changes to the common stock). No grants were made under this plan since fiscal 2004, and all awards granted under the Directors Plan have expired or have been fully exercised. On September 10, 2014, the Board of Directors approved the termination of the Directors Plan.

 

The 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2000 Plan”) was approved by our Board of Directors and shareholders effective June 8, 2000.  On June 14, 2012, the 2000 Plan was amended to increase the number of shares reserved for issuance from 3,000,000 to 3,900,000 (subject to adjustment for subsequent stock splits, stock dividends and certain other changes in the common stock).  The 2000 Plan was also amended to revise the provision governing the payment of dividends on shares of restricted stock.  No further awards may be made under the 2000 Plan after the later of ten years from date of adoption, or ten years from the approval of any amendment. At January 31, 2015, there were 713,000 shares of unissued common stock reserved for future grants under the 2000 Plan.

 

Stock options currently outstanding under the 2000 Plan typically were granted such that one-third of the shares underlying the stock options granted would vest and become fully exercisable on each of the first three anniversaries of the date of the grant and were assigned a 10-year term from the date of grant.  Restricted stock awards issued to employees under the 2000 Plan are classified as either performance-based or service-based.  Performance-based restricted stock awards typically are granted such that they vest upon the achievement of specified levels of annual earnings per diluted share during a six-year period starting from the grant date.  Should the annual earnings per diluted share criteria not be met within the six-year period from the grant date, any shares still restricted will be forfeited.  Service-based restricted stock awards typically are granted under one of four vesting periods: (a) one-third of the shares would vest on each of the first three anniversaries subsequent to the date of the grant; (b) the full award

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

would vest at the end of a 5-year service period subsequent to date of grant; (c) the full award would vest at the end of a 2-year service period subsequent to date of grant; or (d) for our Directors, all restricted stock awards are issued to vest on January 2 of the year following the year of the grant. Non-vested performance-based restricted stock granted before June 14, 2012, and all shares of non-vested service-based restricted stock provide non-forfeitable rights to all dividends declared by the Company. Dividends on non-vested performance-based restricted stock granted after June 14, 2012, are subject to deferral until such times as the shares vest and are released.

 

Plan Specific Activity and End of Period Balance Summaries

 

Stock Options

 

The following table summarizes the stock option transactions pursuant to the stock-based compensation plans:

  

		Number of Shares				Weighted- Average Exercise Price				Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years)				Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in thousands)
Outstanding at February 1, 2014			31,572			$	9.05
Granted			0
Forfeited or expired			0
Exercised			(9,573	)			8.04
Outstanding and exercisable at January 31, 2015			21,999			$	9.49				1.45			$	302

 

 

 

The following table summarizes information regarding options exercised:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Total intrinsic value (1)		$	146			$	103			$	2,473
Total cash received		$	77			$	69			$	2,219
Associated excess income tax benefits recorded		$	43			$	28			$	465

 

(1) Defined as the difference between the market value at exercise and the grant price of stock options exercised.

 

The following table summarizes information regarding outstanding and exercisable options at January 31, 2015:

 

								Options Outstanding										Options Exercisable
Range of Exercise Price								Number of Options Outstanding		Weighted Average Remaining Life				Weighted Average Exercise Price				Number of Options Exercisable				Weighted Average Exercise Price
	$ 7.63 – 10.36							21,999			1.45			$	9.49				21,999			$	9.49

 

No stock options have been granted since fiscal 2008. All outstanding options had vested as of the end of fiscal 2011, therefore no unrecognized compensation expense remains.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Restricted Stock Awards

 

The following table summarizes the restricted share transactions pursuant to the 2000 Plan:

 

				Number of Shares				Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value
	Restricted stock at February 1, 2014				525,259			$	19.84
	Granted				213,560				25.50
	Vested				(16,843	)			20.86
	Forfeited				(16,400	)			21.71
	Restricted stock at January 31, 2015				705,576			$	21.49

 

 

The total fair value at grant date of restricted stock awards that vested during fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012 was $351,000, $2.6 million and $160,000, respectively. The weighted-average grant date fair value of stock awards granted during fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2012 was $20.85 and $19.51, respectively.

 

The following table summarizes information regarding stock-based compensation expense recognized for restricted stock awards:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Stock-based compensation expense before the recognized income tax benefit		$	906			$	2,985			$	3,663
Income tax benefit		$	351			$	1,141			$	1,436

 

The $906,000 of expense recognized in fiscal 2014 was comprised of stock-based compensation expense of $3.2 million, partially offset by an expense reversal of $2.3 million. The reduction in expense was attributable to the third quarter reversal of the cumulative prior period expense for performance-based awards, which were deemed by management as not probable of vesting prior to their expiration.

 

As of January 31, 2015, there was approximately $7.5 million of unrecognized compensation expense remaining related to both our performance-based and service-based restricted stock awards. The cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 3.3 years. This incorporates our current assumptions with respect to the estimated requisite service period required to achieve the designated performance conditions for performance-based stock awards.

 

Cash-Settled Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs)

 

Our outstanding Cash-Settled Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs) were granted to certain non-executive employees such that one-third of the shares underlying the SARs would vest annually. The SARs were assigned a five-year term from the date of grant, after which any unexercised SARs will expire. Each SAR entitles the holder, upon exercise of their vested shares, to receive cash in an amount equal to the closing price of our stock on the date of exercise less the exercise price, with a maximum amount of gain defined. SARs were granted during the first quarter of fiscal 2012 and issued with a defined maximum gain of $6.67 over the exercise price of $17.17. In accordance with current authoritative guidance, cash-settled SARs are classified as Other liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

The following table summarizes the SARs activity:

 

				Number of Shares				Weighted- Average Exercise Price				Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years)
	Outstanding at February 1, 2014				78,750			$	17.17
	Granted				0				0.00
	Forfeited				0				17.17
	Exercised				(38,375	)			17.17
	Outstanding at January 31, 2015				40,375			$	17.17				2.0
	Exercisable at January 31, 2015				40,375			$	17.17				2.0

 

The fair value of liability awards are remeasured, using a trinomial lattice model, at each reporting period until the date of settlement. Increases or decreases in stock-based compensation expense is recognized over the vesting period, or immediately for vested awards.

 

The fair value was estimated using a trinomial lattice model with the following assumptions:

 

		January 31, 2015
Risk free interest rate yield curve			0.01% - 1.18	%
Expected dividend yield			1.0	%
Expected volatility			37.82	%
Maximum life			2.0 Years
Exercise multiple			1.31
Maximum payout		$	6.67
Employee exit rate			2.2% - 9.0%

 

The risk free interest rate was based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the end of the reporting period. The expected dividend yield was based on our quarterly cash dividends in fiscal 2014, with the assumption that quarterly dividends would continue at the current rate. Expected volatility was based on the historical volatility of our stock. The exercise multiple and employee exit rate are based on historical option data.

 

The following table summarizes information regarding stock-based compensation expense recognized for SARs:

 

(In thousands)		2014				2013				2012
Stock-based compensation expense before the recognized income tax benefit		$	121			$	272			$	349
Income tax benefit		$	47			$	104			$	137

 

As of January 31, 2015, no unrecognized compensation expense remained related to non-vested SARs.

 

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Note 10 – Business Risk

 

We purchase merchandise from approximately 160 footwear vendors. In fiscal 2014, two suppliers each accounted for 10% or more of our net sales and together accounted for approximately 40% of our net sales. A loss of any of our key suppliers in certain product categories could have a material adverse effect on our business. As is common in the industry, we do not have any long-term contracts with suppliers.

 

Note 11 – Litigation Matters

 

The accounting standard related to loss contingencies provides guidance in regards to our disclosure and recognition of loss contingencies, including pending claims, lawsuits, disputes with third parties, investigations and other actions that are incidental to the operation of our business. The guidance utilizes the following defined terms to describe the likelihood of a future loss: (1) probable – the future event or events are likely to occur, (2) remote – the chance of the future event or events is slight and (3) reasonably possible – the chance of the future event or events occurring is more than remote but less than likely. The guidance also contains certain requirements with respect to how we accrue for and disclose information concerning our loss contingencies. We accrue for a loss contingency when we conclude that the likelihood of a loss is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. When the reasonable estimate of the loss is within a range of amounts, and no amount in the range constitutes a better estimate than any other amount, we accrue for the amount at the low end of the range. We adjust our accruals from time to time as we receive additional information, but the loss we incur may be significantly greater than or less than the amount we have accrued. We disclose loss contingencies if there is at least a reasonable possibility that a loss has been incurred. No accrual or disclosure is required for losses that are remote.

 

From time to time, we are involved in certain legal proceedings in the ordinary course of conducting our business. We cannot provide assurance as to the ultimate outcome of any litigation involving us. The following is a description of pending litigation that falls outside the scope of litigation incidental to the ordinary course of our business. On October 31, 2013, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “District Court”) captioned Nicaj v. Shoe Carnival, Inc. The complaint alleged that we violated certain provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), which amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act, by printing the month of the expiration date of our customers’ credit cards on transaction receipts. The plaintiff sought, among other things, the designation of this action as a class action, an award of monetary damages of between $100 and $1,000 per violation, counsel fees and costs, and such other relief as the court deemed appropriate.

 

On January 16, 2014, the District Court granted our motion and dismissed the plaintiff’s action with prejudice and denied his motion to certify a class as moot, finding that our actions did not violate FACTA and that our conduct, even if it did violate FACTA, was not willful. On February 12, 2014, the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal of the District Court’s order with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In September 2014, the Seventh Circuit entered an order affirming the District Court’s order.  The plaintiff petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari, and the Supreme Court denied that petition on February 23, 2015. The Supreme Court’s order concludes this litigation.

 

Note 12 – Related Party Transactions

Our Chairman and principal shareholder and his son were previously shareholders of PL Footwear, Inc. Historically, PL Footwear, Inc. represented us, on a commission basis, as an import agent in dealings with shoe factories in mainland China, where most of our private label shoes are manufactured. During fiscal 2012, PL Footwear, Inc. ceased operations. Commissions paid to PL Footwear, Inc. were $726,000 in fiscal 2012.

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - continued

 

 

Note 13 – Quarterly Results (Unaudited)

Quarterly results are determined in accordance with the accounting policies used for annual data and include certain items based upon estimates for the entire year. All fiscal quarters in 2014 and 2013 include results for 13 weeks.

 

(In thousands, except per share data)

 

Fiscal 2014		First Quarter				Second Quarter				Third Quarter				Fourth Quarter
Net sales		$	235,770			$	222,073			$	254,687			$	227,632
Gross profit			69,582				62,219				76,765				65,113
Operating income			15,209				4,264				17,792				4,588
Net income			9,151				2,584				10,817				2,975
Net income per share – Basic (1)		$	0.45			$	0.13			$	0.54			$	0.15
Net income per share – Diluted (1)		$	0.45			$	0.13			$	0.54			$	0.15

 

Fiscal 2013		First Quarter				Second Quarter				Third Quarter				Fourth Quarter
Net sales		$	232,287			$	216,417			$	235,770			$	200,311
Gross profit			68,613				62,511				71,011				57,182
Operating income			15,246				9,558				17,815				1,048
Net income			9,519				5,838				10,916				598
Net income per share – Basic (1)		$	0.47			$	0.29			$	0.54		$ 0.03
Net income per share – Diluted (1)		$	0.47			$	0.29			$	0.54			$	0.03

(1)

Per share amounts are computed independently for each of the quarters presented. The sum of the quarters may not equal the total year due to the impact of changes in weighted shares outstanding and differing applications of earnings under the two-class method.

 

 

Note 14 – Subsequent Events

 

On March 17, 2015, the Board of Directors approved the payment of a cash dividend to our shareholders in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share will be paid on April 20, 2015 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 6, 2015.

 

The declaration and payment of any future dividends are at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will depend on our results of operations, financial condition, business conditions and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors.

 

 

SHOE CARNIVAL, INC.
SCHEDULE II - VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS

(In thousands)   Reserve for sales returns and allowances		Balance at Beginning of Period				Charged to Cost and Expenses				Credited to Costs and Expenses				Balance at End of Period
Year ended February 2, 2013		$	109			$	94,379			$	94,377			$	111
Year ended February 1, 2014		$	111			$	97,399			$	97,379			$	131
Year ended January 31, 2015		$	131			$	104,511			$	104,495			$	147

 

ITEM 9.

CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

 

None.

 

ITEM 9A.

CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

 

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

 

The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the Company’s principal executive and principal financial officers and effected by the Company’s board of directors, management and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and includes those policies and procedures that:

 

	•	Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company;
	•	Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and
	•	Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

 

Because of inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

 

Management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2015. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (“COSO”) of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013). Based on its assessment, management believes that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of January 31, 2015.

 

The Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2015 has been audited by its independent registered public accounting firm, Deloitte & Touche LLP, as stated in their report, which is included herein.

 

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures and Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

 

Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded, based on their evaluation as of
January 31, 2015, that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports filed or submitted by us under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms, and include controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in such reports is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

There has been no significant change in our internal controls over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended January 31, 2015 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

 

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

Evansville, Indiana

 

We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Shoe Carnival, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of January 31, 2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.

 

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

 

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company's principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company's board of directors, management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

 

Because of the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

 

In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2015, based on the criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

 

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedule as of and for the year ended January 31, 2015 of the Company and our report dated April 16, 2015 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial statement schedule.

 

 

 

Indianapolis, Indiana

April 16, 2015

 

 

ITEM 9B.	OTHER INFORMATION

None

 

PART III

 

ITEM 10.  DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

 

The information required by this Item concerning our Directors, nominees for Director, Code of Ethics, designation of the Audit Committee financial expert and identification of the Audit Committee, and concerning any disclosure of delinquent filers under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, is incorporated herein by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of our last fiscal year. Information concerning our executive officers is included under the caption “Executive Officers” at the end of PART I, ITEM 1. BUSINESS of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Such information is incorporated herein by reference, in accordance with General Instruction G(3) to Form 10-K and Instruction 3 to Item 401(b) of Regulation S-K.

 

We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the “Code”) that applies to all of our Directors, officers and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer and controller. The Code is posted on our website at www.shoecarnival.com. We intend to disclose any amendments to the Code by posting such amendments on our website. In addition, any waivers of the Code for our Directors or executive officers will be disclosed in a report on Form 8-K.

 

ITEM 11.  EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

The information required by this Item concerning remuneration of our officers and Directors and information concerning material transactions involving such officers and Directors and Compensation Committee interlocks, including the Compensation Committee Report and the Compensation Discussion and Analysis, is incorporated herein by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders which will be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of our last fiscal year.

 

ITEM 12.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS

 

The information required by this Item concerning the stock ownership of management, five percent beneficial owners and securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders which will be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of our last fiscal year.

 

ITEM 13.  CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE

 

The information required by this Item concerning certain relationships and related transactions and the independence of our Directors is incorporated herein by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which will be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of our last fiscal year.

 

ITEM 14.  PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES

 

The information required by this Item concerning principal accountant fees and services is incorporated herein by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which will be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of our last fiscal year.

 

 

PART IV

 

ITEM 15.   EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES

 

1.		Financial Statements:
		The following financial statements of Shoe Carnival, Inc. are set forth in PART II, ITEM 8 of this report:
		Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
		Consolidated Balance Sheets at January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2014
		Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended January 31, 2015, February 1, 2014, and February 2, 2013
		Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity for the years ended January 31, 2015, February 1, 2014, and February 2, 2013
		Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended January 31, 2015, February 1, 2014, and February 2, 2013
		Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
2.		Financial Statement Schedule:
		The following financial statement schedule of Shoe Carnival, Inc. is set forth in PART II, ITEM 8 of this report.
		Schedule II Valuation and Qualifying Accounts
3.		Exhibits:
		A list of exhibits required to be filed as part of this report is set forth in the Index to Exhibits, which immediately precedes such exhibits, and is incorporated herein by reference.

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

Shoe Carnival, Inc.

 

Date:   April 16, 2015	By:	/s/ Clifton E. Sifford
		Clifton E. Sifford
		President and Chief Executive Officer

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature

Title

Date

 

/s/ J. Wayne Weaver		Chairman of the Board and Director	April 16, 2015
J. Wayne Weaver

 

/s/ Clifton E. Sifford		President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief	April 16, 2015
Clifton E. Sifford		Merchandising Officer and Director (Principal
		Executive Officer)
/s/ James A. Aschleman		Director	April 16, 2015
James A. Aschleman
/s/ Kent A. Kleeberger		Director	April 16, 2015
Kent A. Kleeberger
/s/ Gerald W. Schoor		Director	April 16, 2015
Gerald W. Schoor
/s/ Joseph W. Wood		Director	April 16, 2015
Joseph W. Wood

 

/s/ W. Kerry Jackson		Senior Executive Vice President - Chief Operating	April 16, 2015
W. Kerry Jackson		and Financial Officer and Treasurer (Principal Financial Officer)

 

/s/ Kathy A. Yearwood		Senior Vice President – Controller and Chief	April 16, 2015
Kathy A. Yearwood		Accounting Officer (Principal Accounting Officer)

 

 

INDEX TO EXHIBITS

			Incorporated by Reference To
Exhibit No.		Description	Form	Exhibit	Filing Date	Filed Herewith
3-A		Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of Registrant	8-K	3-A	6/14/2013
3-B		By-laws of Registrant, as amended to date	8-K	3-B	6/14/2013
4-A		Credit Agreement, dated as of January 20, 2010, among Registrant, the financial institutions from time to time party thereto as Banks, and Wachovia Bank, National Association, as Agent	8-K	4.1	1/26/2010
4-B		First Amendment to Credit Agreement dated as of April 10, 2013, by and among Registrant, the financial institutions from time to time party thereto as Banks, and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as successor-by-merger to Wachovia Bank, National Association, as Agent	10-K	4-B	4/15/2013
10-A		Lease, dated as of February 8, 2006, by and between Registrant and Big-Shoe Properties, LLC	10-K	10-A	4/13/2006+
10-B		Lease, dated as of June 22, 2006, by and between Registrant and Outback Holdings, LLC	8-K	10-D	6/28/2006+
10-C*		Summary Compensation Sheet				X
10-D*		Non-competition Agreement dated as of January 15, 1993, between Registrant and J. Wayne Weaver	S-1	10-I	2/4/1993
10-E*		Employee Stock Purchase Plan of Registrant, as amended	10-Q	10-L	9/15/1997+
10-F*		2006 Executive Incentive Compensation Plan, as amended	8-K	10-B	6/17/2011
10-G*		2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan of Registrant, as amended	8-K	10-L	6/15/2012
10-H*		Form of Notice of Grant of Stock Options and Option Agreement for incentive stock options granted under the Registrant’s 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	8-K	10-A	9/2/2004+
10-I*		Form of Notice of Grant of Stock Options and Option Agreement for non-qualified stock options granted under the Registrant’s 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	8-K	10-B	9/2/2004+
10-J*		Form of Award Agreement for restricted stock granted under the Registrant’s 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	8-K	10-C	3/24/2005+
10-K*		Form of Award Agreement for time-based restricted stock with cliff vesting granted under the Registrant’s 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	8-K	10.2	10/19/2012

 

INDEX TO EXHIBITS - Continued

 

			Incorporated by Reference To
Exhibit No.		Description	Form	Exhibit	Filing Date	Filed Herewith
10-L*		Form of Award Agreement for  performance-based restricted stock with deferred cash dividends granted under the Registrant’s 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	10-Q	10.1	6/13/13
10-M*		Amended and Restated Employment and Noncompetition Agreement dated December 11, 2008, between Registrant and Timothy Baker	8-K	10.2	12/17/2008+
10-N*		Amended and Restated Employment and Noncompetition Agreement dated December 11, 2008, between Registrant and Clifton E. Sifford	8-K	10.3	12/17/2008+
10-O*		Amended and Restated Employment and Noncompetition Agreement dated December 11, 2008, between Registrant and W. Kerry Jackson	8-K	10.4	12/17/2008+
10-P*		Employment and Noncompetition Agreement dated April 7, 2011, between Registrant and Kathy A. Yearwood	10-K	10-X	4/14/2011
10-Q*		Employment and Noncompetition Agreement dated  December 4, 2012, between Registrant and Carl N. Scibetta	10-K	10-U	4/15/2013
10-R*		Shoe Carnival, Inc. Deferred Compensation Plan, as amended	10-K	10-S	4/10/2014
21		A list of subsidiaries of Shoe Carnival, Inc.				X
23		Written consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP				X
31.1		Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002				X
31.2		Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002				X
32.1		Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002				X

  

  

 

			Incorporated by Reference To
Exhibit No.		Description	Form	Exhibit	Filing Date	Filed Herewith
32.2		Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002				X
101		The following materials from Shoe Carnival, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2015, formatted in XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language): (1) Consolidated Balance Sheets, (2) Consolidated Statements of Income, (3) Consolidated Statement of Shareholders’ Equity, (4) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, and (5) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.				X
·           +		The indicated exhibit is a management contract, compensatory plan or arrangement required to be filed by Item 601 of Regulation S-K. SEC File No. 000-21360.

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 10-C

SUMMARY COMPENSATION SHEET

 

The following summarizes certain compensation decisions taken by the Compensation Committee (the "Committee") and/or the Board of Directors ("Board") of Shoe Carnival, Inc. (the "Company"), with respect to the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers and directors.

 

1. 2015 Base Salary

 

The Committee increased the base salary of Mr. Scibetta to reflect his increased responsibilities, and his achievements related to successfully managing our inventories and our new product initiatives. The following base salaries are effective for the Company’s named executive officers for fiscal 2015:

 

Name		Title		Base Salary
Clifton E. Sifford		President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Merchandising Officer		$	575,000
W. Kerry Jackson		Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer		$	520,000
Timothy T. Baker		Executive Vice President - Store Operations		$	500,000
Carl N. Scibetta		Executive Vice President – General Merchandise Manager		$	400,000
Kathy A. Yearwood		Senior Vice President – Controller and Chief Accounting Officer		$	225,000

 

2. Grants of Restricted Stock and Stock Options

 

The Committee approved grants of restricted stock to all of the Company's named executive officers and other key personnel under the Shoe Carnival, Inc. 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan. Grants to the Company's named executive officers were as follows:

 

Name	Shares Awarded
Clifton E. Sifford		30,868
W. Kerry Jackson		20,579
Timothy T. Baker		16,433
Carl N. Scibetta		16,433
Kathy A. Yearwood		8,232

 

The restricted shares will vest upon the achievement of specified levels of annual earnings per diluted share during a six-year period.

 

3. Annual Incentive Compensation for Fiscal 2015

 

The Committee established the performance criteria and targets for the fiscal 2015 bonus payable in fiscal 2016 under the Company's 2006 Executive Incentive Compensation Plan. The performance criterion is operating income before bonus expense. Subjective factors based on an executive's individual performance can reduce an executive's

 

bonus. As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sifford's bonus target is 80% of his salary but he can earn up to 125% of his salary if all performance targets are met. The bonus target for Messrs. Baker, Jackson, and Scibetta is 60% of their salary but they can earn up to 100% of their salary if all performance targets are met. The bonus target for Ms. Yearwood is 40% of her base salary but she can earn up to 60% of her salary if all performance targets are met.

 

4. Director's Compensation

 

The Company pays to non-employee Directors an annual cash retainer of $45,000. Committee chairs receive an additional annual cash retainer as follows: $15,000 for the Audit Committee and $7,500 each for the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The Company’s Lead Director receives additional annual compensation of $3,000. All amounts paid to the non-employee Directors are to be paid quarterly in arrears. The Company also reimburses all Directors for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with meetings of the Board.

 

Non-employee Directors will annually receive restricted shares valued at $45,000 as of the date of grant under the 2000 Plan. The restrictions on the shares lapse on January 2nd of the year following the year in which the grant was made.

 

Exhibit 21

 

SUBSIDIARIES OF SHOE CARNIVAL, INC.

 

Subsidiary		State of Incorporation/Organization		Percentage of Ownership
SCHC, Inc.		Delaware		100%
SCLC, Inc.		Delaware		100% Owned by SCHC, Inc.
Shoe Carnival Ventures, LLC		Indiana		100%

 

 

EXHIBIT 23

 

 

CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

 

We consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statements on Form S-8 (Nos. 333-183748, 333-153421, 333-117231, and 333-60114) relating to the 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan of Shoe Carnival, Inc., the Registration Statements on Form S-8 (Nos. 33-74050 and 333-44047) relating to the 1993 Stock Option and Incentive Plan of Shoe Carnival, Inc., the Registration Statement on Form S-8 (No. 33-80979) relating to the Employee Stock Purchase Plan of Shoe Carnival, Inc., and the Registration Statement on Form S-8 (No. 333-82819) relating to the Outside Directors Stock Option Plan of Shoe Carnival, Inc. of our reports dated April 16, 2015, relating to the consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedule of Shoe Carnival, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) and the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K of the Company for the year ended January 31, 2015.

 

 

 

Indianapolis, Indiana

April 16, 2015

 

Exhibit 31.1

 

SHOE CARNIVAL, INC.
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE
SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

 

I, Clifton E. Sifford, certify that:

1.	I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Shoe Carnival, Inc.;
2.	Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.	Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.	The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
	(a)	Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
	(b)	Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
	(c)	Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
	(d)	Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and
5.	The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
	(a)	All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
	(b)	Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

 

Date:  April 16, 2015

By:  /s/ Clifton E. Sifford Clifton E. Sifford President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Merchandising Officer

 

Exhibit 31.2

 

SHOE CARNIVAL, INC.
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE
SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

 

 

I, W. Kerry Jackson, certify that:

1.	I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Shoe Carnival, Inc.;
2.	Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.	Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.	The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
	(a)	Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
	(b)	Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
	(c)	Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
	(d)	Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and
5.	The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
	(a)	All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
	(b)	Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

 

Date:  April 16, 2015

By:  /s/ W. Kerry Jackson W. Kerry Jackson Senior Executive Vice President Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer

 

Exhibit 32.1

 

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C.
SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION
906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

 

 

In connection with the Annual Report of Shoe Carnival, Inc. (the "Company") on Form 10-K for the period ending January 31, 2015 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the "Report"), I, Clifton E. Sifford, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Merchandising Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:

 

1.	The Report fully complies with the requirements of section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
2.	The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

 

 

Date:  April 16, 2015

By:  /s/ Clifton E. Sifford Clifton E. Sifford President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Merchandising Officer

 

 

 

Exhibit 32.2

 

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C.
SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION
906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

 

In connection with the Annual Report of Shoe Carnival, Inc. (the "Company") on Form 10-K for the period ending January 31, 2015 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the "Report"), I W. Kerry Jackson, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:

 

1.	The Report fully complies with the requirements of section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
2.	The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

 

 

Date:  April 16, 2015

By:  /s/ W. Kerry Jackson W. Kerry Jackson Senior Executive Vice President Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer