Call it the curse of Tiger Woods.
Like his career, the golf business in the US continues to decline as fewer young people hit the links.
In the second quarter, sales at Dick’s Golf Galaxy stores fell 9.3 percent percent on a comparable-store basis — worse than the 8.7 percent drop forecast by analysts.
Dick’s, which laid off some 400 golf pros in its stores, said Tuesday it would take a $20.4 million pre-tax charge to roll Golf Galaxy’s operations into Dick’s stores.
“We have consolidated our Golf Galaxy merchandising, marketing and store operations into DICK’S Sporting Goods,” said Dick’s CEO Edward Stack.
“In addition, we have eliminated specific staff in our golf area within our DICK’S Sporting Goods stores,” he added. “These changes are necessitated by the current and expected trends in golf.”
Dick’s second-quarter profit slid 17 percent, hurt by the charges.
Beyond the bad golf business, Dick’s reported better than expected earnings and sales, sending its shares up as much as 5 percent.
Excluding the charges and other one-items, per-share earnings were 67 cents, at the high ended of the company’s expected range of 62 cents to 67 cents.
Sales rose 10 percent to $1.69 billion, topping analysts expectations for $1.65 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.