Wolverine Worldwide CEO ‘Bullish’ on Saucony’s Future as Turnaround Strategy Takes Hold
After six months of turbulent stabilization efforts, Wolverine Worldwide executives are turning their focus to refocusing and amplifying the company’s star brands – Saucony and Merrell.
In fact, for Saucony especially, Wolverine Worldwide president and chief executive officer Chris Hufnagel is especially bullish. On the company’s fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2023 conference call on Wednesday, Hufnagel told analysts that Saucony “is near and dear” to his heart, and thinks the running brand has “some of the greatest potential” in the entire portfolio.
“I’m encouraged by Saucony because I think the product pipeline is very good,” Hufnagel said. “This comes as the brand has had a long period of time where it was focused on only the elite runner, elite channels and elite products. I think the democratization of innovation is where there is a tremendous opportunity for the brand going forward. And frankly, there’s just a broader lifestyle opportunity beyond that core elite runner.”
The CEO added that he is “encouraged” by the product pipeline for 2024, calling it “much stronger” than last year. “I do think our product pipelines weren’t as innovative as they needed to be in 2023,” Hufnagel noted. “Saucony is delivering the Ride 17, the Guide 17, the Triumph 22 and the Hurricane 24 this year. The feedback we’re getting so far on the new styles is very positive. We worked hard on colors and materials to make our shoes more approachable, and we’re opening the aperture as we think about distribution.”
Hufnagel’s excitement over Saucony comes as the Rockford, Mich.-based company reported that overall net revenues for the fiscal year 2023 fall 16.5 percent to $2.24 billion versus $2.68 billion in 2022. At Saucony, revenues for the year dipped 1.9 percent to $495.8 million versus $505.3 million the year prior.
As for the company’s fourth quarter performance, Wolverine Worldwide reported on Wednesday that its net revenues in the period fell 20.8 percent to $526.7 million versus $665.0 million the same time last year. At Saucony, revenues in the quarter declined 13.4 percent to $105.1 million versus $121.3 million in Q4 2022.
Looking ahead, Wolverine Worldwide is forecasting revenue for full year 2024 to be approximately $1.70 billion to $1.75 billion, representing a decline of approximately 12.2 percent to 14.7 percent compared to 2023.