In its fourth quarter ended January 2, 2022, Gildan Activewear’s sales increased by 14 per cent over prior year to $784 million and 19 per cent above the fourth quarter of 2019. The company delivered another quarter of strong adjusted gross margin and SG&A performance, which together drove adjusted operating margin of 20.4 per cent, up 510 basis points versus last year and 630 basis points above the fourth quarter of 2019. Strong sales and margin performance translated to record earnings for the quarter with GAAP diluted EPS of $0.89, and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.76 which increased by 69 per cent over last year and 85 per cent from the same quarter in 2019. Free cash flow in the quarter totaled $116 million, bringing the total for the year to a record level of $594 million.

Net sales for the fourth quarter ending January 2, 2022 increased by 14 per cent over previous year to $784 million  Activewear sales increased by 17 per cent to $627 million while sales in the hosiery and underwear category increased by 3 per cent to $157 million

Gildan Activewear’s gross profit increased by 48 per cent to $229 million in the fourth quarter while adjusted gross profit increased by 35 per cent to $240 million over the prior year, driven by our growth in sales and strong margin performance. Gross margin increased by 670 basis points to 29.2 per cent in the quarter over 2020. The strong improvement over 2020 was primarily due to higher net selling prices and manufacturing efficiencies stemming from our Back to Basics initiatives, which more than offset inflationary pressures on raw material and other manufacturing costs, as well as unfavourable product-mix compared to the same quarter last year