Steven Madden

Steven Madden Ltd. (Long Island City, N.Y.) announced an anticipated preliminary 16 percent gain in net sales for the second quarter ended June 30, 2005.

This reflects an increase in total retail sales of approximately 23 percent and a same-store sales increase of approximately 13 percent for the quarter. Net sales also includes an approximate 14 percent increase in wholesale revenues reflecting particularly strong results in Madden Mens and improvements in Candie’s.

“Our performance during the second quarter shows that we are making significant strides in the effort to strengthen the business and effectively combat the various challenges we are facing in the marketplace,” said chairman and ceo Jamieson Karson. “Specifically, we are delivering on a number of the goals we communicated in the recent timeframe: We are driving top line growth, increasing gross margin, leveraging our cost structure, improving inventory productivity, further building the Steve Madden brand, and enhancing shareholder value. While we believe it is prudent to remain cautious about the future, we remain focused on continuing to improve our operations and positioning the company for long-term success.”