John Wittkowske - Chief Financial Officer Tom Florsheim - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Q2 2015 Weyco Group Earnings Conference Call. My name is [Thiya] and I'll be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today John Wittkowske, Chief Financial Officer. Please proceed.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone and welcome to Weyco Groups second quarter conference call. On this call with me today is Tom Florsheim Jr., our Chairman and CEO. Before we begin to discuss the results, I’ll read a brief disclaimer. During the course of this call, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding our current expectations concerning future events and the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We refer you to Weyco Group’s most recent Form 10-K that is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 10-K identifies important factors and risks that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from our projections. Additionally, some comparisons may refer to non-GAAP measures. Our SEC filings may contain additional information about these non-GAAP measures and why we use them. Net sales for the second quarter of 2015 were $63.9 million, up 2% as compared with 2014 sales of $62.9 million. Operating earnings were $3.3 million for the second quarter of 2015 versus $3.4 million in 2014. Net earnings attributable to Weyco Group were $2 million this quarter compared with $2.2 million last year. Diluted earnings per share were $0.19 versus $0.20 per share in 2014. Our second quarter results included a strong performance from our North American wholesale segment but those gains were offset by the results of our international operations. In the North American wholesale segment net sales for the second quarter were $48.1 million, up 7% as compared to $44.8 million in 2014. Wholesale gross earnings increased 31.0% of net sales in the second quarter, up from 30.5% in 2014. Selling and administrative expenses for the wholesale segment were $12.7 million or 27% of net…

Thanks John and good morning. Overall as mentioned earlier in the call our second quarter wholesale sales were up 7%. We are extremely pleased with the continued strength of our U.S. wholesale business as we are picking up market share within the category segments where we compete. Our second quarter BOGS business was up 18% while the second quarter is a relatively small volume quarter for BOGS the brand maintained good momentum. We're focused on leveraging strength of the BOGS brand into categories beyond insulated boots. The growth we have garnered in the first half of the year reflects our success in these areas. We have diversified our mix of product in the marketplace adding sandals, clogs and other non-insulated footwear. As we head into the most important part of the shortfall shipping season, we feel we are well-positioned to have another successful year with BOGS. Stacy Adams sales were up 12% reflecting the fourth straight quarter, in which the brand has experienced double-digit growth. We believe Stacy Adams occupies a great space in today's men's footwear market. Over the last couple of years there is increased interest in fashion from a wider segment of the men’s consumer market In footwear this translates to demand for product with interesting material treatments, ornamentation and color. Stacy Adams as a leader in assessably modern footwear has benefited greatly from this trend. And the brands footwear signed through retail extremely well. In addition Stacy Adams has been able to increase its sales in the fashion casual market, which has been a long-term objective. Nunn Bush is back on goal track in 2015 with a 9% increase in shipments for the second quarter. In part the increase was driven by new categories such as Nunn Bush work, which was launched last fall and is…

[Operator Instructions] There are no questions in the queue at this time. I’d like to turn the call over to management to any closing remarks.

Thank you. And we’d like to thank everyone for their interest and have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today’s conference. That concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.