Wellington, Sept 24 NZPA - Outdoor equipment and clothing chain Kathmandu is reporting a 14 percent lift in annual revenue to $245.8 million, following its listing last year.

The company founded by mountaineer Jan Cameron in this country in 1987, was sold last November in an initial public offering by its then private equity owners Goldman Sachs JBWere and Quadrant Private Equity, raising $A340m.

The IPO price in New Zealand was $2.13 a share, while in Australia it was $A1.70.

In its results announcement today, Kathmandu said its earnings before interest and tax (ebit) in the year to July 31 rose 12.4 percent from the year before to $47.9m, if the one-off costs associated with the IPO were excluded.

Again excluding IPO costs, of $15.8m, the net profit rose $10.3m to $25.2m, but bottomline net profit was down 37 percent at $9.39m.

As at the end of July, Kathmandu had 36 stores in this country, 55 in Australia and six in Britain. The company opened seven stores in the second half year and eight in the first half.

The company's first dividend will be 7c per share, above the 6.7cps forecast in the prospectus.

Kathmandu chairman James Strong said the payout was supported by strong operating cashflows and represented an approximate payout ratio of 55 percent of ongoing net profit after tax. That was within the range targeted by the company in the future.

Kathmandu chief executive Peter Halkett said strong first half trading to the end of January had been followed throughout most of 2010 by a challenging economic environment in the three countries the company traded in.

Factors affecting sales in the third quarter included generally unfavourable warm weather during the Easter sale promotion.

In the final quarter winter sales season same store sales performance in Australia was similar to a year earlier, but in this country sales were below target.

Kathmandu said gross profit margin was down 120 basis points on last year and 80 basis points on the prospectus forecast of 64 percent. That reflected both the product mix between equipment and apparel and the result of promotions and pricing levels across the year.

Partially offsetting the reduction in gross profit margin was a cut of 70 basis points to 41.3 percent in operating expenses as a percentage of sales.

Mr Halkett said the company was confident that given reasonable economic conditions, profitability would improve in the year ahead.

"The impact of the economic environment on consumer confidence, and cost pressures both domestically and internationally are a challenge, however given our market position and brand strength we remain well placed to continue our growth," he said.

Four sites for new Australian stores were already confirmed for 2011, with the company targeting a total store network of at least 150 locations in that country and New Zealand.

Expansion of Kathmandu's product range was being accelerated.

Kathmandu's share price was up 1c to $1.78 around noon.