Sales at iMedia Brands rose during the holidays for the first time in years

iMedia Brands, the cable-TV and e-commerce retailer in Eden Prairie, reversed some long-running negative trends over the holidays.

New customers to the company's home shopping channel, ShopHQ, and its online outlets grew 12% in the November-through-January quarter, the last of its fiscal year. That ended six years of declining growth.

"Q4 was another strong quarter for us," said Tim Peterman, CEO of iMedia Brands, in a statement, "which we believe creates an even stronger foundation for profitable revenue growth in 2021."

Revenue for the quarter was $124.8 million, a 1% increase over the fourth quarter of 2019, but the first fourth quarter since 2015 that saw an increase that wasn't the result of being in a 53-week fiscal year.

The company still lost money: $2.7 million, or 21 cents a share. But that was an improvement from a loss of $18.4 million, or $2.30 a share, in its fourth quarter of 2019.

For the fiscal year ending Jan. 30, iMedia's sales were down 9% to $454.2 million, the fifth straight year of decline. Sales are down 43% from the year that ended in January 2016, the last one in which they grew.

The company said it had a net loss of $13.2 million, or $1.23 a share, for the full year. That's well below the loss of $56.3 million, or $7.54 a share, in the prior fiscal year.

New customer counts and sales trends improved as a result of adding more options for customers. Since May 2019, Peterman told analysts on the company's earnings call, iMedia added two new 24/7 television shopping networks, ShopBulldogTV and ShopHQHealth, and an online discount marketplace, OurGalleria.

Peterman offered guidance for iMedia's first quarter saying revenue should grow between 3 and 5%.

For the new fiscal year, the company expects adjusted earnings before taxes and other items of $28 million to $32 million. That's up from $23.9 million in the just-finished fiscal year.

Shares of iMedia Brands Inc. closed at $8.48 on Tuesday, down 5.25%. Over the past 52 weeks, shares have traded in the range of $1.38 to $9.52.

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926