Top 40 supplier Delta Apparel (asi/49172) said Monday that preliminary results show that it increased year-over-sales about 12% to $101 million during the first quarter of its fiscal year 2019, which ended Dec. 29, 2018. Still, the early word wasn’t clear if earnings would be back in the black following a net loss in the prior year’s Q1. 

The Greenville, SC-based firm said that double-digit growth in its retail-focused Salt Life brand division, as well as in its digital print business, drove the revenue rise. “We are pleased with our start to the new fiscal year and the broad-based momentum we are seeing across our business segments,” said Robert W. Humphreys, Delta Apparel’s chairman and CEO.

Humphreys said that Delta Apparel successfully completed its first holiday season with consolidated operations, including the DTG2Go and SSI Digital Print businesses that it acquired in the last 10 months. “We have delivered sequential growth in our Salt Life Group, and our Delta Group (which includes sales to the promotional products industry) continues its strong expansion driven by our DTG2Go digital print business,” he said.

While the reported sales rise is encouraging for Delta Apparel, the results remain preliminary. The company plans to release full and final financial results for its fiscal Q1 on February 4^th.

Delta Apparel’s early glimpse at its first quarter teased that the earnings-per-share performance should be above Q1 2018, but specifics on non-adjusted earnings weren’t divulged. During Q1 in that previous fiscal year, Delta Apparel posted a net loss of $9.95 million, or $1.37 per diluted share. The loss was primarily the result of a $10.6 million expense associated with US federal tax reform, which sliced the company’s earnings by $1.45 per share.

For the current Q1, Delta Apparel said $2.5 million in expenses associated with the resolution of litigation stemming from The Sports Authority's March 2016 bankruptcy will impact earnings. The company said adjusted Q1 2019 earnings per-share should tally around positive $0.08, but the projected figure on adjusted earnings doesn’t account for the litigation expense and further possible impact from last year’s tax reform. Bottom line: A net earnings quarterly loss could still be in the cards – though the full results coming in February are expected to give the true final word.

For its fiscal year 2018 ended Sept. 29, Delta Apparel generated net sales of $395.5 million, a 3% increase over the prior year. Earnings per diluted share were $0.18 on net income of $1.3 million. That was down from $1.33 per share on $10.5 million in net income in fiscal 2017.

With reported 2017 North American promotional product revenue of $46.2 million, Delta Apparel ranked 35^th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest suppliers in the industry.