Japanese retailer Xebio finished its fiscal year that ended Mar. 31 with a second sequential top line improvement, but not enough to offset earlier declines, while Alpen, its competitor in the market, fared much better. Xebio’s net income for the full year inched up to ¥412 million ($3.8 mm) from ¥408 million, despite a 10% drop in revenues to ¥202,438 million ($1,895.5 mm) from ¥225,312 million. Gross margin slipped 50 basis points to 38.9%, but a ¥13 billion reduction in SG&A that held deleverage to just 50 b.p. kept the retailer in the black. Only golf equipment eked out a ... Log in to view full article.