You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: I hope you, your colleagues, and loved ones are healthy and staying safe.
The pandemic continues to impact business throughout the world, but Skechers has seen meaningful improvements from the second quarter including a return to growth in many markets.
Third quarter sales were $1.3 billion, which was a 3.9% decrease from the prior year but a 78.3% increase over the second quarter, a significant accomplishment and an encouraging sign of the health of our brand.
Growth came from each of our segments as the retail environment steadily improved with our wholesale channel stabilizing and in several instances growing.
We believe our third quarter results speak to the relevance of our product, resilience of our company's distribution model and our plan to emerge from the pandemic even stronger than before.
In these uncertain times when people are predominantly working from home and more focused on their well-being, consumers desire comfort and we have the product they want and need.
Athletic and casual footwear and apparel with a focus on comfort is precisely in our wheelhouse.
In our domestic wholesale business, growth came primarily from our adult athletic, casual and sandal footwear, along with single-digit improvements in our men's and women's collections.
We experienced double-digit improvement in our kids' footwear, which is particularly notable given the absence of a traditional back-to-school selling season and many children still learning remotely.
Our domestic wholesale business returned to growth in the quarter, rising 6.3% a result of pent-up demand and the relevance of our product.
We saw similar sales trends for our comfortable footwear and our other business channels with a return to growth in many markets and quarterly improvements in our own direct-to-consumer business.
The more than 3,770 Skechers stores e-commerce sites and availability in many of the leading retailers worldwide gave us the opportunity to fulfill demand and satisfy customers as the markets reopen.
The pace of recovery has differed across geographies but where markets are stable and open, Skechers experienced solid growth in sales.
Our joint venture business was up 14% led by an increase of 23.9% in China where our e-commerce business was particularly strong.
Our European subsidiaries were up 18.1% overall led by fantastic growth in Germany as well as in France and Central Eastern Europe.
Our distributor business was down double digits due to ongoing store closures in several markets including our largest distributor, which covers the Middle East.
However several markets recorded positive sales including Australia New Zealand and Scandinavia among others.
By the end of the third quarter all but a few Skechers retail locations were open although many were operating with limited hours.
In the quarter we also opened 24 pre-COVID planned stores including flagship locations on Rue de Rivoli, the premier shopping street in France Oxford Circus in London and Shinjuku in Tokyo.
And two stores in Colombia and another 19 domestic and international locations.
One store closed in the quarter.
We plan to open several key locations in the fourth quarter including our first in Munich and Berlin.
In the third quarter, our direct-to-consumer business decreased 16.9%, as consumer traffic remained challenged mostly in tourist and destination concept stores as well as continued store closures in some markets.
However, our domestic e-commerce business continued to grow significantly, even as our retail locations reopened increasing 172.1% in the quarter.
That said we showed sequential improvement in our brick-and-mortar stores particularly in our big box locations throughout the third quarter and from the fourth -- from the second quarter.
We continue to invest in our direct-to-consumer experience.
During the quarter we began a full-scale update to our point-of-sale system.
And are now connected with our e-commerce channel, allowing consumers to shop our product online and pick up in one of our more than 500 U.S. locations, either in-store or curbside.
We believe these investments to fully integrate our physical and digital ecosystems, into one omnichannel experience will drive sales as shopping online has become a preference and a growing necessity for many consumers.
In addition to the 24 company-owned stores, 189 new third-party Skechers stores opened around the world and 48 closed bringing our total company-owned third-party store count to 3,770 worldwide, at quarter end.
To support the reopening of our business in markets around the world, we strategically heightened our advertising efforts, continuing with the digital focus, while adding in-store, outdoor and new television campaigns for our comfort footwear, including one with baseball great and World Series Champion Clayton Kershaw, who played this week in custom Skechers cleats.
We believe the steps we have taken to protect and improve our business, to reopen stronger than ever, is evident in the growth we have achieved in many markets, including most notably our domestic wholesale channel.
As we strive to continue this positive trend worldwide, we are further enhancing our infrastructure as well as our digital business.
Our new 1.5 million square foot China distribution center remains on track.
And we are working diligently on the expansion of our North American distribution center, which we expect to be completed in the second half of 2021 bringing our facility to 2.6 million square feet.
We also completed the expansion of our European distribution center, bringing it to 2.1 million square feet and expect to open our first U.K.-based distribution center by the end of this year.
Also we have opened new distribution centers in Panama and Colombia, all to pave the way for growth as well as increased e-commerce business.
We are on track to upgrade our e-commerce platforms in Canada, Europe, South America, Japan and India.
Further, as we continue to build our logistics centers for growth.
And as we experience the pent-up demand for our product, we are ramping up our supply chain with increased factory production capacity, to be in line with our future product needs.
Their unwavering dedication has positioned Skechers for the recovery we are beginning to see in our business.
This quarter was a stark improvement over last quarter, as sales improved in each of our segments and total sales grew 78.3%.
Where conditions returned to a degree of normalcy, our business responded, with growth reminiscent of prior years.
Where pandemic restrictions persisted our businesses weathered the situation and improved steadily.
Our sales were down only 3.9% year-over-year, which we view as a major accomplishment.
As conditions normalize further worldwide, we are confident that Skechers will return to growth because our distinctive value proposition continues to resonate with consumers.
And our core, casual, athletic, styles are on trend.
Despite the current environment, we continue to invest for growth, with a focus on our direct-to-consumer capabilities and global distribution infrastructure.
We are confident these investments will continue to propel our brand, by allowing us to scale quicker and meet growing worldwide demand.
Now let's turn to our third quarter results.
Sales in the quarter totaled $1.3 billion, a decrease of $53.1 million or 3.9% from the prior year quarter.
On a constant currency basis, sales decreased $65.6 million or 4.8%.
Domestic wholesale sales increased 6.3% or $18.8 million, fueled by consumer demand for multiple categories, across men's, women's and kids.
International wholesale sales decreased 0.5% in the quarter.
Our distributor business decreased 43.7% in the quarter, reflecting continuing challenges, in distributor-led markets.
But our subsidiaries were up 1.5%.
And our joint ventures grew 14%.
China sales grew 23.9% for the quarter, as demand rebounded, especially in e-commerce channels.
Direct-to-consumer sales decreased 16.9%, the result of a 15.3% decrease domestically and a 19.6% decrease internationally, reflecting both challenged consumer traffic trends and the impact of temporary store closures.
However, these results were partially offset by another robust increase in our domestic e-commerce business of 172.1%.
Gross profit was $625.1 million, down $28 million compared to the prior year on lower sales volumes.
Gross margin was relatively flat compared with the prior year, as increased promotional activity in our joint ventures was nearly offset by a favorable mix shift in our online and international sales.
Total operating expenses increased by $24.3 million or 4.7%, to $536.2 million in the quarter.
Selling expenses decreased by $11.6 million, or 11.9%, to $85.9 million, primarily due to lower global advertising and trade show expenditures.
General and administrative expenses increased by $35.9 million, or 8.7%, to $450.3 million, which was primarily the result of an $18.2 million one-time non-cash compensation charge related to the cancellation of restricted share grants associated with the recent legal settlement, as well as volume-driven increases in warehouse and distribution expenses for both our international and domestic businesses.
Earnings from operations was $92.1 million versus prior year earnings of $147.4 million.
Net income was $64.3 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, on 155 million diluted shares outstanding.
However, adjusting for the one-time non-cash compensation charge previously mentioned, net income was $82.6 million, or $0.53 per diluted share.
These compare to prior year net income of $103.1 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, on 154 million diluted shares outstanding.
Our effective income tax rate for the quarter decreased to 15.4% from 15.8% in the prior year.
And now turning to our balance sheet.
We ended the quarter with $1.5 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments, which was an increase of $468.2 million or 45.4% from December 31, 2019, primarily reflecting the drawdown of our senior unsecured credit facility in the first quarter.
Trade accounts receivable at quarter end were $709 million, an increase of 9.9%, or $63.6 million from December 31, 2019, and an increase of 7% or $46.6 million from December 30, 2019.
The increase in accounts receivable was primarily due to higher wholesale sales, both domestically and in international markets.
Total inventory was $1.05 billion, a decrease of 1.5% or $16.5 million from December 31, 2019, but an increase of 18.3% or $163 million from the September, 30, 2019.
The increase in year-over-year inventory levels is largely attributable to increases in our international markets, especially in preparation for Singles' Day in China.
Domestic inventory levels declined year-over-year.
Overall, we feel confident in our inventory levels and continue to actively manage supply and demand, aiming to position the business constructively for next year.
Total debt, including both current and long-term portions, was $812 million compared to $121.2 million at December 31, 2019.
The increase primarily reflects the drawdown of our senior unsecured credit facility in the first quarter.
Capital expenditures for the third quarter were $63.6 million, of which $24.6 million related to the expansion of our domestic distribution center, $19.2 million related to new store openings and remodels worldwide, as well as a new point-of-sale system and $11.4 million related to our new corporate offices in the United States.
Our capital investments remain focused on our strategic priorities, enhancing our direct-to-consumer relationships and augmenting our global distribution infrastructure.
This quarter we launched several digital solutions, including our new website and two mobile applications, BOPIS and BOPAC capabilities in the majority of our domestic stores and a refresh of our in-store point-of-sale systems.
We also continued to make progress, despite the pandemic, on our new distribution center in China and expansions to our North American, South American and European facilities.
We have also begun the process of opening a new logistics center in the United Kingdom in anticipation of a post-Brexit environment.
We now expect total capital expenditures for the remainder of the year to be between $100 million and $125 million, inclusive of the aforementioned projects.
Overall, we are pleased with our third quarter performance and remain confident that Skechers will continue to successfully navigate this dynamic environment.
However, we will not be providing revenue and earnings guidance this quarter, as the environment remains too unpredictable to forecast reliably.
We experienced meaningful improvements from the second quarter in all channels of our business, especially in our domestic wholesale, which grew mid-single digits.
Additionally, our wholesale business in many other markets was up single and double digits.
Our direct-to-consumer sales improved since the second quarter and backlogs are up in many key countries including the United States.
We remain very aware of the global health crisis, yet we remain confident in our actions and the strength of our brand and business as countries reopen and consumer confidence grows.
The diversity of our distribution channels broad-based consumer demographics and our exceptionally strong balance sheet and ample liquidity have been especially beneficial to our success during this challenging year.
We believe consumers will continue to gravitate toward comfort in their lives and our athletic casual product at a reasonable price will continue to have worldwide appeal.
We see many opportunities for near and long-term growth and believe, we will be in an even stronger position in the future.

user
compname reports q3 adj. earnings of $0.53 per share.
q3 sales $1.3 billion versus refinitiv ibes estimate of $1.22 billion.
quarterly diluted earnings per share were $0.41.
q3 adjusted earnings per share $0.53.
quarterly china sales grew 23.9 percent year-over-year.
not providing further financial guidance at this time.

assistant