TORONTO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - T-shirt maker Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL.TO) reported a 24 percent decline in quarterly profit on Thursday 13 August, hurt by a drop in demand and lower gross margins.

Gildan Activewear Inc - Photo: gildan.com

The Montreal-based company, which sells T-shirts, socks and underwear, earned $41.5 million, or 34 cents a share, in its third quarter, down from $54.5 million, or 45 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding restructuring charges, the company earned $44.9 million, or 37 cents a share, compared with $56.8 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted EPS, which excludes income tax recoveries, was 32 cents a share.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 29 cents a share, before items, according to Reuters Estimates. It was not immediately which earnings figure is comparable to the Reuters estimate.

Sales fell 19.2 percent to $307.8 million, with sales in activewear and underwear down 15.6 percent and sales of socks down 33.6 percent.

The average Reuters estimate was $335.8 million.

Gross margins for the quarter were 24.4 percent, compared with 26.6 percent a year earlier.

The company sees gross margins improving "slightly" in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, as a more favorable product-mix and lower manufacturing, energy and cotton costs are expected to offset discounts by competitors. ($1=$1.08 Canadian) (Reporting by Scott Anderson; Editing by Derek Caney)