March 4 (Reuters) - Shoe and hat retailer Genesco Inc's (GCO.N) fourth-quarter profit beat market expectations, driven by strong sales of its Hatworld brands, direct-to-consumer catalog and e-commerce businesses, and the company reaffirmed its fiscal 2011 forecast.

Journeys from Genesco - Photo: www.genesco.com

For the quarter ended Jan. 30, the company reported earnings of $25.8 million, or $1.08 a share, from continuing operations, compared with $23.2 million, or $1.05 a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.16 a share from continuing operations.

Revenue at the company, which also sells footwear at wholesale under its Johnston & Murphy brand and under the licensed Dockers brand, rose 6 percent to $479 million.

Analysts were looking for earnings of $1.12 a share, on revenue of $466.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Genesco, which sells branded footwear and headwear in more than 2,240 stores in the United States and Canada, backed it fiscal 2011 earnings view of $2.00 to $2.10 a share.

The outlook does not include expected non-cash impairments of about $0.23 to $0.28 a share in fiscal 2011.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $2.07 a share for 2011.

The Nashville-based company's shares, which have risen 67 percent in the last one year, closed at $25.81 Wednesday 3 March on the New York Stock Exchange.

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