American Apparel sales up 13% in 2012

Financial Performance Highlights for 2012 and the Fourth Quarter of 2012

Sales:
Net sales: Up 13% for year; 10% for the fourth quarter.
Comparable retail store sales: Up 13% for the year; 7% for the fourth quarter.
Online sales: Up 30% for the year; 42% for the fourth quarter.
Wholesale sales: Up 12% for the year; 19% for the fourth quarter.

Gross Profit:
For the year: Up 11% to $327.4 million in 2012 from $294.9 million in 2011.
For the fourth quarter: Up 11% to $93.1 million in 2012 from $83.8 million in 2011.

Operating Expenses as a Percentage of Sales:
For the year: Down 5.2 percentage points to 52.9% in 2012 from 58.1% in 2011.
For the fourth quarter: Down 4.9 percentage points to 49.8% in 2012 from 54.7% in 2011.

Cash Generated from Operating Activities:
For the year: Up $21.3 million to $23.6 million in 2012 from $2.3 million in 2011.
For the fourth quarter: Up $9.7 million to $22.0 million in 2012 from $12.3 million in 2011.

Operating Income:
For the year: Up $24.3 million to $1 million in 2012 from a loss of $23.3 million in 2011.
For the fourth quarter: Up $9.2 million to $6.8 million in 2012 from a loss of $2.4 million in 2011.

Adjusted EBITDA:
For the year: Up 150% to $36.6 million in 2012 from $14.5 million in 2011.
For the fourth quarter: Up 95% to $17.8 million in 2012 from $9.1 for in 2011.

Earnings (Loss) per Share, Diluted:
For the year: Up $0.07 per share to a loss of $0.35 in 2012 from a loss of $0.42 in 2011.
For the fourth quarter: Up $0.15 per share to $0.04 in 2012 from a loss of $0.11 in 2011.

Operating Results - Fourth Quarter 2012

Comparing the fourth quarter 2012 to the corresponding period last year, net sales increased 10% to $173.0 million on an 11% increase in comparable store sales in the retail and online business and a 19% increase in net sales in the wholesale business.

Gross profit of $93.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 represented an increase of 11% from $83.8 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2011. Foreign currency effects were minimal for the quarter. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2012 was 53.8% as compared with 53.2% for the same quarter in 2011. The gross margin improvement was due to a shift in sales mix to higher margin online sales, reductions in manufacturing costs, and an improvement in retail gross margin.

As a percent of revenue, operating expenses for the quarter decreased 490 basis points to 49.8% from 54.7% in the fourth quarter 2011. The decrease was primarily due to control over and leverage of fixed overhead expenses.