Interviews
News Flash
Mothers Work Comparable store sales fall in Dec
11 Jan '08
4 min read
For the quarter ended December 31, 2007, the Company opened seven stores, including two new multi-brand stores, which included the Company's 15th Destination Maternity superstore, and closed 16 stores, including eight store closings related to multi-brand store openings.
Rebecca Matthias, President, Chief Creative Officer and Acting Chief Merchandising Officer of Mothers Work, noted, "Our sales for the month of December were significantly weaker than planned, although we did see a significant improvement in our sales trend late in the month and continuing into January 2008.
Our sales for the month of December continued to reflect a difficult overall economic and retail environment, as well as some negative impact from the popularity of certain styles in the non-maternity women's apparel market which can more readily fit a pregnant woman early in her pregnancy than typical non-maternity fashions.
As a result of our weaker than expected salestrend, our sales for the first quarter of $142.9 million were lower than our guidance range of $144 million to $147 million provided in our November 20, 2007 press release, with our comparable store sales decrease of 4.1% for the quarter falling short of our guidance range for comparable store sales of between down 2.0% and flat for the first quarter.
The weak sales trend we have seen in recent months has also resulted in us taking some increased markdowns to help manage our inventory level, which has resulted in somewhat lower than planned gross margins.
Our gross margins were also hurt due to spreading fixed product overhead costs over a smaller than planned sales volume.
With our lower than planned sales and gross margins for the quarter, we project that our first quarter diluted earnings per share, will be a loss of between $(0.04) and $(0.08) per share, below our guidance for diluted earnings per common share of between $0.11 per share and $0.25 per share.
"We will report results for our first quarter and hold an investor conference call on January 24, 2008, at which time we will provide additional information related to our results for the first quarter and our future financial guidance."
Rebecca Matthias, President, Chief Creative Officer and Acting Chief Merchandising Officer of Mothers Work, noted, "Our sales for the month of December were significantly weaker than planned, although we did see a significant improvement in our sales trend late in the month and continuing into January 2008.
Our sales for the month of December continued to reflect a difficult overall economic and retail environment, as well as some negative impact from the popularity of certain styles in the non-maternity women's apparel market which can more readily fit a pregnant woman early in her pregnancy than typical non-maternity fashions.
As a result of our weaker than expected salestrend, our sales for the first quarter of $142.9 million were lower than our guidance range of $144 million to $147 million provided in our November 20, 2007 press release, with our comparable store sales decrease of 4.1% for the quarter falling short of our guidance range for comparable store sales of between down 2.0% and flat for the first quarter.
The weak sales trend we have seen in recent months has also resulted in us taking some increased markdowns to help manage our inventory level, which has resulted in somewhat lower than planned gross margins.
Our gross margins were also hurt due to spreading fixed product overhead costs over a smaller than planned sales volume.
With our lower than planned sales and gross margins for the quarter, we project that our first quarter diluted earnings per share, will be a loss of between $(0.04) and $(0.08) per share, below our guidance for diluted earnings per common share of between $0.11 per share and $0.25 per share.
"We will report results for our first quarter and hold an investor conference call on January 24, 2008, at which time we will provide additional information related to our results for the first quarter and our future financial guidance."
Mothers Work Inc
Popular News
Leave your Comments
Dr. Michael Duetsch & Man Woo Lee
UPM Biochemicals and Dongsung Chemical
Andreas Rass
ZIMMER AUSTRIA | Digital Printing Systems
Alex and Zofia Torun-Shaw
Brand - Laird Utility
Esteemed Clients
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
