bebe stores announces Q3 earnings of $0.09 per share
02 May '08
5 min read
bebe stores inc announced unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended April 5, 2008.
Net sales for the thirteen week period ended April 5, 2008 were $151.7 million versus $154.4 million reported for the fourteen week period ended April 7, 2007, which included approximately $10 million in sales due to the additional week in fiscal 2007.
Excluding sales from the additional week in fiscal 2007, sales increased 4.7% compared to the corresponding thirteen week period in the prior year. Same store sales for the thirteen week period ended April 5, 2008 decreased 7.6% compared to a decrease of 0.4% for the thirteen week period in the prior year.
Gross margin as a percentage of net sales decreased to 43.8% in the third quarter of fiscal 2008, compared to 45.3% in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. The decrease in gross margin as a percentage of net sales from the prior year of 1.5% was primarily due to unfavorable occupancy partially offset by higher merchandise margin. In addition, gross margin in the third quarter of fiscal 2007 included substantial raw material reserve reversals.
SG&A expenses for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 were $59.0 million, or 38.9% of net sales, compared to $54.1 million, or 35.1% of net sales for the same period of the prior year. The increase in SG&A expenses as a percent of sales is primarily due to higher total compensation expense, advertising expense and the recording of an impairment charge of $773,000 for three underperforming store locations.
Operating income for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 was $7.3 million or 4.9% of net sales, compared to $15.7 million or 10.2% of net sales for the same period of the prior year.
The effective tax rate for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 decreased to 33.6% from 35.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2007, primarily due to an increase in tax free interest income as a percent of total pretax income and an increase in our allowable domestic manufacturing deduction during the current year.