Polo Ralph reports strong revenue gains in retail & wholesale businesses

08 Jul '05

3 min read

Leading apparel & accessories retailer Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation announced lift up in earnings expectation for the first quarter of Fiscal 2006 as a result of operating margins trending ahead of prior guidance.

Also, the Company is providing additional information regarding quarterly adjusted earnings per share for Fiscal 2005.

The Company is raising its expectation for the first quarter of Fiscal 2006, ended July 2, 2005, based on significant improvements in business operations made during the quarter.

While revenues are expected to increase more than 20%, as previously forecast, the operating margin is now expected to increase between 500 and 550 basis points compared to last year.

The Company's previous guidance was that operating margins would almost double last year's 3.7%. The Company intends to address its full year outlook when it reports the first quarter of Fiscal 2006 on August 9, 2005.

"They are pleased that our multi-year business strategy is resulting in better than forecasted performance. Our retail and wholesale businesses are reporting strong revenue grows that were driven by better full-price sell-throughs. In addition, they were able to better leverage our incremental sales through improved expense management," said Roger Farah, President and Chief Operating Officer.

"However, our first quarter is our smallest profit contributor for the year and it would be premature to address full year guidanceat this time. They will be in a better position to comment on our full year outlook when they report our first quarter earnings in August."

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