Charming Shoppes provides outlook for Q1 of fiscal 2009
19 Mar '08
3 min read
• Net sales for the Company's Retail Stores segment were $634.6 million during the thirteen weeks ended February 2, 2008, a decrease of 12% compared to $723.9 million during the fourteen weeks ended February 3, 2007. The extra week of sales in the prior year accounted for approximately 5% of segment sales for the period ended February 3, 2007.
The year over year decrease was driven by comparable store sales decreases at each of the Company's retail brands, slightly offset by net sales increases from new store units. Consolidated comparable store sales for the Company's Retail Stores segment decreased 9% during the thirteen weeks ended February 2, 2008, compared to a 1% decrease during the fourteen weeks ended February 3, 2007.
• Net sales for the Company's Direct-to-Consumer segment were $149.0 million during the thirteen weeks ended February 2, 2008, compared to $148.2 million during the fourteen weeks ended February 3, 2007. The extra week of sales in the prior year accounted for approximately 4% of segment sales for the period ended February 3, 2007.
Commenting on sales and operating results for the fourth quarter, Dorrit J. Bern, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Charming Shoppes Inc stated, "Clearly, our performance during the fourth quarter was extremely disappointing, and was impacted by downward traffic trends and response rates to our stores and catalogs, which we continue to experience.
The combination of changing customer preferences from our merchandise offerings and the very difficult economy in which we are operating led to accelerated promotional activity and a meaningful negative impact to our merchandise margins."