Women's clothing retailer bebe stores inc announced financial results for the third quarter ended April 1, 2006.
Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 were $132.8 million, up 13.6 percent from $116.9 million reported for the third quarter a year ago. As previously reported, same store sales for the quarter increased 4.7 percent compared to an increase of 28.5 percent in the prior year.
Gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased to 46.9 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2006, compared to 46.8 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2005.
The increase in gross profit as a percentage of net sales from the prior year of 0.1 percent was primarily the result of a cumulative non-cash adjustment in the third quarter of fiscal 2005 of approximately $3.2 million ($2.0 million after tax) related to lease accounting offset by lower merchandise margins in the third quarter of fiscal 2006.
Operating income for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 was $17.5 million or 13.2 percent of net sales, compared to $16.8 million or 14.4 percent of net sales for the same period of the prior year. Net earnings for the third quarter increased 19.8 percent to $13.3 million, compared to $11.1 million for the same period of the prior year.
Diluted earnings per share for the third quarter were $0.14 after taking into account the $0.01 per share charge related to the expensing of stock based compensation versus $0.12 per share in the same period of fiscal 2005.