Ann Taylor logs 11.4% operating profits of net sales

19 May '06

4 min read

Gross margin as a percentage of net sales increased to 56.6 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2006, compared to 51.0 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2005. The increase in gross margin as a percentage of net sales is primarily due to higher full price sales at both divisions, and higher margin rates achieved on non-full price sales.

Operating profit was 11.4 percent of net sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 compared to 5.8 percent of net sales in the first quarter of last year.

Total store square footage increased 11.5 percent to 4.8 million square feet as of April 29, 2006, from 4.3 million square feet as of April 30,2005. Total square footage by division at the end of the first quarter was 1.9 million square feet for Ann Taylor and 2.5 million square feet for Ann Taylor LOFT.

During the first quarter, the Company purchased 700,000 shares of its common stock at a cost of approximately $25.2 million. Of the $100 million securities repurchase program authorized by our Board of Directors in August 2005, approximately $46.5 million remains.

Fiscal Year 2006 Guidance Increased
The Company expects to see fiscal year 2006 comparable store sales increase in the low single-digit range over 2005, with gross margin improvement over last year, primarily in the first half of the year. Additionally, the Company expects selling, general and administrative expenses to grow by approximately 12 percent over reported 2005 levels.

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