Inventory On a year-over-year basis, the company reported that inventory per square foot was down 13 percent at the end of the third quarter. At the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008, the company expects inventory per square foot to be down in the high-single digits compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007. This reduction is on top of a 15 percent decline as reported at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007. Please see the Financials section on www.gapinc.com for the company's explanation of numerical range guidance.
Interest Expense The company continues to expect fiscal year 2008 interest expense to be about $5 million.
Depreciation and Amortization The company continues to expect depreciation and amortization expense for fiscal year 2008 to be about $550 million.
Capital Expenditures Year-to-date capital expenditures were $315 million. The company continues to expect capital spending of about $450 million in fiscal year 2008.
Real Estate During the third quarter of fiscal year 2008, the company opened 37 store locations and closed 17 store locations. This compares with 115 openings and 67 closings for the third quarter of the prior year, which included 45 Old Navy Outlet store conversions.
The company ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2008 with 3,190 store locations, and net square footage increased 0.8 percent from the end of fiscal year 2007.
Year-to-date, the company has opened 92 store locations and closed 69 store locations. These numbers include 16 repositions, which are reflected as both an opening and a closing.
The company continues to expect that it will open about 100 stores and close about 115 stores for fiscal year 2008, including repositions. The company continues to expect that net square footage will remain roughly flat in fiscal year 2008 over last year.
November Sales The company will report November sales on December 4, 2008.