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Positive early response to new merchandise at Talbots brands
28 Aug '08
5 min read
However, given the heavy inventory position of the J. Jill brand, we took aggressive markdowns during the quarter, which hurt gross margin and our second quarter total Company operating performance. As a result, we began the fall season with an appropriately lean inventory position."
"Also during the quarter, we made significant progress in all activities related to the closing of Talbots Kids, Mens and U.K. non-core businesses. As a result, we will complete the closing of these businesses by mid-September at a greatly reduced cost versus our original expectation. We currently anticipate that total close down costs of these non-core businesses to be a net loss of $0.27 to $0.32 per share, compared to our original estimate for a net loss of $0.59 to $0.64 per share."
Sales Results:
Total consolidated Company sales for the thirteen week period ended August 2, 2008 were $528 million. By brand, retail store sales were $352 million for Talbots compared to $392 million last year, and $74 million for J. Jill compared to $80 million last year.
Consolidated direct marketing sales, including catalog and Internet, for the thirteen-week period were $102 million, compared to $100 million last year.
Total Company comparable store sales declined 12.0% for the thirteen-week period. By brand, comparable store sales for Talbots and J. Jill decreased 11.7% and 13.2% respectively.
Brand Commentary:
Ms. Sullivan added, "We continued to see strong improvement in our Talbots brand ongoing core operations merchandise gross margin, which increased 380 basis points over the prior year, driven by a combination of lean inventories, a monthly markdown cadence and improved IMU. We cleared through the vast majority of our spring and summer merchandise and have focused our attention on the fall selling season."
"Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the significantly improved sell-through rates we are seeing versus the prior year from our new merchandise assortment across all channels."
"For the J. Jill brand, our aggressive markdown posture during the quarter resulted in a steep decline of 540 basis points in the J. Jill brand merchandise gross margin compared to the prior year, which partially offset the improvement at the Talbots brand. Again, this initiative was a necessary step towards leveling the inventory to enable full price selling."
"With this critical step behind us, we were excited to receive positive customer response to our product deliveries from our new J. Jill creative team in July and an even greater response to the second delivery in August. Poised with a new inventory management and merchandise assortment plan, we are encouraged by the momentum that is beginning to build in this brand."
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"Also during the quarter, we made significant progress in all activities related to the closing of Talbots Kids, Mens and U.K. non-core businesses. As a result, we will complete the closing of these businesses by mid-September at a greatly reduced cost versus our original expectation. We currently anticipate that total close down costs of these non-core businesses to be a net loss of $0.27 to $0.32 per share, compared to our original estimate for a net loss of $0.59 to $0.64 per share."
Sales Results:
Total consolidated Company sales for the thirteen week period ended August 2, 2008 were $528 million. By brand, retail store sales were $352 million for Talbots compared to $392 million last year, and $74 million for J. Jill compared to $80 million last year.
Consolidated direct marketing sales, including catalog and Internet, for the thirteen-week period were $102 million, compared to $100 million last year.
Total Company comparable store sales declined 12.0% for the thirteen-week period. By brand, comparable store sales for Talbots and J. Jill decreased 11.7% and 13.2% respectively.
Brand Commentary:
Ms. Sullivan added, "We continued to see strong improvement in our Talbots brand ongoing core operations merchandise gross margin, which increased 380 basis points over the prior year, driven by a combination of lean inventories, a monthly markdown cadence and improved IMU. We cleared through the vast majority of our spring and summer merchandise and have focused our attention on the fall selling season."
"Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the significantly improved sell-through rates we are seeing versus the prior year from our new merchandise assortment across all channels."
"For the J. Jill brand, our aggressive markdown posture during the quarter resulted in a steep decline of 540 basis points in the J. Jill brand merchandise gross margin compared to the prior year, which partially offset the improvement at the Talbots brand. Again, this initiative was a necessary step towards leveling the inventory to enable full price selling."
"With this critical step behind us, we were excited to receive positive customer response to our product deliveries from our new J. Jill creative team in July and an even greater response to the second delivery in August. Poised with a new inventory management and merchandise assortment plan, we are encouraged by the momentum that is beginning to build in this brand."
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Talbots Inc
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