US retailer Ross Stores posts $4.3 billion sales in Q1 FY22

“We are disappointed with our lower-than-expected first quarter results. Following a stronger-than-planned start early in the period, sales underperformed over the balance of the quarter. We knew fiscal 2022 would be a difficult year to predict, especially the first half when we were facing last year’s record levels of government stimulus and significant customer pent-up demand as COVID restrictions eased. The external environment has also proven extremely challenging as the Russia-Ukraine conflict has exacerbated inflationary pressures on the consumer not seen in 40 years,” Barbara Rentler, chief executive officer, said.

“Given our first quarter results and today’s increasingly uncertain macro-economic and geopolitical environment, we believe it is prudent to adopt a more conservative outlook for the balance of the year. We are now forecasting same store sales for the 13 weeks ending July 30, 2022 to decrease 4 to 6 per cent on top of a very strong 15 per cent gain in the prior year period, with earnings per share projected to be $0.99 to $1.07 versus $1.39 in last year’s second quarter,” continued Rentler.

She further said, “Although we continue to expect sales and profitability to improve as we move through the year, for the 52 weeks ending January 28, 2023, we now forecast comparable store sales to decline 2 per cent to 4 per cent versus a 13 per cent gain in fiscal 2021. Earnings per share for fiscal 2022 are projected to be $4.34 to $4.58 compared to $4.87 in the prior year.”

“While the landscape in early 2022 has been tougher than expected and the year may prove to be more difficult than initially anticipated, we remain confident in our ability to successfully navigate through this period. We have shown in the past that our value-focused business model has served us well in both healthy and more uncertain external climates and believe the current challenging conditions will be no different,” Rentler concluded.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)