Abercrombie Profit Up 9 Percent
NEW ALBANY, Ohio (AP) - Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said Friday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 9 percent on increased sales from its expanding Hollister Co. chain that cater to teens and its abercrombie stores for children.
The apparel retailer said it earned $216.8 million, or $2.40 per share, for the quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with a profit of $198.2 million, or $2.14 per share, a year ago. Fourth-quarter sales rose 8 percent to $1.23 billion, from $1.14 billion. The year-ago quarter had an extra week.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected profits of $2.36 per share excluding one-time items on revenue of $1.25 billion.
Sales at stores open at least a year, considered to be a key indicator of a retailer’s strength, were down 1 percent for the quarter.
At the end of the quarter, Abercrombie operated 447 Hollister Co. stores compared with 390 stores the year before and 201 abercrombie stores compared with 177 stores the year before.
For the year, Abercrombie earned $475.7 million, or $5.20 per share, compared with $422.2 million, or $4.59 per share, the previous year. Sales rose 13 percent to $3.75 billion for the year, up from $3.32 billion a year ago. There was an extra week in the year-ago period. Same-store sales fell 1 percent for the year.
Wall Street was looking for profits of $5.16 per share on revenue of $3.8 billion for the year.
Abercrombie, based near Columbus, also had 355 Abercrombie & Fitch stores, 22 Ruehl stores and three Gilly Hicks stores at the end of the fiscal year. It has six stores in Canada and an Abercrombie store in London.
On the Net: http://www.abercrombie.com
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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Abercrombie & Fitch Co
Fourth-quarter net profit at the apparel retailer was $216.8 million, or $2.40 per share, compared with $198.2 million, or $2.14 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Brad Dorfman; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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