Citi Trends Inc. (CTRN) announced Tuesday the appointment of Kenneth (Ken) Seipel as Chief Executive Officer, effective November 18. The Board also appointed Peter Sachse, the current Executive Chairman of the Board, as Chairman of the Board.
Further, the firm issued preliminary third-quarter results, expecting adjusted EBITDA loss of $3.3 million, which includes strategic costs for in-depth customer and market research and costs to improve operational processes.
Gross margin is expected to be 39.8 percent, an increase of 160 basis points from last year, while sales is projected to be $179.1 million with comparable store sales growth of 5.7 percent.
The company said the sales and gross margin results are due to improved product, better allocation methods and increased customer traffic.
Third- quarter sales results are expected to be above the company's previous outlook of second half comparable store sales results flat to up low single digits compared to prior year.
Regarding the appointment, the company noted that Seipel has been serving as the Interim CEO of Citi Trends since June 1, 2024, and on the Board of Directors since 2019.
Sachse said, "We are pleased with our sales and gross margin performance in Q3 2024 and are excited to appoint Ken to the permanent role of CEO. In a short period of time, Ken has improved the Company's business performance... . Ken's deep retail experience and his strong track record of leading significant value creation as CEO in past companies gives us confidence that he will develop and execute Citi Trends' long term strategic plan to more than triple our company value."
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