Women's clothing retailer Christopher & Banks Corp. (CBK), Thursday reported a wider third quarter loss on impairment charges and lower sales resulting from weak traffic and a highly promotional environment.
For the third quarter, net loss for Christopher & Banks widened to $28.82 million or $0.82 per share from $8.28 million or $0.23 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
Loss from continuing operations widened to $28.91 million or $0.82 per share from $2.29 million or $0.06 per share in the year-earlier quarter.
Result for the quarter included pre-tax charges of about $7.3 million or $0.17 per share related primarily to asset impairment associated with under-performing stores, severance and the reduction in force.
Sales for the quarter dropped to $103.89 million from $122.29 million in the same quarter a year ago. Same-store sales for the quarter were down 20%.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected revenues of $131.64 million for the quarter.
Gross margins declined significantly due to pressure on merchandise margins and de-leveraging of buying and occupancy costs.
Operating loss was $34.93 million, compared to operating loss of $4.90 million in the prior-year quarter. Total costs and expenses rose to $138.83 million from $127.19 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
For full year 2009, net loss was $12.75 million or $0.36 per share, compared to a profit of $17.02 million or $0.48 per share last year. Loss from continuing operations was $8.08 million or $0.23 per share, compared to a profit of $25.46 million or $0.71 per share in the prior year.
Net sales for the period decreased to $530.74 million from $560.91 million a year ago. Same-store sales decreased 12%. The Street expected sales of $532.46 million for the year.
CBK closed Thursday's regular trading at $4.89, down $0.11 or 2.20%, on a volume of 0.45 million shares. In after-hours trading, the stock furher gained $0.02 or 0.39%, to trade at $4.91.
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