francesca's(R) Updates Fourth Quarter 2013 Guidance to High End of Range on Holiday Sales Results
January 10 2014 - 7:30AM
Francesca's Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:FRAN) today announced that
the Company has updated its guidance for the fourth quarter ending
February 1, 2014 based on its holiday period sales performance.
The Company now expects sales for the fourth quarter ending
February 1, 2014 to be between $93.0 million and $95.0 million,
including a mid to low single digit decrease in comparable sales.
This compares to previous guidance provided on December 5, 2013 of
sales between $90.0 million and $95.0 million, including a decrease
of 8% to 3% in comparable sales. Earnings per diluted share for the
quarter are expected to be in the range of $0.27 to $0.29 for the
fourth quarter ending February 1, 2014, at the high end of the
Company's previous guidance of $0.25 to $0.29.
Neill P. Davis, francesca's® Chief Executive Officer stated,
"After a lackluster start to the holiday selling season beginning
the week of Thanksgiving, we ended the season stronger. Our
customers responded well to our offerings, particularly apparel,
accessories, and gifts. In addition, we remained diligent during
the quarter aligning our inventory levels to our year-end
objectives. As a result, we expect inventory, on an average
boutique basis, to be flat to the comparable prior year period.
Overall, we believe that our differentiated business model,
combined with our retail growth strategy and execution of our
operational initiatives, will continue to drive improvements in
long term shareholder value."
The Company management will be presenting at the 15th Annual ICR
XChange Conference to be held at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande
Lakes in Orlando, Florida on Monday, January 13, 2014 at 3:00 PM
Eastern Standard Time.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking
statements" made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current
expectations or beliefs concerning future events and are subject to
various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those that we expected. These risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: the
risk that we cannot anticipate, identify and respond quickly to
changing fashion trends and customer preferences; our ability to
attract a sufficient number of customers to our boutiques or sell
sufficient quantities of our merchandise through our
direct-to-consumer business; our ability to successfully open and
operate new boutiques each year; and our ability to efficiently
source and distribute additional merchandise quantities necessary
to support our growth. For additional information regarding these
and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking
statements, please refer to "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K and our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22, 2013 and
December 9, 2013, respectively. We undertake no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.
The Company may not issue future press releases discussing sales
trends and financial guidance such as this one other than
associated with routine quarterly and annual financial
reporting.
About Francesca's Holdings Corporation
francesca's® is a growing specialty retailer with retail
locations designed and merchandised to feel like independently
owned, upscale boutiques providing customers a fun and
differentiated shopping experience. The merchandise assortment is a
diverse and balanced mix of apparel, jewelry, accessories and
gifts. Today francesca's® operates 447 boutiques in 45 states and
also serves its customers through francescas.com. For additional
information on francesca's®, please visit www.francescas.com.
CONTACT: ICR, Inc.
Jean Fontana
646-277-1214
Company
Randi Sonenshein, Vice President,
Finance and Investor Relations
832-494-2250
Randi.Sonenshein@francescas.com
Francescas (NASDAQ:FRAN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Francescas (NASDAQ:FRAN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024