francesca's(R) Raises Fourth Quarter 2014 Guidance Based on Holiday Results
January 08 2015 - 4:01PM
Francesca's Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:FRAN) today announced that
the Company has updated its guidance for the fourth quarter ending
January 31, 2015 based on its holiday period sales performance and
current expectations for the remainder of the quarter.
The Company now expects sales for the fourth quarter ending
January 31, 2015 to be between $103.0 million and $105.0 million,
including a low-single-digit decrease in comparable sales. This
compares to previous guidance provided on December 10, 2014 of
sales between $96.0 million and $102.0 million, including a
decrease of 5% to 10% in comparable sales. Adjusted earnings per
diluted share for the quarter, excluding costs related to our CEO
transition (projected to be approximately $0.03), are expected to
be in the range of $0.17 to $0.20 for the fourth quarter ending
January 31, 2015, compared to the Company's previous guidance of
$0.13 to $0.19.
Mike Barnes, francesca's® Chairman, President, and Chief
Executive Officer commented, "We are pleased with our sales results
through the first two months of the quarter. Our customers
responded favorably to our broad assortment of seasonal and holiday
product offerings, particularly in our giftable categories. For the
remainder of the quarter, we plan to diligently move through excess
inventory and clearance product, particularly in apparel. As we
stated in our last conference call, we expect these actions to
result in a gross margin decline of 475 to 525 basis points during
the quarter as compared to last year. We believe this will enable
us to enter FY 2015 in a better position with cleaner inventory and
an appropriate amount of newness in our boutiques."
The Company management plans to attend the 17th Annual ICR
XChange Conference to be held at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande
Lakes in Orlando, Florida on Monday, January 12, 2015 and Tuesday,
January 13, 2015.
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, as amended. 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. 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 for the year ended February 1, 2014 filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on March 28, 2014 and any risk
factors contained in subsequent quarterly and annual reports we
file with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward- looking statement. Financial schedules are
attached to this release.
The Company may not issue future press releases discussing sales
trends such as this one other than associated with routine
quarterly and annual financial reporting.
SEC Regulation G — Non-GAAP Information
This press release includes non-GAAP adjusted earnings per
diluted share, a non-GAAP financial measure. We have not reconciled
this non-GAAP financial measure with the most directly comparable
GAAP financial measure as at the time of this press release the
value of the adjustment to the GAAP financial measure is not yet
available without unreasonable efforts. We believe that this
non-GAAP financial measure not only provides our management with
comparable financial data for internal financial analysis but also
provides meaningful supplemental information to investors.
Specifically, this non-GAAP financial measure allows investors to
better understand the performance of our business and facilitate a
meaningful evaluation of our diluted earnings per share guidance on
a comparable basis with our 2013 results. This non-GAAP measure
should be considered a supplement to, and not as a substitute for,
or superior to, a financial measure calculated in accordance with
GAAP.
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 538 boutiques in 47 states and
the District of Columbia 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
Mark Vendetti
832-494-2315
Mark.Vendetti@francescas.com
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