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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 |
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 The New York luxury department store chain Saks Inc. says its fiscal fourth-quarter net income climbed 48 percent, helped by strong sales of handbags, fine jewelry and men's and women's clothing. "Our customers are more discerning and demanding
than ever before, and our future depends on our ability to successfully and quickly evolve with the customer," Saks' Chairman and CEO Stephen Sadove said in a statement. Still, he added that Saks must keep on working hard to keep pace with its shoppers' needs.
For the period ended Jan. 28, Saks earned $37 million, or 21 cents per share. That compares with earnings of $25 million, or 14 cents per share, last year. Removing store closing costs, impairment charges and other items, earnings were 17 cents per share. That tops the 14 cents-per-share forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet.
"We managed our inventory, reduced our promotional activity and generated more full-price selling," said Sadove on a conference call with analysts, reported Reuters..
Adjusted net income, which excluded items, was $29 million or $0.17 per share, compared to prior year's $21.6 million or $0.13 per share. On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.14 per
share. Such estimates typically exclude special items.
Quarterly net sales grew 6.8 percent to $925.10 million from $866.33 million a year ago, beating Wall Street analysts' estimate of $919.45 million. Comparable store sales rose 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations and ahead same period last year´s 8.4 percent increase.
For the fourth quarter, the gross margin rate was 37.6 percent, 20% cut from last year's 37.8 percent.
As per the company´s forecast for 2012, Saks projects comparable store sales to grow in the 5 percent to 7 percent range and gross margin rate to be modestly above the 40.8 percent rate achieved in 2011.
Saks' stock added 58 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $11.45 in Tuesday premarket trading.
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