For the thirteen week period ended August 2, 2014 or the second fiscal quarter of 2014, net income leapt massively from a net loss in the corresponding quarter of 2013 at specialty women's apparel retailer and NYSE-listed Christopher & Banks Corporation.
Net income for the second quarter of 2014 soared to $3.4 million, or $0.09 earning per diluted share, compared to net loss of $265,000 for the thirteen weeks ended August 3, 2013, or a $0.01 loss per share.
In the second quarter of 2014, net sales rose 2.3% to $106.6 million from $104.2 million a year earlier. The retailer said during the quarter, it operated an average of 9.3% fewer stores than during the comparable period last year.
Same-store sales increased 2.6% down from 7.7% same-store sales increase that the apparel retailer posted in last year's second quarter. Christopher & Banks was able to hike its gross margin to 35.3% in the quarter under preview compared to 33.5% in second quarter of 2013.
Operating income totalled $3.3 million for the thirteen week period ended August 2, 2014 versus operating loss of $700 for the thirteen weeks ended August 3, 2013.
Christopher & Banks CEO LuAnn Via said, "We delivered solid financial results in the second quarter and made continued progress toward our long-term growth objectives. We have significant opportunity ahead of us across all facets of our business."
LuAnn added, "We are continuing to refine our mix of core and fashion merchandise, enhancing our marketing efforts, and upgrading the ecommerce business, in addition to optimizing our real estate portfolio."
Cash and cash-equivalents, and investments totalled $43.4 million as of August 2, 2014. Inventory per square foot, excluding in-transit and ecommerce inventory, increased approximately 39.2%, or $4.67 per square foot, as of August 2, 2014, as compared to August 3, 2013.
The retailer attributed the planned increase in inventory primarily to its initial investment in a number of core programs launched in fiscal 2014 and the additional inventory for the 53 Christopher & Banks stores that received CJ Banks product in early May.
For the thirteen week period ended August 2, 2014, Christopher & Banks said it had no outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility, and capital expenditures totalled approximately $6.1 million.
For the third fiscal quarter, Christopher & Banks expects net sales of between $122 and $124 million, up from $118.1 million in last year's third quarter. It also expects to reduce store count to an average of 550 stores in third quarter of 2014 as compared to 596 stores on average, during last year's third quarter.
Driven largely by improved merchandise margins, the retailer forecasts around 75 to 125 bps of gross margin improvement.
