FACTORY 2-U STORES, INC. Announces April Sales.Business Editors SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2002 FACTORY 2-U Factory 2-U is a chain of department stores that are located mostly in the Western United States selling clothing, domestics, and merchandise, founded in 1962, originally private owned. They have 6000 employees with more than 10 stores. STORES, INC inc - /ink/ increment, i.e. increase by one. Especially used by assembly programmers, as many assembly languages have an "inc" mnemonic. Antonym: dec. . (Nasdaq:FTUS FTUS Full-Time Unit Support ) today announced that sales for the four-week period ended May 4, 2002 were $34.5 million, a decrease of 16.1% over sales of $41.1 million for the four-week period ended May 5, 2001. Comparable store sales for the four-week period ended May 4, 2002 decreased 17.9% versus a decrease of 10.5% for the same period last year. For the four-week period ended May 4, 2002, the Company opened 3 new stores in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). . Sales for the thirteen weeks ended May 4, 2002 totaled $117.0 million compared to $125.8 million for the thirteen-week period ended May 5, 2001, a decrease of 7.1%. Comparable store sales for the thirteen-week period ended May 4, 2002 decreased 11.8% versus a decrease of 6.3% for the same period last year. For the thirteen weeks ended May 4, 2002, the Company opened 5 new stores and closed 28 stores. Mike Searles, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "For the quarter ended May 4th, our sales were in line with previously communicated expectations of negative low double-digit comparable store sales. April, as expected, was down significantly as a result of the Easter shift that impacted us significantly in the first week of the month. Our Children's and Women's categories performed the best, Home performed the poorest and Men's showed continued signs of improvement. Regionally, there were no significant variances in performance other than border stores which continue to be impacted by restricted border access." Mr. Searles continued, "Inventory levels are in excellent shape and our average purchase size continues to track to last year's level with our total decrease in comparable store sales resulting from reduced traffic. Our advertising efforts will be back to last year's level for the second quarter and our marketing initiatives aimed at increasing traffic and transactions are on track. As a result, we expect a modest improvement in second quarter comparable sales versus recent trends and significant improvement in the second half of this fiscal year." Mr. Searles concluded, "We expect to report a first quarter loss between $0.24 to $0.27 per share, a result below the consensus estimate of $0.17. The increased loss versus the consensus estimate was the result of costs associated with a recently initiated long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. consulting project for developing marketing and merchandising merchandising Element of marketing concerned especially with the sale of goods and services to customers. One aspect of merchandising is advertising, which aims to capture the interest of the segment of the population most likely to buy the product. strategies and higher advertising expense." We will provide a mid-month sales update for May on May 20, 2002 at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. Those interested can access this update message at 1-888-201-9603. This message will remain available until June 24, 2002. We will release our May sales results on June 5, 2002 after the market closes, or approximately 4:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. We expect to release our first quarter operating results on May 15, 2002 after the market closes, or approximately 4:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. We will host a real-time 1. real-time - Describes an application which requires a program to respond to stimuli within some small upper limit of response time (typically milli- or microseconds). Process control at a chemical plant is the classic example. webcast presentation and live conference call to discuss our first quarter operating results and second quarter sales and operating results expectations, the same day at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. To participate in the call, dial 1-800-843-7949 five minutes before the call or access the Internet at www.factory2-u.com. All shareholders and other interested parties are encouraged to participate. A replay of the call will remain available for 48 hours by telephone or on the Internet through August 13, 2002. You may also obtain a transcript A generic term for any kind of copy, particularly an official or certified representation of the record of what took place in a court during a trial or other legal proceeding. A transcript of record of the call by contacting Kehoe, White & Co., Inc. at 1-562-437-0655. FACTORY 2-U STORES, INC. operates 256 "Factory 2-U" off-price retail stores which sell branded casual apparel for the family, as well as selected domestics and household merchandise at prices which generally are significantly lower than the prices offered by its discount competitors. The Company operates 33 stores in Arizona, 3 stores in Arkansas, 64 stores in southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , 61 stores in northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern , 1 store in Idaho, 5 stores in Louisiana, 3 stores in Missouri, 8 stores in Nevada, 9 stores in New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). , 2 stores in Oklahoma, 14 stores in Oregon, 2 stores in Tennessee, 35 stores in Texas, and 16 stores in Washington. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from the Company's present expectations. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are: customer demand and trends in the off-price apparel industry, the effect of economic conditions, the impact of competitive openings and pricing, supply constraints CONSTRAINTS - A language for solving constraints using value inference. ["CONSTRAINTS: A Language for Expressing Almost-Hierarchical Descriptions", G.J. Sussman et al, Artif Intell 14(1):1-39 (Aug 1980)]. or difficulties, and other risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion