Claire's Stores, Inc. Reports June Same Store Sales
PEMBROKE PINES, FL., July 12, Claire's Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CLE) reported today sales for the five weeks ended July 7, 2001 decreased 6 percent to $91,384,000 compared with $97,006,000 reported for the five weeks ended July 1, 2000. The Company's same store sales for the five-week period ended July 7, 2001 decreased 7 percent.
Comparable sales by brand for June were as follows:
· Claire's Accessories North America: negative mid single digits
· Claire's Accessories Europe: negative low single digits
· Afterthoughts: negative low double digits
· Mr. Rags: negative mid double digits
Rowland Schaefer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Claire's, said "Based on current weak sales trends and the uncertain retail environment, we expect second quarter earnings to come in well below our previous second quarter earnings estimate of 19 cents per share. At this time, we are not comfortable offering any additional earnings guidance with regard to the second quarter."
"In general, customer traffic continues to be a problem. However, when the customer is in the store they tend to spend. Our average transaction for June increased almost 10% in our North America accessory stores while the number of transactions decreased by 14%. We will continue to be very promotional in our stores to ensure space for the new flow of merchandise for back to school and aggressively manage our inventory levels during this difficult period." Mr. Schaefer added.
Claire's Stores, Inc.
(Monthly Sales in 000's)
Reporting Period FY 2002 FY 2001 TOTAL SAME STORE
CHANGE CHANGE
February $ 67,522 $ 64,616 5% 0%
March $ 88,486 $ 86,960 2% 0%
April $ 79,059 $ 80,451 (2%) (1%)
May $ 72,438 $ 73,144 (1%) (3%)
June $ 91,384 $ 97,006 (6%) (7%)
Year to Date $ 398,889 $ 402,177 (1%) (2%)
Claire's Stores, Inc., the leading mall-based retailer of popular-priced pre-teen and teens accessories, costume jewelry and apparel, currently operates more than 3,000 stores under the following trade names: Claire's Accessories, Afterthoughts, the Icing, Mr. Rags and Velvet Pixies. The stores are located throughout North America, the Caribbean, Japan, United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and France.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: This release contains "forward-looking statements" which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs with respect to future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Those factors include, without limitation, changes in consumer preferences and consumer spending for pre-teen and teen apparel and accessories, competition, and economic conditions in North America, Europe, United Kingdom and Japan. These and other applicable risks, cautionary statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from the Company's forward looking statements are included in the Company's filings with the SEC, specifically as described in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2001.
Note: Other Claire's Stores, Inc. press releases, a corporate profile and most recent 10-K and 10-Q reports are available by fax at no charge. For a menu of available material, call 1-800-CLENYSE (1-800-253-6973) or via Claire's Internet home page: http://www.clairestores.com.
Contacts:
Sonia Rohan
Director of Investor Relations
Phone: (212) 594-3127
Fax: (212) 244-4237
E-mail: sonia.rohan@claires.com
