Children's Place Profit Rises

New York City Children's Place Retail Stores reported higher quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by its exit from the Disney Stores business and increased same-store sales.

The company said net income rose to $19.5 million in the first quarter that ended on May 3, from $14.7 million a year earlier.

Net sales rose 12% to $400.2 million as same-store sales increased 5%.

Children’s Place said it was "encouraged" by customer response to its summer merchandise. The company said the latest quarter's results showed it is making progress toward "returning the company to its historical level of profitability."

The company recently decided to return more than 200 stores to Walt Disney Co. Earlier this month Disney said it took over 220 Disney Store outlets in North America from Children's Place and would close about 98 stores in the United States and two in Canada.