Children's Place reports 2Q sales increase

SECAUCUS, N.J. The Children's Place Retail Stores reported that net sales from continuing operations for the second quarter increased 16% to $338 million, compared to $290.5 million last year. Comparable-store sales increased 9% in the second quarter of 2008 compared to a 1% decrease last year.

Income from continuing operations after tax was $2.7 million, or 9 cents earnings per share, in the second quarter of 2008, compared to a loss of $19.8 million, or 68 cents loss per share, last year.    

Chuck Crovitz, interim ceo of The Children's Place Retail Stores, commented, "We are gratified to see that the hard work and dedication of our entire team continued to pay off in the second quarter. Overall, we achieved solid top-line growth for the quarter while implementing cost reduction initiatives to better support our value positioning. Our merchandise assortment for summer was very well-received by customers and our sharpened e-commerce marketing and merchandising efforts helped to drive Web traffic and sales.