Christopher & Banks plagued by weather, port dispute
The West Coast port dispute and traffic declines due to weather led to a big loss for Christopher & Banks Corp. in the first quarter.
For the first quarter ended May 2, the company posted a loss $1.44 million, or four cents a share, compared with a profit of $2.62 million, or seven cents a share, in the previous year.Total costs and expenses exceed net sales of $91.62 million, which was an 11 % drop from $103.37 million, while same-store sales dropped 11.7%.
“Overall, our first quarter results were in-line with our expectations which reflected the residual impact from the West Coast port delays and unseasonably cold weather throughout certain regions in which we operate,” said LuAnn Via, president and CEO. “We continued to make progress on several of our key strategic initiatives during the quarter, including optimizing our real estate portfolio and enhancing our merchandise offering.”
During the second quarter of fiscal 2015, Christopher & Banks expects to open one new Missy, Petite, Women (MPW) and 14 new outlet stores, and also close one CB store and convert seven others to MPW stores.
Christopher & Banks is also employing its “Customer First/Omni-Channel” strategy of upgrading its CRM, POS, order management and web platforms. The retailer’s recently implemented retail business intelligence tool is now providing greater insight into the business, which the retailer hopes will allow more impactful adjustments to our assortments at store level.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2015, Christopher & Banks expects total net sales of between $100 million and $103 million, as compared to net sales of $106.6 million in the prior year’s second quarter. For the full fiscal year, the retailer anticipates net sales between $416 and $423 million.