Destination Maternity swings to Q4 loss on higher costs

Philadelphia – Destination Maternity Corp. swung to a net loss of $2.48 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 from net earnings of $5.63 million in the same quarter last year. Higher cost of goods sold, as well as higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) charges and other charges, helped push Destination Maternity out the black and into the red.



Net sales fell 5% to $122.05 million from $128.25 million. Same-store sales dropped 5%.



For the full fiscal year, net income declined 56% to $10.5 million from $23.9 million. Net sales decreased 4% to $517 million from $540.3 million, while same-store sales dropped 3.7%.



Anthony M. Romano, CEO of Destination Maternity, said the company will work to better manage inventory and become more customer-focused and product-centric.



"We are disappointed in our performance for both the quarter and full year,” said Romano. “Like most of retail during our fourth quarter, we struggled with the macro-economic environment and traffic was challenging. Although several categories performed well, we believe our product offering did not consistently match what our customers wanted, particularly the millennial moms-to-be, who represent a growing share of today's market.”