L Brands beats Street again with strong profit in Q1

Columbus, Ohio -- L Brands Inc. continued its winning ways in its first quarter, reporting better-than-expected earnings. The parent company of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works also lifted its earnings forecast for the full year, but issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.



L Brands’ net income increased 59% to $250.47 million from $156.98 million in the year-ago period.



Net sales grew 5% to $2.51 billion from $2.39 billion last year.



Same-store sales rose 5%.



The company released its quarterly results the day before it held its annual shareholder meeting.



“It was a great year by every measure,” founder and CEO Lex Wexner said at the meeting, the Columbus Dispatch reported. “It put us within a fraction of a fraction of being the best-performing specialty retailer in the world. Our concern is we always have to get better.”