L Brands, Cato shine in March

New York -- Specialty retailer L Brands continued its winning ways in March, reporting a 9% increase in same-store sales, higher than expectations. Total sales increased 10% to $981.2 million, from $923.7 million in the year ago period.



The Cato Corp. also turned in a winning performance, with a 12% surge in March same-store sales. For the nine weeks ended April 4, sales totaled $197.5 million, up 5% from $188.98 million a year earlier.



Costco Wholesale Corp., however, disappointed with a 2% decline in same-store sales. The drop was greater than expected. Excluding gasoline and currency exchanges U.S. sales rose 4% and international sales rose 4%. The warehouse club had net sales of $10.40 billion for the month of March, versus $10.43 billion for the year-ago period. (This year's total reflects one less sales day than last year, due to the timing of Easter. Costco said this calendar shift negatively impacted its March net and same store sales by an estimated one to one and one-half percent.



In other March same-store results:



•The Buckle’s sales fell 0.5% compared with the same month a year ago, worse than expected. Net sales for the month increased 1.7% to $108.5 million.



• Zumiez posted a 5.5% increase. Monthly net sales totaled $70.7 million, up 11.1% over the year-ago period.



• Stein Mart Inc. reported an 11.2% increase, above expectations. Total sales for the month were $155.8 million, up 14.2% from a year ago.