Men's Wearhouse posts a handsome first quarter

The Men's Wearhouse reported a dapper first quarter on the same day the company inked a 10-year deal with Macy's to sell tuxedoes.

The retailer posted net income for the first quarter ended May 2 of $10.4 million or $0.21 per share, compared to $16.5 million or $0.34 per share for the year-ago quarter. Net sales for the first quarter rose 40.4% to $885.09 million from $630.47 million in the same quarter last year.

Doug Ewert, Men's Wearhouse chief executive officer, said: "We are very pleased to report another strong quarter with all brands performing well. While the retail business has continued to perform well, the tuxedo business slowed this quarter with a decrease in comps of 1.2% at Men's Wearhouse. Based on recent studies, the overall wedding industry is experiencing a slow-down but we believe that our market share is holding and possibly increasing.We made another important step in the Jos. A. Bank integration as we completed the merchandise systems conversions at the beginning of May. This conversion will help us in unlocking retail inventory efficiency and distribution synergies. Cost synergies continue to be on plan and we are beginning to see some revenue synergies. We continue to expect Jos. A. Bank comparable sales to be down in the second quarter with improvement in the back half of the year and gross margin increases to follow a similar pattern. We continue to be confident in our 2015 and 2017 EPS guidance,"

Same store sales increased 6.8% at Men's Wearhouse, 0.8% at Moores and 7.3% at K&G and decreased 1.5% at Jos. A. Bank. Traffic increased year over year at all of our U.S. brands and while Moores' traffic decreased, their average ticket increased.

Separately, Men's Wearhouse said it has signed a 10-year agreement with Macy's to operate men's tuxedo rental shops inside 300 Macy's stores.

Men's Wearhouse is a specialty retailer of men's apparel with 1,758 stores operating under the Men's Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, Moores and K&G brands.