Warm weather impedes sales at Burlington Stores

Burlington Stores says a big decline in cold weather apparel led same-store sales to be mostly flat over the holiday season.



Tom Kingsbury, president and CEO at Burlington Stores, said: “While we are pleased with the strong response to our gift assortments especially in fragrances, bath and body and home, these increases have been offset by headwinds affecting our cold weather assortments, especially in coats and outerwear. Accordingly, we now expect comparable store sales to be approximately flat for the fourth quarter.”



For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, the company said it expects:



• Net sales to increase approximately 3.7%, versus its previous guidance of an increase of 3.7% to 4.7%;



• Same-store sales to be approximately flat, on top of last year’s 6.7% increase, versus its prior guidance in the range of flat to up 1%; and



• Adjusted net income per diluted share to be in the range of $1.44 to $1.46 on 73.4 million fully diluted shares outstanding, versus its prior guidance in the range of $1.44 to $1.48 on 74.4 million fully diluted shares outstanding.



Kingsbury added: “Notwithstanding the weather, our execution of the off price model continues to pay dividends for us as evidenced by the fact that our comp store sales, excluding cold weather categories, are expected to increase approximately 4% in the fourth quarter. In addition, we remain very excited about the abundance of merchandise available in the marketplace, which is expected to positively impact 2016.”