Wet Seal swings to profit in second quarter; to add in-store plus collection

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal Inc. swung to a profit in the second quarter, reporting net income of $1 million, compared to a net loss of $12.4 million a year earlier. The retailer also announced it is introducing its Wet Seal Plus Collection, previously available only online, to 36 stores, on Aug. 30.



In addition, net sales totaled $137.2 million, up about 1% from $135.3 million in the second quarter of 2012. Same store sales grew 3.7%, while e-commerce sales remained flat. Overall results were in line with Zack’s consensus estimates.



“During the second quarter we achieved strong year-over-year improvement across all of our key financial metrics,” said John D. Goodman, CEO of Wet Seal. “We delivered comparable store sales growth of 3.7%, expanded our merchandise margin, reduced expenses and attained profitability. Our performance reflects the benefits of our fast fashion operating model, ongoing progress against our turnaround strategies and strong inventory management."



During the quarter, the company opened one and closed one Wet Seal store, resulting in a total count of 525 stores in 47 states and in Puerto Rico as of Aug 3.