Claire’s European stores outperform US
Early Easter hits sales comparisons
Continued strong international growth in April contrasted with a same store sales decline in North America for accessories retailer Claire’s.
The company attributed the downturn to the timing of Easter, which fell in March this year, and said that on a three monthly year-on-year comparison its results were in line with forecasts.
Total sales during the four weeks to April 30 increased by 1 per cent to $94.9m. Group comparable store sales decreased two per cent, compared to a nine per cent increase a year ago.
By divsion, Claire’s North America and the Icing by Claire’s chain both recorded single digit same store declines, while Claire’s International saw a positive mid single digit increase.
Bonnie Schaefer, co-chairman and co-CEO said: “Our international division continued to perform well during the first quarter of Fiscal 2006. In spite of the impact of the Easter shift, we delivered positive comparable store sales growth in Europe, evidencing the continued success of our turn- around efforts.
The performance of the different regions remained consistent with recent trends. Our stores in Switzerland, Austria and Germany (SAG) delivered the strongest growth in comparable store sales, while those in the United Kingdom and Ireland continued to show progress.
“We see additional opportunities for improvement in France and are continuing to implement our best practices there in a manner that is consistent with our actions in SAG, the United Kingdom and Ireland over the past two years.”
Marla Schaefer, co-chairman and co-CEO, said: “Each year at this time we are confronted by the shift in the Easter holidays. Easter this year fell in March, as compared to last year when it fell in April. Therefore, we suggest that a more appropriate metric for comparative purposes is to look at this year’s first fiscal quarter and compare it to last year’s first fiscal quarter.
“Our results over that longer period of time are in line with our estimates and clearly indicate the continued strength of our business.”
