Jewelry store chain operator Finlay Enterprises Inc. said Wednesday that its loss widened in the first quarter as sales at the company's recently acquired Bailey Banks & Biddle stores failed to meet expectations.
The loss for the period ended May 3 totaled $11 million, or $1.19 per share, compared with $7.6 million, or 84 cents per share, a year ago. Finlay closed its Parisian stores in fiscal 2007. Excluding those discontinued operations, the loss for the prior-year period totaled $7.8 million, or 86 cents per share.
Quarterly sales jumped 26 percent to $205.1 million, from $162.9 million in the first quarter of 2007.
Same-store sales, however, fell 4.5 percent. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.
Finlay said the company's Carlyle, Congress, and Bailey Banks & Biddle stores contributed sales of $77.7 million in the first quarter, compared with $27.2 million in the prior-year period. Finlay acquired Bailey Banks & Biddle from Zale Corp. in November 2007.
"Our business was impacted by ongoing macro economic challenges and weak consumer confidence during the first quarter of 2008," said Chairman and Chief Executive Arthur E. Reiner. "Although the sales for our Bailey Banks & Biddle business in the first quarter were lower than planned, our May sales trend has reinforced our belief that the initiatives we are in the process of implementing will translate into improved results."
Reiner said the company will continue to control expenses and inventory levels as a result of the difficult consumer spending environment.
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