The Children's Place (PLCE 9.74%) saw a fall in both its Q4 and fiscal 2012 bottom line, according to its just-released results. For the quarter, net sales were $509 million, an improvement over the year-ago period's $457 million. Net income, however, was down, to $19 million ($0.80 per diluted share) from the $23 million ($0.93) the children's clothier netted in Q4 2011.
For the full year, the top line was $1.8 billion, compared with the 2011 figure of $1.7 billion. As with the most recent quarter, net profit fell over that span of time, to $63 million ($2.61 per diluted share) for the year against 2011's $74 million ($2.90).
The accounting method for The Children's Place has undergone a shift; the company now tallies inventory using the cost method rather than the retail inventory method. All quarterly and the annual figures above reflect this change.
