J. Crew has revised its per-share earnings expectations. The catalog and retail apparel marketer now expects to lose between 24 and 29 cents per share during its fourth quarter 2008. It had previously anticipated a 5- to 10-cent loss.
The fourth-quarter falloff is the result of “aggressive inventory actions taken to clear fall and holiday inventory,” according to a company statement.
For the entire year, the company expects to record 77- to 82-cent per share income, down from $1.11 to $1.16 per share.
While both retail and direct sales fell, J. Crew’s brick-and-mortar operations experienced the drop more steeply. Comparable store sales were in the negative mid-teen range, while direct sales fell by a mid- to high-single-digit range.
The company will release its full financial results during the second quarter of March.
