Total sales for apparel marketer The Talbots Inc. were $426.3 million in third-quarter 2005, up from $413.2 million a year earlier. But much of the increase was generated from newly opened outlets: Same-store sales fell by 2%. The company’s net income dropped from $27.2 million a year ago to $20 million.
Talbots’ direct marketing sales, which include revenue from catalogs and the Internet, rose 11% during the year, from $57.4 million a year ago to $63.7 million in the quarter just ended.
“Following softness in our September trends, our store traffic and sales performance improved significantly in the latter part of October,” said Arnold B. Zetcher, the Hingham, MA-based firm’s president and CEO.
Zetcher continued, “Our direct marketing business, including catalog and Internet, remained strong throughout the third quarter, increasing 11% over last year.”
Talbots expects to distribute 48 million catalogs during its fiscal 2005 year, which will end in late January 2006.
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