In the midst of a restucturing that will cause it to close 20% of its US flagship stores, and which has cost the head of its Old Navy division his job, Gap (NYSE: GPS) announced that its same store sales dropped 4% in January
Old Navy and Gap international hurt the most, down 6% and 10% respectively for January
The company also released earnings, which were better news. It reported that net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ended January 28, 2012, decreased 2 percent to $4.28 billion compared with $4.36 billion for the fourth quarter last year. The company’s comparable sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which include the associated comparable online sales, were down 4 percent compared with a 1 percent increase in the fourth quarter last year.
The company announced diluted earnings per share guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 to be in the range of $0.41 to $0.42, above First Call consensus of $0.35. In addition, it expects year-end inventory dollars per store to be below previous guidance.
Net sales were $14.55 billion for the 52 weeks ended January 28, 2012, a decrease of 1 percent compared with net sales of $14.66 billion for the 52 weeks ended January 29, 2011. The company’s comparable sales for fiscal year 2011, which include the associated comparable online sales, were down 4 percent compared with a 2 percent increase last year.
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