Abercrombie & Fitch posts 1% drop in Q2 FY'13 sales

During the quarter, the Company opened four international Hollister chain stores, including two stores in China.  Additionally, the Company opened a combined Abercrombie & Fitch and abercrombie kids outlet store in each of the U.K. and U.S.

Mike Jeffries, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., said:

"The second quarter was more difficult than expected due to weaker traffic and continued softness in the female business, consistent with what others have reported. In that context we are planning sales, inventory and expenses conservatively for the remainder of the year.

Despite the challenging environment, we are very pleased by strong growth in our direct-to-consumer business and continued strong growth in China. We have also made excellent progress on our profit improvement initiative during the quarter, and we now expect savings from this initiative to exceed $100 million annually.

"In addition, we are nearing completion of our long-term strategic review, and we are confident that this will provide us with a clear roadmap for sustainable growth in sales, profitability and return on invested capital."

Abercrombie & Fitch