Foot Locker Inc, the New York-based specialty athletic retailer, reported sales for the 13-week period ended July 29, 2006 of $1,303 million, versus $1,304 million in the comparable period last year, a decrease of 0.1 percent.
For this same 13-week period, comparable store sales decreased 1.3 percent.
For the 26-week period ended July 29, 2006, sales decreased 0.5 percent to $2,668 million, from $2,681 million in the company's corresponding period last year. Comparable-store sales for the Company's first six months of its 2006 fiscal year decreased 0.4 percent.
Excluding the effect of foreign currency fluctuations, total sales for the 13-week and 26-week periods decreased 1.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
"For the second quarter of 2006, our US comparable store sales increased low-single digits while our international comparable store sales declined mid-single digits," stated Matthew Serra, Foot Locker Inc's Chairman and CEO. "These results were below our initial expectation, reflecting a softening trend at our US stores and a continuing challenging retail environment in Europe."
"We now expect our second quarter operating margin to decline versus the comparable period of last year primarily due to lower sales and gross margin rate, and higher SG&A expenses, as a percentage of sales, versus the second quarter of last year,” he said.
“The gross margin rate was negatively impacted by additional markdowns taken tomaintain inventories in line with internal aging standards, and a higher occupancy expense rate due to below-planned sales. All of these factors contribute to our current expectation that earnings for the second quarter will be in the range of $0.15 to $0.17 per share," he concluded.
Foot Locker Inc is a specialty athletic retailer that operates approximately 4,000 stores in 20 countries in North America, Europe and Australia.
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