During the quarter, the company opened 3 Talbots stores and 5 J Jill stores. At the end of the period, it had a total of 1,297 stores, which included 1,087 Talbots stores and 210 J Jill stores. It currently plans to open a net of 69 stores in the second half, with 40 net new Talbots locations and 29 new J Jill locations. By the end of fiscal 2006, it expects to operate a total of approx. 1,366 stores.
Total Company operating performance for the six-month period ending July 29, 2006 includes J Jill brand results for the period beginning May 3, 2006, which was the effective date of the acquisition.
For the six-month period, total consolidated company net income was $23.5 million or $0.44 per diluted share on a GAAP basis and includes acquisition related costs and adjustments of approx. $0.16 per share and $0.07 per share of stock option expense.
Total consolidated company sales were $1,024 million for the first half of the year. By brand, retail sales increased to $789 million for Talbots compared to $767 million last year, and were $73 million for J Jill. Consolidated direct marketing sales for the six-month period were $163 million, including catalog and Internet.
Total Company comparable store sales rose 1.1% for the six-month period. By brand, comparable store sales for Talbots increased 1.9%. J Jill's comparable store sales were negative 8.2% for the period beginning May 3, 2006 through July 29, 2006.
Zetcher added, "We have made significant progress with our merger integration efforts with J. Jill, and identified various synergy opportunities in sourcing, distribution, store operations and back-office functions. We've moved forward with our initiatives necessary to achieve these cost savings, and continue to be quite confident in our ability to deliver in excess of $30 million in cost savings in fiscal 2007, up from our original estimate of $25 million."
marketing@alchempro.com
