Hot Topic Inc announced the sales results for its fiscal month of five weeks ended December 30, 2006.
The company announced that as a result of the lower than expected December sales performance, it now estimates net income for the fourth quarter of 2006 will be in the range of approximately $0.20 to $0.22 per diluted share versus previous guidance of $0.33 to $0.38 per diluted share.
Betsy McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are very disappointed by our consolidated December results and their implications for the quarter. As a result of lower than expected sales at the Hot Topic division, particularly during the first half of the month, promotional activity was increased relative to our plans.”
“Although sales in our licensed and fashion novelty tee classifications for both mens and womens established solid positive trends, many of the music and fashion categories performed worse than anticipated. As a result, we are revising our earnings expectations for the fourth quarter to begin 2007 in a clean inventory position.”
“The revised guidance reflects a comparable store sales decline in the mid single digit range for the quarter and increased markdowns to aggressively address the resulting inventory risk. We expect inventories at the end of the fourth quarter to be roughly flat to last year on a per square foot basis.”
marketing@alchempro.com
