"We are pleased to have achieved earnings per share for the first quarter at the high end of our anticipated range," stated Jamieson Karson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our year-over-year top line performance largely reflects the discontinuation of two product lines that occurred in the last twelve months. As previously reported, we also experienced weakness in women's boots, men's sport fusion product and Betsey Johnson handbags during the quarter which impacted our gross margin."
"While we experienced challenges in these select merchandise categories, we were very pleased with the performance of Madden Girl, which has surpassed our expectations to date this year. Additionally, our design team, led by Steve, continues to successfully produce fashion forward, trend-right styles that are resonating well with our customers."
Arvind Dharia, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We continue to maintain a very strong financial position and effectively manage our balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $90.0 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, no debt, and $201.6 million in stockholders' equity. In addition, we continued our commitment to return capital to our shareholders by repurchasing 710,187 shares for an aggregate of $20.9 million during the quarter."
marketing@alchempro.com
