Philadelphia based maternity apparel retailer Mothers Work Inc announced that preliminary net sales for the month of December 2005 increased approximately 12.0 percent to $55.6 million from $49.6 million reported for the month of December 2004.
The increase in net sales for December was primarily driven by sales from the expansion of the Company's proprietary Two Hearts Maternity collection to an additional 497 Sears locations during late March 2005, sales from the Company's Oh Baby! By Motherhood licensed arrangement with Kohl's, which launched during the second quarter of fiscal 2005, as well as an increase in comparable store sales.
Comparable store sales for December 2005 increased 3.5 percent (based on 1,035 locations) versus a comparable store sales decrease of 1.9 percent (based on 922 locations) for the December 2004 period.
The comparable store sales increase of 3.5 percent for December 2005 was favorably impacted by approximately 1 to 2 percentage points due to having five Saturdays in December 2005 compared to four Saturdays in December 2004.
During December 2005, the Company did not open any stores and closed 3 stores. The Company ended the month with 851 stores and 1,594 total retail locations (excluding 2 stores and 9 total retail locations which remain closed due to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma), compared to 880 stores and 1,111 total retail locations at the end of December 2004.
The significant increase inthe Company's total retail location count compared to a year ago resulted predominantly from the expansion of the Company's proprietary Two Hearts Maternity collection during late March 2005.
marketing@alchempro.com
