"We are planning our third quarter business assuming the recent difficult traffic trends in the specialty retail sector will continue and, accordingly, we will continue to tightly control inventory levels and costs."
"For August, we anticipate comparable store sales will be between -2% to +2%. For the third quarter, we estimate a -1% to +3% change in comparable store sales. We estimate these sales would result in third quarter earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.07 to $0.10 per share."
Store Openings: The Company opened 10 net new stores during the quarter. At August 4, 2007, the Company operated 458 stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including 366 Wet Seal stores and 92 Arden B stores.
Capital Transactions: During the second quarter, the Company repurchased 2,593,700 shares under an existing share repurchase program for a total cost of $13.7 million. Year-to-date the Company repurchased 3,593,700 shares for a total cost of $20.1 million.
As of August 23, 2007, the Company has authorization to purchase up to 406,300 additional shares under the program. Repurchases are at the option of the Company and can be discontinued at any time.
marketing@alchempro.com
