"the acquisition of bennett not only strengthens our brand holdings, but is expected to be accretive in fiscal 2005 by approximately $0.15-$0.20 per share, and add $0.30 per share to earnings in 2006."
because the acquisition closed just before quarter end, the results from nine days of bennett's operations are included in the consolidated statement of earnings, although they were not material overall. bennett was acquired for $205 million in cash, which was financed through the issuance of $150 million of 8.75% 7-year bonds, and the foreign earnings repatriated.
retail divisions
sales at famous footwear, the company's 927-store family footwear chain, were up 6.1 percent to $288,735,000 for the quarter, from $272,124,000 for the same 13-week period last year. same-store sales for the quarter increased 1.5 percent. operating earnings increased 34.1 percent to $16,514,000 versus $12,318,000 for the year-ago period.
the chain opened 20 stores in the quarter and closed 12 stores, resulting in 927 stores open at quarter end.
the specialty retail segment, which, for all periods, now includes our naturalizer stores, our shoes.com e-commerce business and our eight newly acquired via spiga stores, reported sales of $53,260,000 in the first quarter, an increase of 10.6% over last year's $48,163,000. the segment's operating loss increased to $3,509,000 from last year's loss of $2,469,000, primarily due to lower gross margin rates as loss increased to $3,509,000 from last year's loss of $2,469,000, primarily due to lower gross margin rates as a result of aggressive markdowns of fall product in our naturalizer stores.
marketing@alchempro.com
