Zale Q2 Net Earnings Up 2%
February 20, 05
U.S. chain jeweler Zale announced quarterly net earnings of $99 million, a 2 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Total revenues for the second quarter were $972 million, compared to $949 million, an increase of 2.5 percent, with comparable store sales decreasing 0.6 percent.
On a per share basis, net earnings rose 4.4 percent from $1.83 per diluted share to $1.91 per diluted share.
Year to date revenues totaled $1.395 billion, an increase of 2.2 percent, while net earnings totaled $88 million – unchanged from the same period of last year.
On a comparable store basis, year-to-date sales decreased 0.7 percent.
“By maintaining tight disciplines in the business, we kept our inventory and expense structure in line with our plan," commented Mary L. Forte, President and CEO. "This minimized the impact of our revenue shortfall to plan and allowed us to deliver earnings per share growth over the prior year."
"We feel good about the strategy we have in place. We are focusing at the Zales brand on implementing direct product sourcing, refining the merchandise mix and improving store productivity.
“The remaining brands all had positive comparable store sales increases for the quarter and are showing improvement from a number of our corporate initiatives. The early completion of our $50 million stock repurchase program signifies the confidence we have in our ability to continue executing the game plan as we enter the back half of our fiscal year," Forte added.