Christopher & Banks Corporation, a specialty women’s apparel retailer, has reported results for the first quarter ended April 29, 2017. During the quarter under review, net sales totalled US $ 88.6 million, a decrease of 11.5 per cent, while operating on average 479 stores. This compares to US $ 100.0 million in net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2016, while operating on average 516 stores.
The specialty women’s apparel retailer’s same-store sales comparable sales decreased 8.9 per cent following a 6.2 per cent increase in the same period last year. E-commerce sales increased by 14.7 per cent.
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Its gross margin rate decreased 320 basis points to 34.5 per cent, as compared to last year’s first quarter, primarily due to promotions to move through non-go-forward product and addressing slow sellers on a more frequent basis, as well as deleverage of occupancy.
Commenting on results, Joel Waller, Interim President & Chief Executive Officer, said, “While our first quarter results did not meet our expectations, we are pleased with our strong e-commerce growth, as well as the traction we have gained across a number of initiatives that we expect will yield improved financial performance in the back half of the year. We also made meaningful progress on our cost savings initiative which contributed to a $4.5 million reduction in SG&A expenses during the quarter.”
