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| 8-K - DRESS BARN INC | v171052_8k.htm |
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NEWS
RELEASE
DRESS
BARN, INC. RAISES FISCAL YEAR 2010 EARNINGS GUIDANCE
SUFFERN, NY – JANUARY 11, 2010 -
Dress Barn, Inc. (NASDAQ
- DBRN) today announces it is raising earnings guidance for its fiscal
year ending July 31, 2010.
As a
result of better than expected holiday season sales and margin performance, the
Company is raising its diluted earnings per share guidance for fiscal 2010 by
$0.05 to a range of $1.40 to $1.50 from its previous guidance of $1.35 to $1.45
announced December 16, 2009.
David R.
Jaffe, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, “We were very pleased
with our sales and margin performance at each of our concepts over the important
holiday season. With overall stronger than expected comps sales and
continued good inventory management, we have been able to outperform our
expectations and deliver excellent profitability. The addition of Justice, which
led our performance during the holiday season, has proceeded smoothly and we
remain very excited about the earnings potential of this transaction to deliver
increased value to our shareholders.”
The
Company noted that comparable store sales for the holiday season, comprising the
period from Black Friday to the Saturday after New Year’s Day, were up 10% on a
consolidated basis, with dressbarn showing an increase
of 3%, maurices up 3%
and Justice delivering a
comp increase of 17% for this period.
The
Company further noted that beginning on February 4, 2010, it expects to report
quarterly comparable store sales results on the first Thursday of the month
following the close of each quarter. In prior practice, the Company
had reported quarterly comparable store sales results when it presented its full
financial results for the corresponding quarter. The Company believes this
adjustment to reporting practice will provide its investors with more timely
information on the performance of the business and better align it with industry
peers.
The
Company previously announced that in order to further improve its strong balance
sheet, it is in the process of an exchange offer for the redemption of its
$112.5 million convertible senior notes. The offer expires on January 22, 2010
and is expected to settle on January 27, 2010. If the notes are fully redeemed
it would eliminate $112.5 million of debt and $9 million of annual interest
expense while still maintaining approximately $250 million of cash and
investments.
As
previously announced, the Company will be participating in the 8th Annual
Cowen and Company Consumer Conference on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at The Westin
New York at Times Square in New York, NY and the 12th Annual
ICR XChange Conference on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at the St. Regis Monarch
Beach Resort in Dana Point, California. Copies of these presentations are now
available at www.dressbarn.com in
the investor relations section.
ABOUT DRESS BARN,
INC.
Dress
Barn, Inc. (NASDAQ -
DBRN), is a leading national specialty apparel retailer offering quality
casual and career women’s fashion apparel at value prices through its dressbarn and maurices brands and tween
girls’ fashion apparel through its Justice brand. As of
January 8, 2010, the Company operated 837 dressbarn stores in 47 states,
741 maurices stores in
44 states and 906 Justice stores in 45 states
and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.dressbarn.com,
www.maurices.com and
www.shopjustice.com.
Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain
statements made within this press release may constitute “forward-looking
statements”, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. The
Company does not undertake to publicly update or review its forward-looking
statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that our projected
results expressed or implied will not be achieved. Detailed information
concerning a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from the information contained herein is available in our most recent
report on Form 10-K for the year ended July 25, 2009 and Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended October 24, 2009.
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CONTACT:
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Dress
Barn, Inc.
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Investor
Relations
(845)
369-4600