Stage Stores, Inc. reported that comparable store sales for the five-week period ended April 5, 2003 decreased 15.6% as compared to the prior year five-week period ended April 6, 2002. Total sales decreased 12.5% to $73.0 million from $83.4 million in the prior year period.
Commenting on March’s sales performance, Jim Scarborough, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We expected a sales decline in the low double-digit range as a result of the calendar shift in the Easter holiday. However, continuing sluggishness in the retail sector due to lingering uncertainty and anxiety over the economy and geopolitical events, coupled with the distraction associated with the start of the military conflict in Iraq, caused us to fall below our expectations, with our largest unfavorable variance from plan occurring during the last 10 days of the fiscal month.”
Mr. Scarborough concluded, “In light of March’s sales performance and our expectations of a continuing challenging retail environment in the near term, our current outlook is for comparable store sales for the first quarter to be down 6.0% to 8.0%. In the current sales environment, it has been difficult to maintain margins at planned levels. As such, we currently anticipate that our net income for the first quarter will be in a range of $13.8 million to $14.6 million, or earnings of $0.71 to $0.75 per diluted share using an estimated diluted share count of 19.5 million shares. You should note the estimated diluted share count is up from our previous guidance due to a higher average market price for our common stock over the preceding 30 days.”
