Abercrombie & Fitch Q4 Profit Falls; To Buy Back $150 Mln Of Shares

(RTTNews) - Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) reported that its fourth quarter GAAP net income fell to $66.1 million or $0.85 per share, from $157.2 million or $1.95 per share in the year ago quarter.

Excluding restructuring charges related to Gilly Hicks, other asset impairment charges, and charges related to its profit improvement initiative, the Company reported adjusted non-GAAP net income of $104.3 million and net income per share of $1.34 for the latest-quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.03 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net Sales for the quarter dropped to $1.299 billion from $1.468 billion in the year ago quarter. Thirty three analysts estimated revenues of $1.36 billion for the quarter.

The company also announced that its Board has approved a $150 million Accelerated Share Repurchase to be executed during the first quarter of Fiscal 2014, pursuant to the existing open share repurchase authorization of 16.3 million shares.

Based on an assumption of a high-single digit decline in comparable store sales and an approximate 20% increase in comparable direct-to-consumer sales, the Company projects full year earnings per share in the range of $2.15 to $2.35. Analysts project annual earnings per share of $2.32.

The company anticipates opening 16 full-price international stores throughout the year, including an Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store in Shanghai in April 2014 and a small number of Abercrombie & Fitch mall-based stores. In addition, the Company plans to open a small number of international and U.S. outlet stores during the fiscal year. The Company also expects to close about 60 to 70 stores in the U.S. during the fiscal year through natural lease expirations.