Earnings Call Excerpt
Chico’s FAS (CHS)
December Sales Results Call
January 10, 2008 8:30 am ET
Executives
Charlie Kleman – Former Chief Executive Officer
Presentation
Charlie Kleman
Hello, this is Charlie Kleman for Chico’s FAS and welcome to the Chico’s monthly sales Information and investor relations line. This message was recorded on January 10, 2008 and is not updated after it is recorded. This information will remain available for approximately four weeks.
At the end of this message, we will be making an important forward-looking Safe Harbor statement that is incorporated into this message at this point. I strongly suggest you fully understand this disclaimer.
On January 10 we released our December sales results for the five-week period ended January 5, 2008. The total sales for the five-week period decreased 5.6% to $182 million from $193 million reported for the five-week period ended December 30, 2006; while same-store sales for the five-week period decreased 13.7% over the same period last year.
Chico’s same-store sales for the month of December were down approximately 14% while White House, Black Market same-store sales decreased by approximately 17% and Soma Intimates same-store sales were up nicely.
Total sales for the 48 weeks ended January 5, 2008 increased 6.9% to $1.62 billion from $1.52 billion for the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales for the company-owned stores decreased 7.2% for the 48-week period compared to the same 48-week period last year.
In today’s press release, Scott Edmonds had several comments on the quarter, and I encourage you to read this press release.
During December, same-store sales on an adjusted basis were down low 20s in week 1, down high teens in week 2, down low double-digits in week 3, down high single-digits in week 4 and down mid single-digits in week 5.
During December, Chico’s average retail price point was down 15.9% and the average transaction was down 11.8% while White House, Black Market saw a decrease in its average retail pricepoint by 1.3% and a decrease in its average transaction by 8.6%.
Geographically, same-store sales on an adjusted basis were down low double-digits in the Northwest, Southeast and South Central regions and in the outlet division. They were down mid double-digits in the North Central and Southwest regions and down high double-digits in the Northeast region.
The call center, which generates sales from the web and catalog brands, was up 21.5% for December at just over $8.2 million versus just under $6.8 million last year. With that said, the call center sales do not count in our same-store sales calculations.
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