Venator Sees 'Significant' Gross Margin Rebound In FY2000>Z
By Philana Patterson
March 10, 1999
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Venator Group Inc. (Z) plans to achieve profitable revenues and get a "significant" rebound in
gross margin in fiscal 2000, company officials said during its fiscal fourth-quarter conference call.
Venator, formerly Woolworth, runs athletic specialty stores including Foot Locker, Kid's Foot Locker and Champs. The
company also owns other formats such as accessories chain Afterthoughts and Northern apparel stores.
The company plans to increase its emphasis on moderately priced products in its athletic stores and to push differentiated
merchandise, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Roger Farah.
During a conference call, Venator officials acknowledged that fiscal 1999 was "lousy."
In the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, Venator's income from continuing operations fell to 21 cents a share from 78 cents a
year earlier. The latest three-month period included a gain of $44 million, or 32 cents a share, on the sale of its corporate
headquarters building. Gross margin in the latest quarter fell to 24.2% of sales from 32.1% a year earlier. Fourth-quarter
revenue fell to $1.33 billion from $1.41 billion in fiscal 1998.
The First Call Corp. consensus had put the company's earnings from continuing operations at 23 cents a share. Venator
officials, while not specifying an exact figure, had recently said that earnings would be in the range of 20 cents a share to 25
cents.
Venator has said that it will limit its capital expenditures to $175 million this year as part of its cost-savings initiatives. There
are also plans under way to reduce corporate overhead to 1% of sales by 2001.
Venator's NYSE-listed shares were down 1.3%, or 1/16, at 4 13/16 on volume of 1.4 million, compared with average daily
volume of 2.3 million. |
