Venator slips into red but beats Street estimates
(Reuters 05/19 17:28:33)
NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Venator Group Inc. <Z.N>, the
remains of former five-and-dime chain Woolworth Co., on
Wednesday slipped into the red in its first quarter, but
managed to beat Wall Street estimates by a narrow margin.
After the market closed, Venator, which has been struggling
to revamp itself by shedding Kinney shoe stores and focusing on
Foot Locker and Champs stores, posted a loss of $11 million, or
8 cents per share, for the quarter ended May 1.
Analysts had pinned Venator's loss at 9 cents, compared to
an operating profit of 6 cents last year, according to
consensus estimates tallied by research firm First Call Corp.
Including charges from discontinued operations, Venator
lost $5 million, or 4 cents per share, for the same year-ago
period.
Sales rose 2 percent to $1.08 billion from $1.06 billion.
Stripping out foreign currency fluctuations and sales from
disposed operations, sales would have increased 2.7 percent,
the company said.
Venator Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Roger Farah
said in a statement the athletic footwear market, which had
seen a downturn in sales, was improving but remained
competitive.
"Our selection of high-end performance footwear, together
with a more focused merchandise assortment, improvements in our
in-stock position and an enhanced selection of value product
offerings, are strategies that we expect will continue to drive
top line sales opportunities in the important second half of
the year," Farah said.
Shares of Venator closed up 6 cents at $11.44 on the New
York Stock Exchange, below their one-year high of $21.50 but
above their one-year low of $3.19.
((Denise Duclaux, New York Newsdesk (212) 859-1700))
REUTERS
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