Dress Barn 4Q Profit Rises 19 Percent On Sales

SUFFERN, N.Y. (AP) — Women's clothing retailer Dress Barn Inc. on Wednesday said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 19 percent on strong sales from the company's dressbarn stores.

The company set fiscal 2010 profit guidance below Wall Street expectations.

For the quarter ended July 25, the company earned $26.4 million, or 41 cents per share, compared with profit of $22.1 million, or 34 cents per share, during the same period a year prior. Sales rose 4 percent to $398.9 million from $382.3 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected profit of 37 cents per share on revenue of $400.7 million.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, rose 1 percent overall. At its dressbarn stores, same-store sales rose 4 percent. At its maurices stores, same-store sales slipped 5 percent.

For the full fiscal year, the company earned $69.7 million, or $1.11 per share, down 5.9 percent from profit of $74.1 million, or $1.15 per share, during the same period a year prior. Sales rose 3.5 percent to $1.49 billion from $1.44 billion.

The company said it expects fiscal 2010 profit between $1.10 and $1.20 per share. Analysts expect profit of about $1.24 per share.

Shares fell 99 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $17.20 in after-hours trading after rising 43 cents, or 2.4 percent, to close at $18.19 during the regular trading session.