Finlay Holiday Sales Fall Short of Expectations
January 04, 07
Finlay Enterprises comparable department sales (departments open for the same months during the same period) for the November and December holiday selling season increased 1.6 percent, falling short of the anticipated 3 to 4 percent increase.
Total sales for the two-month period totaled $303.2 million compared to $385.2 million in the comparable period of 2005, because of the store closings in the first half of 2006. Specialty jewelry stores consisting of Carlyle and Congress contributed $43.7 million compared to $36.1 million in the same period last year.
“Our holiday sales were lower than anticipated primarily due to the disappointing performance of our 236 former May Company doors, which was a result of a decrease in promotional activity versus the prior year,” said Finlay Chairman and CEO Arthur E. Reiner.
Finlay is a retailer of fine jewelry and the largest operator of licensed fine jewelry departments in department stores in the U.S. with 824 locations, including 34 Carlyle and five Congress specialty jewelry stores.
Because of the holiday results, Finlay will lower its fourth quarter and full year outlooks.
“Despite our overall results, we exceeded our planned comparable store sales increase in Bloomingdale's and successfully opened two new doors in San Francisco and San Diego,” Reiner noted. “In addition, our Carlyle division achieved solid growth and we are pleased to have completed the Congress acquisition last month. We will continue to focus on expanding the specialty store segment of our business throughout 2007.”