Zale Comparable Sales Decrease 7.3% for Q2

Zale Corporation reported a 7.3 percent fall in comparable store sales in the second quarter ended January 31. The U.S. fine jewelry specialty retailer said Thursday that revenues for the second quarter were $827 million compared to $892 million last year.

The company said that while it had a 5.7 percent January comparable store sales increase, approximately 3 percentage points were related to the timing of a Valentine's Day customer appreciation event.

Year-to-date total revenues decreased 5.5 percent to $1.204 billion, compared to $1.274 billion for the same period last year. Year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 5.1 percent.

Unrecognized revenues related to warranty sales increased $33 million for the quarter, while year-to-date, unrecognized revenues increased $47 million. “This increase reflects the incremental cash collected and the future positive impact to earnings as a result of the previously announced change to the company's accounting method for its lifetime jewelry protection plans,” Zale said in a release.

Zale expects diluted earnings per share from continuing operations to be in the previously stated range of $1.08 to $1.13.