Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly Sales Miss Estimates, Shares Skid

NEW ALBANY, United States — Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co posted a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly sales as fewer customers visited its namesake stores.

Shares of the company, whose brands include Hollister and Abercrombie kids, fell 13.17 percent to $14.70 in premarket trading on Friday.

Abercrombie's net sales fell 6.5 percent to $821.73 million, down for the 15th straight quarter. Analysts on average had expected $830.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"While Hollister improved sequentially, it was more than offset by disappointing performance in A&F," executive chairman Arthur Martinez said in a statement.

Abercrombie and other apparel retailers have struggled with increasing competition from fast-fashion retailers such as H&M and Inditex's Zara that offer trendier but cheaper clothing. Online and off-price retailers have also lured shoppers away with discounted offerings.

Comparable sales at its flagship Abercrombie stores fell 14 percent in the third quarter ended Oct. 29, compared with a 5 percent drop in the year-earlier period. Analysts on average had expected a 6.2 percent fall, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

Sales at the company's established stores fell 6 percent, while analysts on average had expected a 3.9 percent fall.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $7.88 million, or 12 cents per share, in the quarter, from $41.89 million, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, Abercrombie earned 2 cents per share, well below the average analyst estimate of 21 cents.

By Gayathree Ganesan; Jessica Kuruthukulangara; editor: Martina D'Couto.

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