Charming Shoppes Announces New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility

BENSALEM, Pa., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Charming Shoppes, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHRS), a leading multi-brand apparel retailer specializing in women's plus apparel, today announced it has entered into a three-year loan agreement for a new senior secured revolving credit facility in the amount of $225 million. Wells Fargo Retail Finance and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the facility.. . . more

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Report: Charming Shoppes Scales Back Openings

Bensalem, Pa. (March 21, 2008) Charming Shoppes Inc. executives are cutting back year-over-year store openings in 2008 by 50%, according to GlobeSt.com.

The news follows the announcement of the company’s decision to close approximately 150 stores. The stores, most of which are set to close during the second half of the year, account for an annual loss of around $5 million, the report said.

However, the retailer plans to open 45 to 55 new stores this year, primarily in its plus-sized Lane Bryant chain.

Charming Shoppes said Wednesday it swung to a loss in its fourth quarter same-store sales, which fell at each of the company's brands. The company reported a loss of $127.6 million, compared to a profit of $24.9 million in the prior-year quarter.

Revenue fell 10% to $784.9 million from $874 million a year earlier. The company said sales in the prior-year period reflected an extra week. Meanwhile, same-store sales dropped 9%.
The company will have a more focused promotional strategy than it did late last year, said Dorrit Bern, the company’s president and chief executive officer, during a conference call.

“We want to get her in the store, but we don’t want to give away product like we did in the fourth quarter,” she said.

Source: Chain Store Age

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Charming Shoppes Swings to 4th Quarter Loss on Same-Store Sales Drop

BENSALEM, Pa. (AP) - Women's apparel retailer Charming Shoppes Inc. said Wednesday it swung to a loss in its fourth quarter as sales at stores open at least a year fell at each of the company's brands.

For the quarter ended Feb. 2, the company reported a loss of $127.6 million, or $1.09 per share, compared to a profit of $24.9 million, or 19 cents per share in the prior year quarter.

Excluding one-time impairment and store asset charges and a 1 cent per share gain, the company reported a loss of 20 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 19 cents per share.

Revenue fell 10 percent to $784.9 million from $874 million in a year earlier. Analysts expected revenue of $795.6 million.

The company said sales in the prior year period reflected an extra week.

Charming Shoppes said same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, fell at all of its retail brands, which include Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug.

Systemwide same-store sales fell 9 percent. Same-store sales is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly-opened ones.

Dorrit J. Bern, chairman and chief executive, called the results "extremely disappointing" and blamed downward traffic trends and customer responses to the company's stores and catalogs.

Bern said the company had to mark down more merchandise, which hurt margins.

For the year, the retailer swung to a loss of $86.6 million, or 71 cents per share, from a profit of $108.9 million, or 89 cents per share in the prior year.

Revenue fell 2 percent to $3 billion from $3.07 billion.

Source: Canadian Business

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