April same-store sales decline 2 percent at Cato Fashions

The Cato Corporation reported sales of 80.6 million dollars for the four weeks ended April 29, 2017, a 2 percent decrease from sales of 81.9 million dollars for the same period ended April 30, 2016. Same-store sales were down 2 percent for the month.

"Our negative sales trends persisted throughout March and April as we continued to work through our merchandise assortment missteps. We still expect first quarter earnings to be significantly less than last year," stated John Cato, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer in a statement.

The company’s sales for the first quarter ended April 29, 2017 were 237.7 million dollars, a 17percent decrease from sales of 285.5 million dollars for the first quarter ended April 30, 2016. Same-store sales for the quarter decreased 17 percent to last year.

Cato said, April sales were impacted by the shift of Easter from March last year to April this year. Because of this shift, the best measure for performance is the combined sales for the two months, which decreased 13 percent overall and decreased 13 percent to the prior year on a same-store basis.

Picture:Facebook/Cato Fashions