Cato Fashions: July same-store sales rise 2 percent

The Cato Corporation has reported sales of 56.7 million dollars for the four weeks ended August 4, 2018, up 1 percent, while the company said, same-store sales for the period were up 2 percent.

"Due to strong merchandise margins, as a result of much lower markdown sales versus last year, we expect the second quarter and year-to-date earnings to be significantly above 2017," said John Cato, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the company in a statement, adding, "However, we expect the second half merchandise margins to be more in line with last year as markdown sales were not as significant in the second half of 2017."

The company’s sales for the second quarter ended August 4, 2018 were 206.9 million dollars, up 1 percent from sales of 205 million dollars for the second quarter ended July 29, 2017. Second quarter same-store sales were up 4percent compared to the thirteen weeks ended August 5, 2017. Sales for the first half were 442.9 million dollars, flat to the prior year's first half sales of 442.7 million dollars, while same-store sales were up 1 percent compared to the twenty-six weeks ended August 5, 2017.

Picture:Cato Fashions website