The Children's Place Q1 comparable sales drop by 11.7 percent

For the first quarter, net sales at The Children’s Place decreased 53.7 million dollars or 16.7 percent to 267.9 million dollars. Comparable retail sales decreased 11.7 percent for the quarter.

The company said in a statement that the decrease in net sales was primarily due to reductions in retail sales driven by lower store count, traffic declines to stores.

The negative numbers also indicated declines in ecommerce demand due to reductions in marketing resulting from liquidity challenges early in the quarter and decreases in wholesale revenue.

First quarter gross profit decreased 3.8 million dollars to 92.7 million dollars, while gross margin rate increased by 460 basis points to 34.6 percent.

Operating loss was 28 million dollars, and adjusted operating loss was 5.1 million dollars. Net loss for the quarter was 37.8 million dollars or 2.99 dollars per diluted share, while adjusted net loss was 14.9 million dollars or 1.18 dollars per diluted share.

The company closed five stores during the quarter under review and ended the quarter with 518 stores.