S&P Global Reports Second Quarter Results

Net sales were flat year-over-year, reflecting a 61% increase in online sales, offset by a 20% decline in store sales. Notably, 40% of the company’s sales were online in the third quarter. As noted during the company’s Investor Meeting, held in October 2020, the company aspires to achieve 50% of its sales from online by the end of 2023. Third quarter fiscal year 2020 comparable sales were up 5%, driven by the strength of Gap Inc.’s scaled ecommerce business, which added over 3.4 million new customers during the quarter. The comparable sales calculation reflects online sales and comparable sales days in stores that were open. Gross margin was 40.6%, a 160 basis point improvement versus last year. This improvement is consistent with the strategic focus outlined in last month’s Power Plan 2023 discussion of opening highly-profitable Old Navy and Athleta stores, while also closing select unprofitable Gap and Banana Republic stores, yielding significant rent and occupancy savings. In addition, a lower level of promotions contributed to higher product margins in the quarter. The benefits of lower rent and occupancy and higher product margin were partially offset by higher shipping expenses associated with the company’s growth in online sales. Operating income was $175 million or 4.4% of net sales.

L Brands, Inc. reported net sales of $981.6 million for the five weeks ended Sept. 30, 2017, an increase of 1 percent, compared to net sales of $971.4 million for the five weeks ended Oct. 1, 2016. Comparable sales decreased 2 percent for the five weeks ended Sept. 30, 2017. For September, the exit of the swim and apparel categories had a negative impact of about 2 percentage points and 3 percentage points to total company and Victoria’s Secret comparable sales, respectively. The September hurricanes had about a 1 point negative impact to September total sales. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Once again this year we decided to weigh the September issues. Without access to ad page data, book size becomes an increasingly more important indicator than in years past. And this year, the indicator is not good. September was always the one time when these publications truly believed big is beautiful, but they are starting to become as petite as those who grace their covers. To conduct this research we went out and procured the magazines the old fashioned way—on the newsstand. Here’s the rather disturbing thing: they weren’t all that easy to find. We visited a few different newsstands, asked the clerks about them, and were met with a blank stares. It wasn’t until we visited a major book retailer were we able to purchase all nine titles. Perhaps that alone is a telling enough indicator that the September issues don’t carry the weight they once did. Nevertheless, we still walked out of the store with nine magazines that weighed in at nearly 15 pounds (plus we got a really cool commemorative tote for buying Vogue). Still, that’s a loss of nearly five cumulative pounds versus last year. Nobody will congratulate these titles for their dramatic weight losses. Click Read More below for more of the story.