Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) has announced that it will be closing three more of its flagship stores. The company will be closing a Hollister store in the SoHo neighborhood in New York; an Abercrombie store in Milan, Italy; and an Abercrombie store in Fukuoka, Japan. The New York and Milan stores are expected to close this year, and the Japan location will close in the second half of fiscal 2020.
With the most recent announcement, the number of flagship stores closed by the company in recent years has risen to five. The company previously closed a flagship store in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2017 and closed another in Denmark in the first quarter of 2019. All of the stores now being closed were opened under the leadership of former Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries.
The news of the closures comes after Abercrombie reported weaker-than-expected same-store sales for the first quarter of its fiscal year. Overall, same-store sales were up 1 percent during the quarter, falling short of analysts’ estimates of a 1.3 percent increase. Abercrombie’s Hollister apparel brand saw same-store sales rise 2 percent during the quarter, lower than expectations for 3.3 percent. In the same quarter of last year, Hollister’s same-store sales climbed 6 percent.
Abercrombie reported a net loss of $19.2 million, or 29 cents a share, for the quarter. This was a smaller loss than the 43 cents a share analysts expected. In the same quarter of last year, the retailer reported a net loss of $42.5 million, or 62 cents per share. Revenue rose to $734 million from $730.9 million a year ago, beating expectations for $733.4 million.
For the second quarter, the company is predicting that net sales and sales at stores open at least 12 months will be flat. For the year, Abercrombie is calling for net sales to be up 2 percent to 4 percent and for same-store sales to rise at a low-single digit rate. Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch tanked after the news. The stock was down more than 23 percent in early trading.
