NEW YORK — Dress Barn Inc.’s second-quarter earnings fell 66.1 percent as costs related to the company’s recent acquisition of Maurices Inc. cut into profits.
For the three months ended Jan. 29, the company earned $1.6 million, or 5 cents a diluted share, compared with $4.8 million, or 16 cents, in the year-earlier period. Dress Barn acquired the 470-store Maurices chain on Jan. 2 and earnings in the quarter reflect the negative impact of $2.1 million for integration costs, the company said. Excluding acquisition-related costs, Dress Barn said it would have earned $3.7 million, or 12 cents. Total quarterly sales increased 17 percent to $200.1 million, while same-store sales were up 2 percent.
“We are particularly encouraged by the strong early selling of our spring transitional merchandise, which continued to strengthen into February for both Dress Barn and Maurices stores,” Elliot S. Jaffe, chairman of Dress Barn, said in the statement. He said the company is “cautious” on the spring selling season because of “the potential effect of an early Easter.”
In the first six months of the fiscal year, Dress Barn reported earnings of $8.8 million, or 29 cents a diluted share, representing a 24.3 percent decline from $11.6 million, or 39 cents, in the year-earlier period. Total revenues rose 9.3 percent to $397.3 million. The company said results in the previous year were adjusted because of changes in the way it accounts for store operating leases.
Dress Barn, based in Suffern, N.Y., operates 775 Dress Barn and 473 Maurices stores.