LNT Soft Home Slide Yields Red Ink
By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/26/2007 12:00:00 AM
Clifton, N.J. —
Weighed down by debt and interest expense following its buyout by a private investment group, then squeezed by severely eroding margins and sharply higher costs — compounded by a falloff in higher-margin textiles sales — Linens Holding Co., the parent of Linens 'n Things, recorded a fourth-quarter loss of $22.5 million, a sharp reversal of fortune from a year-before profit of $45.0 million. For all of last year, the struggling specialty retailer rang up a daunting loss of $154.4 million, compared with a year-before profit of $36.0 million.
Sales in the quarter edged up 3.9%, to $956.8 million from $921.2 million a year ago, helped by new store openings. The same-store sales dipped slightly, by 0.2%, an improvement over a 2.3% decline during the year-before holiday season.
The sales picture was mixed during the Christmas season (Nov. 24-Dec. 30), the retailer said, as sales shifted hard toward the 'things' side of the business. Tabletop and housewares put up an impressive same-store gain of 15.3% during the holiday period — suggesting a double-digit slide in soft home comps. The 571-store chain said hardlines gains were "offset by weaker sell-through in the higher-margin textiles category, where the assortments require longer lead times and are still in the process of being repositioned."
For all of 2006, sales rose by 4.6%, to $2.8 billion from $2.7 billion, while same-store sales slipped by 0.7%.
Tilting the retailer into the loss column during the closing quarter, interest expense jumped up more than 15-fold, to $24.4 million from $1.6 million. At the same time, margins eroded as textiles sales shrank, narrowing by 320 basis points, or 3.2 percentage points, to 36.7% from 39.9% a year ago. Gross margin dollars thinned by 4.6%, or $16.9 million, to $350.8 million.
Costs also raced up by 340 basis points, or 3.4 percentage points, when measured as a percentage of sales, to 34.9% from 31.5%. In absolute dollars, the damage done by rising costs is even more obvious, with operating expenses jumping up 15.3%, to $334.3 million from $290.1 million last year, an increase of $44.2 million.
Linens Holding Co. (Linens 'n Things)
| Qtr. 12/30 (x000) | 2006 | 2005 | % change |
| a. Fourth-quarter results include $28.0 million in fixed asset impairment charges vs. $4.1 million during the same period a year ago; $3.1 million in identifiable intangible asset impairment charges; $53,000 in interest income, down 75.5% from $216,000 last year; and an income tax benefit of $16.5 million vs. a year-ago tax provision of $27.2 million. b. 12-month results include $28.0 million in fixed asset impairment charges vs. $4.1 million last year; $3.1 million in identifiable intangible asset impairment charges; $858,000 in interest income, -4.0% from last year; and a $66.9 million income tax benefit vs. a year-before tax provision of $21.9 million. c. Earnings per share are not applicable since Linens Holding Co. is not a publicly held company. But because of its level of publicly held debt, it is still required to report financial results to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. |
|||
| Sales | $956,782 | $921,211 | 3.9 |
| Oper. income (EBIT) | 16,460 | 77,599 | -78.8 |
| Net income | (22,450)a | 44,964a | — |
| Per share (diluted) | — b | — b | — |
| Average gross margin | 36.7% | 39.9% | — |
| SG&A expenses | 34.9% | 31.5% | — |
| 12 months | |||
| Sales | $2,819,336 | $2,694,742 | 4.6 |
| Oper. income (EBIT) | (132,511) | 65,886 | — |
| Net income | (106,533)c | 35,982c | — |
| Per share (diluted) | — b | — b | — |
| Average gross margin | 38.4% | 40.8% | — |
| SG&A expenses | 43.1% | 38.4% | — |
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