Blame the weather, but Tilly’s Inc. isn’t expecting a strong April quarter.
The news, which came Monday with the company’s January quarter and full-year results, sent the company’s stock down about 11 percent in after-hours trading.
Tilly’s counts 222 stores in 31 states, mostly on the West Coast and sells clothing, accessories and footwear from brands such as RVCA, Salty Crew, Von Zipper, Vissla, Vans and Diamond Supply Co.
The company said “significant weather issues” in February in California, Arizona and Nevada, along with a later Easter holiday, will impact the company’s quarter performance.
Tilly’s, as a result, said it expects a loss of $2 million to $4.34 million in the April quarter, which is off from the $1.16 million loss analysts expected. The company did not provide revenue guidance and said same-store sales, which includes online and off-line revenue, is expected to be down in the midsingle digits.
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The gloomy outlook followed results for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 28 in which the retailer beat analyst expectations on total sales and earnings. Tilly’s net sales for the January quarter rose less than 1 percent from a year earlier to $160.2 million, with income of $6.3 million, up from $2.9 million in the year-ago period.
“We finished fiscal 2016 with three consecutive quarters of year-over-year operating income growth and our first annual improvement in operating income of the last five years,” said Tilly’s president and chief executive officer Ed Thomas in a statement. “Our strong balance sheet enabled us to reward shareholders with a $20 million special dividend in February. While we are encouraged by these results, we will continue to seek ways to improve profitability and continue our progress during fiscal 2017.”
Tilly’s ended its 2016 fiscal year with net sales of $569 million, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier. Same-store sales for the period rose 0.5 percent compared with 1.2 percent growth in the year-ago period. The company grew net income from $7.5 million in fiscal 2015 to $11.4 million in the recently ended 12-month period.