Christopher & Banks posts wider-than-expected Q4 loss

Christopher & Banks Spring 2009 petite collection

April 9 (Reuters) - Women's apparel retailer Christopher & Banks Corp (CBK.N) posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss as sales fell due to tightened consumer spending, and it said it would not provide earnings-per-share outlook at this time.

"Our core customer has been spending very sparingly on her wardrobe for the past six months, yet we remain confident that we are well capitalized to outlast this recession," Chief Executive Lorna Nagler said.

For the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, the Plymouth, Minnesota-based company posted a loss of $28.8 million, or 82 cents a share, compared with a loss of $8.2 million, or 6 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell to $103.9 million from $122.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

The company, which operates 815 stores in 46 U.S. states, forecast capital expenditure of about $8 million to $9 million for fiscal 2010, compared with about $18 million it spent in 2009.

Shares of the company, which has been taking steps to reduce costs including job cuts, were trading down 2 percent at $4.78 after the bell. (Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)