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Aug 28, 2019
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J.Jill dives into second-quarter loss

Published
Aug 28, 2019

J.Jill, Inc. announced a loss of $96.7 million (a loss of $2.21 per share) for the second quarter ended August 3, 2019, on Tuesday, a significant decline from the income of $10.5 million ($0.23 per share) reported by the Quincy, Massachusetts-based womenswear retailer in the same period in the previous year.


J.Jill managed to top Wall Street estimates despite its free-falling income - Instagram: @jjillstyle

 
The company’s quarterly net sales totaled $180.7 million, registering a slight increase of 0.5%, or $1.0 million, from $179.7 million in the prior-year period. Comparable sales, however, decreased 1.2%.
 
Ultimately, J.Jill’s bottom line was decimated by selling, general and administrative expenses, which increased from $97.4 million in Q2 2018 to $200.1 million. Indeed, excluding impairment and non-recurring expenses, the company’s net loss only came to $2.2 million, a loss of $0.05 per share.

Despite the declines, J.Jill managed to top the predictions of Wall Street analysts, who had expected the retailer to post adjusted losses of $0.9 per share.
 
Over the course of the quarter, J.Jill also opened four new stores and closed one, finishing the quarter with a total of 286 stores.
 
“In the second quarter, we took necessary steps to address the challenging start we had to this year,” said J.Jill President and CEO Linda Heasley in a release. “We completed an evaluation of our infrastructure to increase efficiencies and took actions to begin right-sizing our organization. We continue to balance our on-hand inventory levels, while remaining focused on customer experience and product. We have made progress, and there is still more work to be done.”
 
For the first half of the year, the company reported $357.2 million in sales, down $4.1 million or 1.1% versus $361.3 million in the prior-year period, while comparable sales fell 2.2%.
 
J.Jill’s net loss for the six-month period was $92.4 million, down from net income of $21.7 million..
 
In the third quarter, the company expects to see a decrease in comparable sales of between 1% and 3%, while total net sales are predicted to fall up to 1%, remain flat or increase up to 1%. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be between $0.10 and $0.12.
 
For the full fiscal year 2019, comps are expected to fall between 2% and 4%, while total net sales are predicted to remain flat or fall up to 2%.  

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