Coldwater Creek sees drop in earnings, blames weak July

Sandpoint women’s retailer Coldwater Creek Tuesday reported a net second quarter loss of $22.1 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with $18.8 million and 62 cents per share from one year earlier. Company CEO Jill Brown Dean said, in a release, “Sales were lower than planned in the second quarter, largely due to a deceleration in traffic during the month of July. Despite a challenging environment, we delivered bottom-line results that were in line with our guidance,” she said. Net revenue for the quarter was $149.7 million, compared with $163.7 million in 2012 2Q. Net sales from the retail segment were $118.6 million, compared with $129.9 million in the same period last year. Comparable premium retail sales declined 7.3 percent for the quarter. Net sales from catalog or online were $31.1 million, compared with $33.8 million in the same period one year ago. Coldwater Creek closed three premium retail stores and one factory store during the second quarter, ending the fiscal quarter with 344 premium retail stores, 36 factory stores, and 8 spas. The ongoing store consolidation will include closing up to six additional retail stores in fiscal 2013 for a total of 45 stores since fiscal 2011. During a conference call Tuesday afternoon, Coldwater Creek said its guidance for the third quarter includes comparable premium retail store sales to be down in the high-single digits as compared with a 7.3 percent increase in the third quarter of fiscal 2012.