American Eagle Outfitters Management Covers Q1 2013 Results
Paul Alexander BofA Merrill Lynch, Research DivisionGreetings, and welcome to the American Eagle First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. [ Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your own host, Judy Meehan, Vice President of Individual Relations. Thank you, Ms. Meehan. You may begin.
Good morning, everyone. Signing up for me today for our equipped remarks are Robert Hanson, Boss; Roger Markfield, Executive Creative Director; and Mary Boland, Chief Monetary Administrative Officer.
Before we begin today's call, I need to advise you that during this conference call, we will make certain forward searching statements. Supra Shoes Stockists Perth These statements will be based upon information that represents their current expectations or beliefs. The actual results realized may differ materially from those expectations or perhaps beliefs based on risk factors a part of our quarterly and 12-monthly reports filed with the Securities and exchange commission's.
Our comments today can focus on results from continuing experditions and exclude non GAAP adjustments. Please refer to the tables attached to the press release. We've furthermore posted our first one fourth financial supplement on our website, which Mary will consult.
Now I'll turn the call over to Robert for opening remarks.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you joining us today. Not surprisingly, the first quarter was challenging, but we remained positive about our strategic direction and talent to deliver. While our rendering wasn't fully to our typical, the macro environment presented problems. Cold weather after last year's record warmth and smooth consumer demand for spring clothes impacted store traffic. On this context, it was tough to crank out growth against the very strong quarter last year. With that said, the enactment of strong inventory principles, fleet repositioning and the deformation of our online business led to an advanced level of profitability.
First 1 fourth total revenue declined 4% plus consolidated comparable sales dropped 5%, coming off a 17% raise last year. Negative comps caused deleverage of fixed costs, which higher only slightly to not too long ago and promotions were better.
Despite these pressures, our gross margin improved, influenced by product cost rewards, including supply chain efficiencies. Most people netted operating profit of $57 , 000, 000, a rate to sales regarding 8.4%. We maintained a good financial position, ending the period together with total cash and opportunities of $496 million after backing capital expenditures of $46 mil and share buybacks totaling $33 million.
Adjusted EPS was $0.18 compared to $0.22 last year, some sort of decline of 18%. While let down with the decline to Supra Tk Society the past year, I'm pleased which our results were within our guidance variety and our outlook for the remainder of the year is favorable.
Looking at our merchandise performance with regard to American Eagle Outfitters, we had a mixture of wins and misses. Fashion overall performed well which is a point of competitive differentiation for that brand. The team executed properly, interpreting current trends, determining the right styles, fits, textiles, colors and patterns and making them appropriate from our brand for our buyers.
Categories that performed notably well included men's and women's slacks, long sleeved woven tops, fleece jacket and men's denim. This men's business declined 3%, in front of women's, which was down 7%. Short continued to underperform and the epidemic of bare looks within women's dresses and cardigans caused soft demand. Furthermore transitioned the women's denim line to crops as well as distorted towards shorts ahead of time in the season. As we advance, while we certainly can't regulate the weather, we will ensure our transitional assortments are more balanced and that our famous for jean material line is better positioned consistently across seasons.
The team features responded quickly, and we moved into the second quarter balanced, within good inventory position, specifically in our core famous for types, where our in stock situation is 95%.
Our new summer months line arrived last week, incorporating freshness to the assortment as the weather turned warmer. We feel good about the continuation of the fashion innovations. And as one example, in Buy Vibram Shoes Online women's, the team has got fast tracked 40 ways for the second quarter based on spring results.
As we look forward, we're also confident about the creative route for back to school along with strong execution in our crucial categories: denim, shorts, knit tops and color, supported by a robust marketing campaign.
Aerie had a solid 1 fourth. Comps rose 4% and profitability in excess of doubled. Initiatives to alter the assortment to focus on the famous for intimates line and around end [ph] swim category have a positive effect on sales and margin. We are very motivated by the response to our completely new swim line, which is based on our best selling bra styles. Although still small, this business has doubled in size and is particularly a great complement to our central product lines.
We continued to acquire new customers, and I believe the aerie brand name is in a very good place deliberately, led by our sturdy team. We will continue to reposition a shop fleet, closing poorly located standalone stores, maximizing side-by-side and shop in look locations and distorting our online shop opportunity.
Factory retailers performed ahead of mainline stores. We saw good Ghd Online Store Australia results for made for manufacturing area merchandise, which will continue to grow waiting for you penetration. Our online business wouldn't see the traffic pressure the stores felt in the fraction. In fact, we continued to find out strong online growth, by using sales rising 24%, led by way of higher traffic and conversion process. Our broader assortment, better in stock position in women's and men's denim and new on the net aerie swim shop contributed to this strength.
We're highly centered on resuming profitable revenue progress and are committed to improving each of our execution in the near term. We have not wavered from my financial targets and longer term strategies. I'll provide an up-date on our progress after Martha reviews the financials.
