Ann Taylor Parent Company Lowered Revenue Expected Share Price Fell 3%

The American women's clothing brand Ann Taylor parent Inc. Ann (NYSE:ANN) updated the three quarter forecast before Thursday, and released the four quarter forecast. The company expects revenue in the three quarter to reach US $647 million, lower than the previous US $670 million estimate, and is expected to have a 4.3% decline in the same store sales, a sharp decline compared with the previous slight or flat decline. Stimulated by news, the stock opened 3% down.

Press brand Ann Inc. expects the three quarter Ann Taylor same store sales will drop 6.6%, the full price Ann Taylor and the discount store Ann Taylor Factory are down 4.6% and 10.4% respectively, while the LOFT brand is expected to decline 2.9% in the same store sales, of which the full price line is down 3.3%, and LOFT Factory decreases 1%. The gross profit margin is expected to be 52.6%, which is 140 basis points lower than the previous 54% forecast. The company said it was mainly affected by the additional expenditure of $5 million caused by air freight and uncertain labor costs at the west coast port.

Ann Inc. CEO Kay Krill Express In the three quarter, group performance was lower than expected, mainly due to the drop in store traffic and the more competitive retail environment. In the first half of fiscal year, the delay in delivery also had some impact on the three quarter. She also said that the fourth quarter retail environment is still facing challenges, but the company's new supply chain is fully launched, which will bring the cost reduction and enhance profitability of the group, and the product will respond more quickly.

Ann Inc. also released four quarter and full year Expect We expect us $630 million in the four quarter, low single digit sales in the same store, and gross margin 46.5%. We expect us $2 billion 516 million in the 2014 fiscal year and a low figure in the same store, with a gross margin of 51.2%.

Ann Inc., which was repeatedly prompted by shareholders, signed a confidentiality agreement with private Holdings Company Golden Gate Capital Corp. in October. Analysts said the agreement meant the possibility of selling Ann Inc..

Golden Gate Capital acquired Ann Inc. 9.56% shares in March this year to become the largest shareholder. Since then, the two sides have been conducting "constructive cooperation dialogue". At that time, Golden Gate Capital indicated that the valuation of Ann Inc. (NYSE:ANN) was "seriously underestimated".

Ann Inc. (NYSE:ANN) has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Morgan chase in August to seek strategic options including sales.