Us Light Luxury Brand Kate Spade Third Quarter Net Sales Increased 14%

American luxury brand

& Co & amp; the sales of comparable stores in the third quarter were lower than expected.

It also said that the coming Christmas sales season will face huge price pressures.

In the third quarter ending October 1st, some of the financial data of Kate Spade are as follows:

Including online channels, comparable store sales increased by 6.7% over the previous year, below analysts' expectations of 7.4%.

The main reasons include the decline of tourist consumption and the reduction of demand for discount goods.

Net profit of 29 million 600 thousand U.S. dollars, an average of 23 cents per share, compared with the same period last year, 2 million 300 thousand U.S. dollars, an average of 2 cents a share increased significantly by 1187%

Net sales grew 14%, to $317 million, up from analysts' estimates of $311 million.

Due to increased investment in discount promotions to clean up the backlog of goods in discount stores, the gross profit margin of the company fell to 59.4% from 61.2% in the previous two quarters.

"The gross margin of Kate Spade fell, coupled with the pressure of price war during the Christmas season and fierce competition in the retail channel, which increased investor unrest and caused a great impact on their share price."

Nomura Simeon analyst Simeon Siegel said.

Kate Spade as the largest

The company's net sales in North America rose 13.7%, to $260 million.

The international market was $51 million, an increase of 18.9% over the same period last year.

In a conference call, executives at the company said Kate Spade expects price competition between brands to be intense during the Christmas season.

CEO Craig Leavitt said he expects Kate Spade to face "very, very huge price pressure" next.

In addition, Kate Spade did not make any adjustments to the forecast for the 2016 fiscal year.

Earlier, due to poor performance in department store sales channels, Kate Spade's main competitor, Coach's comparable store sales in the first quarter were also lower than expected.