Adjusted earnings dipped 45.5% to $0.06 per share. This was primarily caused by the unfavorable impact of the 53rd week and the new revenue recognition standard.
Net sales rose 0.1% to $1.59 billion, as the 3% rise in comparable sales was offset by lower non-comparable sales and the adoption of the new revenue recognition accounting standard. The decrease in non-comparable sales was caused by the unfavorable impact of the extra week in the prior year and fewer stores as a result of its ongoing fleet optimization program.
Looking ahead into the second quarter, the company expects net sales in the range of $1.675 billion to $1.705 billion and its adjusted loss in the range of $0.25 to $0.15 per share. Comparable sales growth is predicted to be in the range of 2% to 4%.
For fiscal 2019, the company continues to expect adjusted earnings in the range of $0.00 to $0.10 per share, supported by low single-digit comparable sales growth. Net sales are still anticipated to be $6.45 billion to $6.55 billion.
During the first quarter, the company had opened five store locations, closed 31 stores, and ended the quarter with about 4,596 store locations. In the previous quarter, the company had set a target to close about 5% of the fiscal 2018 year-end fleet, with store count falling into the range of 4,375 to 4,425 by July 2019.
Shares of Ascena Retail ended Monday’s regular session down 9.30% at $2.73 on the Nasdaq. Following the earnings, the stock has jumped over 15% in the after-market session.