The Children’s Place, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) today announced its first quarter financial results for the period ended May 2, 2020.
Net loss for the first quarter was $(114.8) million, or ($7.86) per share, compared to net income of $4.5 million, or $0.28 per share in the first quarter of 2019.
Net sales decreased 31% to $255.2 million.
We believe that our strong digital foundation, coupled with the rapidly changing shopping patterns of our consumer, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our strong value proposition and our core, digital-savvy, millennial customer, will result in the continued acceleration of our digital revenue. Our Fleet Optimization initiative has been a decade-long strategic focus that has resulted in optimum flexibility in our lease terms, enabling us to significantly accelerate store closures without financial penalty. We are now targeting to close an additional 300 stores by the end of fiscal 2021, with 200 closures planned for this year, and 100 closures planned for 2021. This initiative will greatly reduce our reliance on our brick-and-mortar channel and we are targeting our mall-based, brick-and-mortar portfolio to represent less than 25% of our revenue entering fiscal 2022.
Jane Elfers, President and CEO