Whitehall Jewellers, Inc. Announces First Quarter Sales of $71.0 Million
05 May 2005 - 9:00PM
Business Wire
Whitehall Jewellers, Inc. (NYSE:JWL) today announced sales for the
first quarter ended April 30, 2005 were $71.0 million compared to
$73.0 million for the first quarter of last year. Comparable store
sales decreased 3.8% during the quarter, versus a comparable store
sales increase of 3.3% for the first fiscal quarter of 2004.
Lucinda Baier, Chief Executive Officer commented, "While we are not
pleased with the comp store sales decrease in the first quarter,
sales improved after the February period. We are pleased that the
action plans identified and implemented after the Christmas season
had a positive impact on sales and margin during the last two
months of the quarter." The Company plans to release financial
results for the quarter ended April 30, 2005 on Wednesday, June 1,
2005. Following the release, the Company will host a conference
call at 9:00 AM EDT that will be broadcast live over the Internet
at http://www.whitehalljewellers.com. To participate in the call,
please dial 1-888-789-0150 approximately 10 minutes before the
scheduled time to be connected to the call. Please call Lynn
Nickless at 312-762-0292 to reserve a space on the call. About
Whitehall Jewellers Whitehall Jewellers, Inc. is a leading national
specialty retailer of fine jewelry, currently operating 386 stores
in 38 states. The Company operates stores in regional and
superregional shopping malls under the names Whitehall Co.
Jewellers, Lundstrom Jewelers and Marks Bros. Jewelers. Safe Harbor
Statement This release contains certain forward-looking statements
(as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) and
information relating to the Company that are based on the current
beliefs of management of the Company as well as assumptions made by
and information currently available to management including
statements related to the markets for our products, general trends
and trends in our operations or financial results, plans,
expectations, estimates and beliefs. In addition, when used in this
release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect,"
"intend," "plan," "predict," "opinion" and similar expressions and
their variants, as they relate to the Company or our management,
may identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect
our judgment as of the date of this release with respect to future
events, the outcome of which is subject to certain risks, including
the factors described below, which may have a significant impact on
our business, operating results or financial condition. Investors
are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are inherently
uncertain. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties
materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect,
actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described
herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others,
may impact forward-looking statements contained in this release:
(1) a change in economic conditions or the financial markets which
negatively impacts the retail sales environment and reduces
discretionary spending on goods such as jewelry; (2) reduced levels
of mall traffic caused by economic or other factors; (3) increased
competition from specialty jewelry retail stores, the Internet and
mass merchant discount stores which may adversely impact our sales
and gross margin; (4) our ability to execute our business strategy
and the related effects on comparable store sales and other
results; (5) the extent and results of our store expansion strategy
and associated occupancy costs, and access to funds for new store
openings and the ability to exit underperforming stores; (6) the
high degree of fourth quarter seasonality of our business and the
impact on the Company's sales, profitability and liquidity; (7) the
extent and success of our merchandising, marketing and/or
promotional programs; (8) personnel costs and the extent to which
we are able to retain and attract key personnel; (9) the effects of
competition on the Company including merchandise availability, real
estate opportunities and retention of personnel; (10) the
availability, terms and cost of consumer credit; (11) relationships
with suppliers including the timely delivery to the Company of
appropriate merchandise on payment and other terms consistent with
past practice; (12) our ability to maintain adequate information
systems capacity and infrastructure; (13) our continued ability to
secure sufficient financing on acceptable terms, including, if an
event of default were to occur pursuant to the Company's revolving
loan facility, that the Company may be required to negotiate relief
with its lenders or seek new financing with respect to which there
may be no assurance that new financing agreements would be
available on acceptable terms or at all; (14) our leverage,
liquidity, and cost of funds and changes in interest rates that may
increase such costs; (15) our ability to maintain adequate loss
prevention measures; (16) fluctuations in raw material prices,
including diamond, gem and gold prices; (17) the impact of current
or future price reductions on margins and resultant valuation
allowances taken on certain merchandise inventory identified from
time to time as items which would not be part of the Company's
future merchandise presentation as well as alternative methods of
disposition of this merchandise inventory and resultant valuations
taken; (18) developments relating to settlement of the consolidated
Capital Factors actions, the non-prosecution agreement entered into
with the United States Attorney's Office, the SEC investigation,
and shareholder and other civil litigation, including the impact of
such developments on our results of operations and financial
condition and relationship with our lenders or with our vendors;
(19) regulation affecting the industry generally, including
regulation of marketing practices; and (20) the risk factors
identified from time to time in our filings with the SEC.
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