UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
----------------
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): August 24, 2005
Citi Trends, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware 333-123028 52-2150697
(State or other jurisdiction of (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer
incorporation) Identification No.)
102 Fahm Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (912) 236-1561
Former name or former address, if changed since last report: Not applicable
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to
simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the
following provisions (See General Instruction A.2 below):
[ ] Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR
230.425)
[ ] Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR
240.14a-12)
[ ] Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange
Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
[ ] Pre- commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the
Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
Item 2.02. Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On August 24, 2005, Citi Trends, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"),
issued a press release reporting its financial results for the thirteen and
twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2005 (the "Earnings Announcement"). A copy of
the Earnings Announcement is attached to this Current Report on Form 8-K
("Current Report") as Exhibit 99.1 and the contents of which are incorporated
herein solely for purposes of this Item 2.02 disclosure. On August 25, 2005, the
Company held a conference call to discuss its financial results for the thirteen
and twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2005. A transcript of that conference call
is attached to this Current Report as Exhibit 99.2.
The information in this Current Report, including the exhibits attached hereto,
is being furnished and shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), or
otherwise subject to the liabilities of such section. The information in this
Current Report, including the exhibits, shall not be incorporated by reference
into any filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended or the Exchange
Act, regardless of any incorporation by reference language in any such filing.
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
A copy of the Earnings Announcement is being furnished by being attached hereto
as Exhibit 99.1.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(c) Exhibits
Exhibit No. Description
99.1 Press Release dated August 24, 2005
99.2 Transcript of conference call held by Citi Trends, Inc. on
August 25, 2005
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
CITI TRENDS, INC.
Date: August 29, 2005
By: /s/ Thomas W. Stoltz
-------------------------------
Name: Thomas W. Stoltz
Title: Chief Financial Officer
Exhibit Index
Exhibit No. Description
99.1 Press Release dated August 24, 2005
99.2 Transcript of conference call held by Citi Trends, Inc. on
August 25, 2005
Exhibit 99.1
news
[FINANCIAL RELATIONS BOARD LOGO]
At the Company: At the Financial Relations Board
Tom Stoltz Marilynn Meek, General - 212-827-3773
Chief Financial Officer Susan Garland, Analysts - 212-827-3775
Citi Trends, Inc.
912-443-2075
tstoltz@cititrends.com
www.cititrends.com
Ed Anderson
Chief Executive Officer
912-443-3075
eanderson@cititrends.com
www.cititrends.com
CITI TRENDS, INC. ANNOUNCES FISCAL 2005 SECOND QUARTER RESULTS
Second Quarter Net Sales Increased 38.2% to $59.4 Million;
Second Quarter Comparable Store Sales Increased 11.5%;
Second Quarter Diluted Earnings per Share Increased to $0.03;
Fiscal Year 2005 EPS Guidance Range of $0.80 - $0.83
Savannah, GA - August24, 2005 - Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) today
reported results for the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended July30, 2005.
Quarter Ended July 30, 2005
- ---------------------------
Total net sales for the thirteen weeks ended July 30, 2005 increased by
38.2% to $59.4 million from $43.0 million reported in the prior year. Comparable
store sales increased 11.5% for the thirteen weeks ended July 30, 2005 compared
to 0.3% in the thirteen weeks ended July 31, 2004. Total net sales for the
twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2005 increased by 35.1% to $123.1 million from
$91.1 million reported in the prior year. Comparable store sales increased 9.0%
for the twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2005 compared to 2.0% in the twenty-six
weeks ended July 31, 2004. Relocated stores and expanded stores are included in
the comparable store sales results.
The Company reported net income for the thirteen weeks ended July 30,
2005 of approximately $381,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, compared to net loss
of approximately $41,000 or $0.00 per diluted share in the thirteen weeks ended
July 31, 2004.The Company reported net income for the twenty-six weeks ended
July 30, 2005 of $3.6 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, compared to net
income of $2.2 million or $0.20 per diluted share in the twenty-six weeks ended
July 31, 2004.
The Company paid a one-time fee in the second quarter of $1.2 million
pre-tax, or $0.05 per diluted share, to Hampshire Equity Partners to terminate
its management consulting agreement with the Company, as previously disclosed by
the Company in the prospectus for its initial public offering. The fee is
included in the net income results reported above.
For fiscal 2005, the Company plan was to open 40 new stores. In the
twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2005, the Company opened 21 new stores and is on
plan for store openings for the remainder of the year.
Fiscal 2005 EPS Outlook
- -----------------------
The Company anticipates full year diluted earnings per share of
between $0.80 and $0.83 based on 13.4 million diluted shares outstanding. The
Company reminds investors of the complexity of accurately assessing future
growth given the difficulty in predicting fashion trends, consumer preferences
and general economic conditions and the impact of other business variables.
A one-hour conference call will be held on August 25, 2005 at 10:00 am EST to
discuss second quarter results and answer questions. To access the conference
call, listeners should dial 800-218-8862. International callers should dial
303-262-2211. For those unable to listen at that time, a replay of the call will
be available through September 1, 2005 at 800-405-2236 for domestic callers or
303-590-3000 for international callers. The pass code for the replay is
11037385.
The call will be broadcast live over the Internet via
http://ir.cititrends.com/medialist.cfm. For those who are unavailable to listen
to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call on the
above website for 60 days.
Citi Trends, Inc. is a value-priced retailer of urban fashion apparel
and accessories for the entire family. The Company currently operates 221 stores
located in 12 states in the South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic region, and our
website address is www.cititrends.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
- --------------------------
All statements other than historical facts contained in this news release,
including statements regarding our future financial position, business policy
and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are
forward-looking statements that are subject to material risks and uncertainties.
The words "believe," "may," "could," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate,"
"intend," "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to Citi Trends, are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that
any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or
results and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which
cannot be predicted or quantified, and that actual results or developments may
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of
various factors which are discussed in Citi Trends, Inc. filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties include, but
are not limited to, uncertainties relating to economic conditions, growth and
expansion risks, consumer spending patterns, competition within the industry,
competition in our markets and the ability to anticipate and respond to fashion
trends. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of
the United States and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Citi Trends does not undertake to publicly update any
forward-looking statements in this news release or with respect to matters
described herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events or
otherwise.
CTRN - E
###
CITI TRENDS, INC.
CONDENSED STATEMENT OF INCOME
(unaudited)
(in $000's, except share and per share data)
Thirteen Weeks Ended
July 30, 2005 July 31, 2004
-------------- --------------
(unaudited) (unaudited)
Net sales 59,449 43,011
Gross profit 21,767 14,916
Selling, general and administrative expenses 21,271 14,806
-------------- --------------
Income from operations 496 110
Net income 381 (41)
Net income per share, basic 0.03 0.00
Net income per share, diluted 0.03 0.00
Weighted average shares used to compute net income per share, basic 11,925,307 9,310,600
Weighted average shares used to compute net income per share, diluted 13,587,400 10,952,838
CITI TRENDS, INC.
CONDENSED STATEMENT OF INCOME
(unaudited)
(in $000's, except share and per share data)
Twenty-six Weeks Ended
July 30, 2005 July 31, 2004
-------------- --------------
(unaudited) (unaudited)
Net sales 123,066 91,080
Gross profit 46,900 33,950
Selling, general and administrative expenses 41,029 30,026
-------------- --------------
Income from operations 5,871 3,924
Net income 3,646 2,198
Net income per share, basic 0.34 0.24
Net income per share, diluted 0.30 0.20
Weighted average shares used to compute net income per share, basic 10,610,154 9,308,000
Weighted average shares used to compute net income per share, diluted 12,230,180 10,928,216
CITI TRENDS, INC.
CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS
(in $000's)
July 30, 2005 July 31, 2004
-------------- --------------
(unaudited) (unaudited)
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents 30,760 5,894
Marketable securities 12,013 --
Inventory 50,064 36,936
Other assets 7,279 5,715
Property and equipment, net 20,129 15,276
-------------- --------------
Total assets 120,245 63,821
============== ==============
Liabilities and stockholders' equity
Borrowings under line of credit -- 5,660
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 43,713 29,661
Other liabilities 7,414 9,769
Total stockholders' equity 69,118 18,731
-------------- --------------
Total liabilitiesand stockholders' equity 120,245 63,821
============== ==============
Exhibit 99.2
CITI TRENDS, INC.
Second Quarter Conference Call
August 25, 2005, 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Operator Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the
Citi Trends, Inc. second quarter conference call. At
this time all participants are in a listen-only mode.
Following today's presentation instructions will be
given for the question and answer session. If you
should require assistance during today's conference
call, please press the star followed by the zero for
an operator. As a reminder, this conference is being
recorded this Thursday, August 25, 2005.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr.
Tom Stoltz, Chief Financial Officer of Citi Trends.
Please go ahead sir.
T. Stoltz Good morning everyone. Also on the call today with me
is Ed Anderson, the company's Chief Executive
Officer. By now everyone should have seen our second
quarter earnings release that was sent out shortly
after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time yesterday. If you have
not received the release, it is available on our
company website under the "Investor Relations"
section and the sub folder "Investors" at
www.cititrends.com.
You should be aware that the prepared remarks made
during this call contain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and management may
make additional forward-looking statements in
response to your questions. These statements do not
guarantee future performance and therefore undue
reliance should not be placed on them. Such
statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual
results to differ materially. We refer all of you to
the company's most recent report on Form S-1 as filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more
detailed discussions of the factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those
described in any forward-looking statements.
Also note that all of the company's per share data
have been adjusted to reflect the company's 26 for 1
stock split effectuated on May 11, 2005.
Ed Anderson and I will give a brief presentation
after which we will address any questions you may
have. With that said, I would like to now turn the
call over to Ed.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 1
E. Anderson Thank you Tom. Good morning and thank you for joining
us this morning. This second quarter of 2005 was our
first full quarter as a public company and this is
our first earnings release conference call.
We were very pleased with our initial public offering
which we completed May 18th, and are extremely
pleased to report very strong results for the second
quarter and first half of 2005.
I will present an overview of the quarter results and
make a few comments about the company's growth and
future plans and then Tom will review the financial
results in more detail and conclude with earnings
guidance for 2005. Then, we will be happy to answer
your questions.
In the second quarter net sales increased 38.2% over
last year. Comparable store sales increased 11.5% in
the quarter with each month of the quarter
contributing stronger comparable sales than the
relevant month last year. Please note that last
year's second quarter comparable store sales
increased 0.3%, the weakest quarter of 2004. I'll
speak more about sales and the drivers of our sales
in a few minutes.
Net earnings for the quarter were $381,000, or $0.03
per share. These results include a one-time pre-tax
charge of $1.2 million related to the cancellation of
our management contract with Hampshire Equity
Partners, our majority stockholder, which was
discussed in our IPO Prospectus. Without the effect
of this one-time charge, our earnings per share for
the quarter would have been $0.08 per share, compared
to $0.00 per share last year.
The second quarter of 2005 was a very positive
quarter for the company. Our merchandise gross margin
rate increased, our ratio of SG&A to sales decreased
(in fact, we had expense leverage in all three
principal expense areas: stores, distribution and
corporate), and new store sales exceeded our
expectations. Most of these positives occurred
because of, or were helped by, our excellent sales
results. Sales were generally strong across all major
merchandise categories.
Comparable sales increases for the quarter by
category were: men's up 18.8%; women's up 9.1%;
children's up 9.8%; accessories up 7.3% and home
furnishings up 33.8%. The common thread across
merchandise categories was that nationally recognized
brands' sales increased at a higher rate than other
non-branded merchandise.
As most of you know, we sell nationally recognized
urban brands such as PhatFarm, BabyPhat, RocaWear,
AppleBottoms and Dickies.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 2
Our value conscious customer has a strong appetite
for current urban brands at strong value prices.
Additionally, our comparable sales increases were
driven by increased customer traffic while our
average price per item, as well as our transaction
sizes, remained relatively constant with last year.
Momentum is a big driver of sales, both up and down.
The positive results of fiscal 2005 were set up by
the very successful fourth quarter of fiscal 2004. We
had strong sales at the end of the fourth quarter and
ended the fiscal year with very healthy inventories.
We had appropriate levels of inventory as well as low
levels of clearance inventory as a percentage of the
total. That healthy inventory set up the strong sales
performance of the first quarter of fiscal 2005.
Strong sales in the first quarter and the second
quarter of 2005 have allowed us to keep healthy
inventories and have kept the positive momentum going
into August.
Total inventories at the end of the second quarter
were 35% over last year's second quarter ending July
31, 2004 and comparable store inventories were up 6%
over the same time last year.
We opened seven new stores in the last week of the
second quarter, bringing our total to 21 stores so
far in 2005. We expect to open 40 new stores for the
entire year. The 2005 new stores average
approximately 10,000 selling square feet and are
consistent in size to the new stores we have opened
since 2003. The 21 stores opened to date are located
in the same 12 states in which we operated at the
beginning of the year. This year's new store sales
have exceeded our forecast and are running ahead of
last year's new stores on a per store basis. This new
store performance is the result of our strong sales
in general as well as some very good store locations.
We disclosed in our Prospectus that we planned to add
an additional distribution center by December 2006.
We have continued to work on that project. We have
considered acquiring an existing building as well as
building a new facility. As you may recall, our
existing facilities will support up to 300 stores.
We intend to bring our additional facility on-line
very methodically. We are not changing methods or
adding a new warehouse management system. Initially,
we will only add additional floor space utilizing our
current processes. I'm telling you this as a reminder
that some additional costs to bring the new facility
on-line will be incurred, possibly as early as the
second half of fiscal 2005 and on into 2006. We
intend for the addition of this space to be as
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 3
seamless to our business as possible. Now back to
Tom.
T. Stoltz Thank you Ed. Again, we are very pleased to report to
you our second quarter financial results, our first
full quarter as a public company. Our second quarter
results demonstrated strong top line and bottom line
results with both comparable stores and new stores
performing well. Both sales and profits have exceeded
our expectations.
As Ed mentioned, our total sales for the quarter were
$59.4 million, versus $43.0 million last year. This
represents a 38.2% increase in year-over-year sales.
Comparable store sales rose 11.5%, versus 0.3% in the
2004 period. The monthly comparable numbers during
the second quarter were as follows: May: 11.1% versus
7.7% last year; June: 14.5% versus a decrease of 1.5%
last year; and July: 8.5% versus a decrease of 3.6%
last year.
For the year-to-date, total sales were $123.1
million, or an increase of 35.1% over the prior year.
Comparable sales were up 9.0% for the year-to-date.
As Ed said, our 2004 and 2005 new stores have
performed better than expected to date.
Moving on to gross margins, for the quarter we
reported at 36.6% compared to our prior year rate at
34.7%. As Ed mentioned, nearly all of the increase
was a result of well-positioned and balanced
inventories, along with strong sales trends that
resulted in fewer goods to clear and therefore
reduced markdown levels.
Freight costs were up slightly as a percent of sales,
and shrinkage remained constant as a percent of last
year. Shrinkage during the past several years has
been in the range of 2.5% to 3.0% at retail. As a
reminder, our gross profits do not include
distribution and/or occupancy costs as some retailers
report.
For the year-to-date gross margin was 38.1% compared
to 37.3% last year with all of the improvement coming
in the second quarter.
SG&A expenses were 35.8% of sales for the quarter
compared to 34.4% last year. As Ed explained, we paid
a fee in connection with the termination of our
management agreement with Hampshire Equity Partners
in the second quarter totaling $1.2 million on a
pre-tax basis. Excluding the termination fee from our
results, the SG&A was 33.8%, or a 60 basis point
improvement over last year, despite "being public
costs" this year of approximately $300,000 in the
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 4
quarter. Most of the leveraging was a result of
higher sales than planned against some of the fixed
costs in distribution and corporate.
For the year-to-date, SG&A as a percent of sales was
33.3% compared to 33.0% last year. Excluding the
termination fee, SG&A was 32.4% compared to 33.0%
last year, again despite about $400,000 in "being
public costs" in the year-to-date.
Each of the items previously discussed led to net
income for the quarter of $381,000 compared to a
$41,000 net loss last year.
Earnings per diluted share were $0.03 versus $0.00
last year, with 13.575 million shares outstanding.
Excluding the one-time termination fee, net income
was $1.1 million or $0.08 per diluted share.
For the year-to-date, net income was $3.6 million, or
an increase of 64% over the prior year at $2.2
million. Excluding the termination fee, net income
was $4.4 million or an increase of 100% over the
prior year.
Earnings per diluted share were $0.30 compared to
$0.20 last year, up 50%. The earnings per diluted
share increase for the year-to-date is smaller than
the net income increase because of the IPO shares
issued during the second quarter of this year.
Excluding the termination fee, earnings per diluted
share was $0.36 or an increase of 80%.
Our tax rate for the first half of the year was
37.3%.
Now, moving on to the guidance for the last half of
2005. Our position going forward on sales and
earnings guidance will be to address the current
trends each quarter and give you an update on our
full year expectations. Presently we will not comment
on expectations for 2006, as we need to see how our
momentum carries us through the next quarter.
From a strategic growth perspective, our future goals
are to continue to deliver annual square footage
growth of approximately 20% through new stores, 3%
comparable store sales increases and a range of low
to mid-20% long term profit growth.
For the second half of 2005 we expect comparable
sales to increase by approximately 3% and total sales
increases ranging from 24% to 26% as the comparisons
become more difficult as we move into the fourth
quarter of 2005.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 5
We plan to open 19 stores in the second half bringing
our year total to 40 new store openings.
Gross margins should remain approximately constant to
the second half of 2004 as margins improved last year
as our sales improved, particularly in the fourth
quarter, creating a tougher margin comparison.
We do not expect leveraging in SG&A, particularly
with the additional "being public costs" that we
expect to incur during the second half of 2005. We
expect 30 to 40 basis points of profit improvement
related to interest income from IPO proceeds during
the second half.
With all of this said, the full year earnings per
diluted share should fall in a range of $0.80 to
$0.83 based on 13.4 million diluted shares
outstanding. I will bring to your attention here that
this $0.80 to $0.83 EPS range excludes the $1.2
million termination fee. The EPS range is $0.75 to
$0.78 cents including this charge.
We expect the full year tax rate to be between 37%
and 37.5%.
With that, operator, I will now turn the call back
over to you to take any questions.
Operator Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time if
you have a question please press the star followed by
the one on your touchtone telephone. If you would
like to withdraw yourself from the queue, you may do
so by pressing the star followed by the two. You will
hear a three-toned prompt acknowledging your
selection and your questions will be taken in the
order that they are received. We suggest if you are
using speaker equipment to please lift the handset
before pressing the buttons. One moment please, for
our first question.
Our first question comes from Dorothy Lakner with
CIBC World Markets. Please go ahead with your
question ma'am.
D. Lakner Good morning everyone, and congratulations on a great
first quarter out of the box.
E. Anderson Thank you.
D. Lakner A couple of questions. One, if you could give us more
color on your new store performance compared to the
older ones in terms of what
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 6
volumes you are now expecting. Secondly you are, I
assume, trying to be conservative in the second half
of the year with the comp guidance still at 3%.
Obviously you did much better than that in the first
half but you do have more difficult comparisons in
the second. My question would be what comp would
allow you to leverage costs beyond the 3% comp that
you're currently projecting?
Then lastly, there's a been a lot of talk about
impact from higher energy prices. Obviously you have
not seen any of that so far and I wonder if you could
share with us why you think that is. One more
question and that is you seem to be doing very, very
well obviously with urban brands and some other
mall-based competitors are not, particularly in the
men's business and I wonder if you could just give us
color on why you're doing well? Thanks.
T. Stoltz Thank you, Dorothy. I will take the first two
questions and then I will let Ed answer the last two.
In regards to new store volumes what we have seen on
an annual run rate, the best we can estimate for 2004
and 2005 is pretty substantial increases. We told
everyone during the IPO process about $1.2 to $1.3
million was going to be our new store sales volume
that we would expect. We are running roughly 10% or
so better than that right now for those two classes
of stores, 2004 and 2005.
In terms of guidance for the last half of the year,
yes, you are correct in what you said. The second
part of that question was at what point do we get
leverage. Anywhere north of 3% we should expect to
get some leverage in distribution and home office
costs.
With that, I will let Ed address the energy and the
urban brands questions.
E. Anderson I think I understand the question, Dorothy, as with
energy costs being up, are we expecting any impact on
our business. Was that your question?
D. Lakner Yes, that was the question. Everyone seems to be
talking about it and you do not seem to be seeing it.
E. Anderson I think it's absolutely true that our customer is
feeling the impact of additional energy costs on
their pocketbooks as everyone else is. I think what's
a little different with us are a couple of things.
One, we have talked about our customers' propensity
to spend a significant percentage of their budget on
apparel in general and fashion apparel specifically.
There is some rebalancing of budget issues that
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 7
obviously has been going on among our customer base.
Secondly, our stores are operated in urban
neighborhoods and a lot of our stores are accessible
by walk-in traffic or bus lines. Those two things
probably are helping us to some extent.
On urban brands, the fact that our urban branded
business has continued to be good, in fact we
mentioned earlier that it actually has increased at a
higher rate than our average business for the first
half of this year. I really cannot speak to why
others have struggled in certain urban brands and we
want to be very careful that we do not talk
specifically about which urban brands work
particularly well for us versus other ones for
competitive reasons.
D. Lakner What I would be interested in, particularly in the
men's businesses is if you could share with us (I
guess George is not there) but just share with us
what kinds of looks you are doing well with in men's.
E. Anderson There has clearly been a trend. You are right, our
chief merchant's not here on this phone call, but
there's clearly been a trend over the last year, year
and a half toward a more cleaned up, less cluttered
look, more solid colors of shirts and pants working
in men's. That has been going on and that continues
to go on in our business.
D. Lakner Great.
Operator Sir, our next question comes from Jeff Klinefelter
with Piper Jaffray. Please go ahead with your
question, sir.
J. Klinefelter Congratulations on a great quarter. A couple of
questions Ed. If you could talk more on your new
store productivity. I understand running about 10%
above your model. Any insights into these new markets
for 2005, how they are tracking that might help us
appreciate your potential as you go in over the next
two years into these new markets?
Also on the categories, very strong performance in
men's. If I recall, your men's was very strong last
year in the second half. As we enter the second half,
do you see momentum coming or faster growth rates
coming out of the women's, junior's and home area?
E. Anderson Just to reiterate what Tom said. Our new stores in
2004 performed at a higher rate than our average
stores by at least 10% or so. The note I made was
that our 2005 stores are actually performing somewhat
higher than that.
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 8
So our new store productivity on a per store basis is
running somewhat higher than our chain average and
that has been true since 2004 and the good news is
that has continued with our 2005 group of stores. I
would also add that on a per foot basis our new
stores are tracking pretty comparable with our
existing store group. So as we add new stores, we are
getting a commensurate increase in sales.
J. Klinefelter Ed has anything changed with those new markets you
have entered this year in terms of the types of
locations you are going into, the types of peers that
are in those malls? Anything that's changed in terms
of your expansion that would explain this
acceleration other than perhaps a different
population density?
E. Anderson The 21 stores we have opened so far in 2005, again as
we said before, we opened these stores in the same 12
states that we operated in at the beginning of the
year so we are operating essentially in the same
general geographic territory we have opened before.
We obviously have opened in new towns and we have
back filled this into some existing markets.
We have not changed anything about the type of
shopping center we are looking for. We have not
changed anything about our demographics profile or
our co-tenant structure. So these stores, again as I
pointed out earlier, the size of the stores is
essentially the same and the kinds of markets we are
going into are essentially the same.
I will pre-answer a question as far as new markets in
2005. Again all of the stores are in existing states,
most of them are in existing general markets we have
operated in before. The two new markets in 2005 so
far have been Dallas, Texas and San Antonio, Texas.
Jeff, just to reiterate, the answer to your question
is nothing has really changed. The size of the
stores, the profiles, the co-tenants are the same as
they were before.
J. Klinefelter Great. How about in terms of the product categories?
Maybe a run rate, a percent of total that the
categories represent here in 2005 year-to-date.
Should we expect to see the growth rates in some of
the categories outside of men's accelerate faster as
men's is up against some tougher comps in the second
half?
E. Anderson That was your second question, you were asking about
the men's comps and the fact that men's comps had
increased into the second half of last year and are
we expecting any changes in that.
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 9
We pointed out earlier that the comp sales for the
second quarter, and we showed you men's at over 18%
in the quarter, men's clearly had tougher comps in
the first half of 2004 than most of the other
divisions did. Men's was going against some easier
comps and those comps do get more difficult as we go
into the second quarter.
Without promising sales different than what Tom has
told you, we do not see any consequential changes in
our mix going forward into the second half than we
have had so far in the first half of 2005.
J. Klinefelter Great. Thank you very much.
Management Thanks.
Operator Thank you sir. Our next question comes from Joseph
Teklits with Wachovia Securities. Please go ahead
with your question.
J. Teklits Thanks. Gentlemen, good morning.
Management Good morning.
J. Teklits Nice presentation as well this morning, your first
try at it.
Management Thank you.
J. Teklits Back to the nationally recognized brands driving the
business, are you finding yourself able to get more
merchandise that would be categorized as nationally
recognized? Is being public helping you, is the
exposure of being public helping you at all? Is that
driving things a bit?
E. Anderson I do not believe the fact that we are public has
really changed our relationships with any suppliers.
I think what has changed our relationships with
suppliers are a couple of things. Our company has
grown in size and as we have grown, we have become
able to write larger orders and to make larger
closeout buys, for example, and to be more important
to a lot of suppliers. Our size has helped us and our
general relationships over time, relationships with a
lot of branded manufacturers take some time to build
and I think those relationships have been built over
time and that is resulting in our capability to buy
correctly and to sell pretty consequential amounts of
these brands.
J. Teklits I am trying to figure out if also the percentage of
your merchandise in your stores today versus last
year or the year before is more heavily weighted
toward nationally recognized brands.
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 10
E. Anderson It is. Maybe this is the time to make the point here.
Our company does not have any targets toward branded
merchandise versus non-branded merchandise. We
basically let the branded sales take care of
themselves and if the brands are hot we sell the
brands, if they are not as hot we will back off of
them. That is what has happened this year.
We believe our customer reacts to fashion first and
brands second and what is really been going on, we
believe, is the brands we sell have actually been
correct fashion-wise with the right styles and colors
and looks. We think that is as important as anything
else. We are not forcing the issue with brands, it is
basically finding its own level.
J. Teklits Makes sense. Two more questions for you Ed. First,
you said something about August, how the momentum
continues. Can you speak at all to the fall season as
how it is beginning to play out so far? Is it
different than you have seen in the past? Is it
later, earlier, any quirks to it that you are seeing?
Secondly, to follow up on Jeff's question, you opened
Baltimore, Washington last year and the furthest you
have pushed north into a very significant
metropolitan area. Can you comment on what you have
learned up here and how those stores are performing?
E. Anderson Regarding the first question and how we see fall
playing itself out versus previous falls, we have to
be careful here because August really kicks off fall
and we have not talked much about August. I did say
that the momentum from the first half of the year has
continued into August. I guess that is a positive
comment about the beginning of the second half of the
year.
We do not see at this point the second half of the
year necessarily offering any different challenges
than the first half of the year did. We have softer
comps at the beginning of the second half of the year
but remember, we ended the second half of 2004 on a
very strong note back in December so we do not see
the second half necessarily playing out. You heard
Tom's guidance so I am not backing away from what he
told you but we do not see it as far as anything else
setting up differently.
As far as locations go and as far as specific real
estate locations, you asked about Baltimore. We have
three stores in the general area of Baltimore, two in
Baltimore and one very near the District of Columbia.
Those stores to this point have under-performed our
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 11
expectations and the average of typical new stores.
The short answer to your question is that they have
under-performed slightly.
What I would point out to you is more often than not
when Citi Trends opens a new market, our stores
accelerate pretty quickly. Sometimes in larger
markets our sales do not take off as quickly. As you
all may know, we advertise very little, even at grand
openings. While we do a grand opening advertising
event, we do not spend a significant amount of money
on grand openings.
I will give an analogy here to try to answer your
question Joe. A couple of markets we have opened in
the last couple of years that we view to be similar
to Baltimore. One is Richmond, Virginia, and another
one is Orlando, Florida. These were markets opened in
2003 and 2004 that got off to decent starts but not
really up to what we thought they might do. I will
tell you that now with a year plus behind us in those
markets, Richmond and Orlando are running near the
lead in the entire company in comp store sales
increases this year as customers have gotten to know
Citi Trends and those stores have gained traction.
We expect that eventually will happen in Baltimore.
In fact, our recent results in Baltimore, we have
seen positive results in the very recent couple of
months. We are very confident of our ultimate success
in that market. In fact, we have approved two
additional locations in the Baltimore area that will
be coming on-line perhaps one this fall and one next
spring.
J. Teklits I appreciate that and good luck.
T. Stoltz Thanks.
Operator Thank you sir. Our next question comes from Elizabeth
Montgomery with SG Cowen. Please go ahead ma'am.
E. Montgomery Hi. Congratulations on a really good quarter.
Management Thank you.
E. Montgomery I was wondering if you could comment on the
performance of the store in Houston, some of the
newer stores that may be targeting the Hispanic
consumers.
E. Anderson As you all know, the demographic that the company
works toward and where we locate stores has been
predominantly African American demographics. In
Houston, the Hispanic population is
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 12
significant and we have located several stores, two
or three stores in Houston where the Hispanic
population is actually greater than the African
American population. I will tell you that virtually
all of the stores in Houston, irrespective of the
demographic profile, have been successful so far.
E. Montgomery They are tracking in line with the average store
across the base?
E. Anderson Absolutely. Yes.
E. Montgomery I had a question about merchandising on the men's
side or maybe not merchandising but the comp trend. I
was trying to remember in the second quarter last
year, that was the time that the men's business was
having a lower average transaction price, right,
because of a fashion shift?
E. Anderson I do not remember us ever telling you that. I will
tell you though that men's business was difficult
last year in the second quarter. Actually the first
half of last year, the men's business was running
below the chain average.
E. Montgomery I am a little surprised that the average transaction
was flat given that you were comping against weaker
or lower average transaction levels in the men's
business last year, if I am remembering correctly.
E. Anderson We do not have those statistics in front of us and I
am not sure we would even disclose transaction size
by category if we did have them, but I do not
remember that. I just remember that the men's
business had been difficult among our businesses last
year through the first and second quarter and then
started gaining traction into the second half and has
obviously continued through the first half of this
year.
E. Montgomery Thanks a lot, good luck.
E. Anderson Thank you, Beth.
Operator Thank you ma'am. Our next question is a follow up
question from Jeff Klinefelter. Please go ahead sir.
J. Klinefelter I wonder if you could share with us the interest
expense and tax rate information for the quarter. I
noticed it was not in the press release and I am
wondering if there is some color that you could shed
on that.
T. Stoltz For the first half of the year, I said that the tax
rate was 37.3%. Each
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 13
quarter we look at where we are on the taxes and we
adjust accordingly. As far as interest expense, if my
memory serves me, that was a $55,000 expense for the
quarter.
J. Klinefelter Great, thank you.
T. Stoltz Thanks.
Operator Thank you sir. Our next question comes from Peyton
Roberts with Morgan Keegan. Go ahead with your
question, sir.
P. Roberts I am a broker in Lexington. Is there an outlet in
this area that I can visit? Secondly, do you have an
ideal sales per unit per store? It seems to me when I
did this on the offering it seemed small to me.
E. Anderson You are in Lexington, Kentucky? We do not have any
stores in Lexington, Kentucky today. We intend to go
to Lexington, Kentucky next year but we are not there
today. The closest store to you today is in
Nashville, Tennessee.
As far as our new store size expectations go, Tom, go
ahead and tell him the answer to that.
T. Stoltz The new store size selling square feet is around
10,000 feet in selling space. In terms of unit, is
that what you were looking for, the square footage
size? I want to make sure we answer your question
correctly.
P. Roberts I'm not sure I can ask it correctly but just a
general idea of revenues per store annually or
monthly?
T. Stoltz Roughly $1.1 to $1.2 million is what the chain
averages on a 12 month basis right now.
P. Roberts Thank you very much.
T. Stoltz Thanks.
Operator Thank you sir. Gentlemen, at this time there are no
further questions. Please continue.
E. Anderson If there are no further questions and we understand
that to be the case, we thank all of you for
listening to us on this phone call. Thank you for
your questions and we will look forward to our next
phone call. Thank you very much.
Operator Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does
conclude the Citi
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CITI TRENDS, INC. Page 14
Trends' second quarter conference call. If you would
like to listen to a replay of today's teleconference
you may do so by dialing 1-800-405-2236 or
303-590-3000 and enter access code 11037385. Thank
you all for your participation. You may now
disconnect.
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