FORT MYERS, Fla., Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Chico's FAS,
Inc. (NYSE: CHS) (the "Company" or Chico's FAS) today announced
that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Todd E. Vogensen has resigned,
effective January 17, 2020, to accept
a CFO position with another company. Jennifer Ellis, Senior Vice President, Finance,
has been appointed Interim Chief Financial Officer, effective
February 3, 2020.
"On behalf of the Board and the leadership team, I would like to
thank Todd for his contributions to Chico's FAS and wish him well
in his future endeavors," said Bonnie
Brooks, CEO and President.
"We are experiencing continued comparable sales improvement
across all three brands for the first time in several years, and as
a result, today we are raising our outlook for the fourth quarter.
We are encouraged by our customer's receptivity to our improved
product assortments, our elevated marketing, and our enhanced
selling tools, which were our key strategic priorities for fall and
holiday. Our commitment made in Q2 2019 to recruiting executive
level leadership with proven track records has now resulted in the
addition of top talent to the company across all of our three
brands. While work remains, we are confident that we are on the
right path to enhancing shareholder value," said Ms. Brooks.
Raised Fiscal 2019 Fourth Quarter Outlook
The Company
is raising its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter outlook, which was
previously provided on November 26,
2019, to reflect further improvements in the business
following a strong holiday season. The outlook includes the
incremental impact of tariffs, while excluding expected net charges
related to the Company's retail fleet optimization plan and the
impact of severance and other related net charges in connection
with actions taken to reposition our organizational structure.
For the fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, compared to the fiscal 2018
fourth quarter:
- The Company anticipates fourth quarter total net sales and
consolidated comparable sales to be approximately flat, an
improvement on its previous outlook of a low single-digit decline.
The revised outlook reflects sequential comparable sales
improvement at Chico's and White House Black Market, as well as
continued strong sales growth at Soma.
- The Company expects adjusted gross margin as a percent of sales
to be approximately flat to last year's adjusted gross margin of
32.3%, favorable to its previous outlook of down 100 to 150 basis
points.
- SG&A expenses are expected to be down approximately
$5 million, on the low end of our
previous outlook of down approximately $5
million to $7 million.
ICR CONFERENCE
Chico's FAS management intends to
further discuss the Company's business and outlook during a
"Fireside Chat" at the 2020 ICR Conference on Monday, January 13, 2020 at 11:30 AM ET, which will be webcast live and
available following the event in the Investor Relations section of
the Company's website at www.chicosfas.com.
ABOUT JENNIFER
ELLIS
Jennifer Ellis,
age 42, has served as the Company's Senior Vice President, Finance
since July 2018 and prior to that
served in various finance roles at the Company, including Vice
President, Financial Planning & Analysis from April 2016 to July
2018 and Senior Director, Finance from October 2015 to April
2016. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Ellis served as Vice
President, Finance of Tailored Brands, Inc. from March 2013 to October 2015.
ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.
The Company, through its
brands – Chico's, White House Black Market, Soma and TellTale™ is a
leading omnichannel specialty retailer of women's private branded,
sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates and
complementary accessories.
As of November 2, 2019, the
Company operated 1,373 stores in the U.S. and Canada and sold merchandise through 89
international franchise locations in Mexico and 2 domestic franchise airport
locations. The Company's merchandise is also available at
www.chicos.com, www.chicosofftherack.com, www.whbm.com,
www.soma.com and www.mytelltale.com as well as through third-party
channels. For more detailed information on the Company, please go
to our corporate website at www.chicosfas.com. The information on
our corporate website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part
of this press release or incorporated into our federal securities
law filings.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION
REFORM ACT OF 1995
This press release contains statements
that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The
statements, including without limitation statements made in Ms.
Brooks' quote and under "Raised Fiscal 2019 Fourth Quarter
Outlook," relate to expectations and projections regarding the
Company's 2019 performance and may include the words "anticipate,"
"believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan,"
"outlook," "project," "should," "strategy," "potential" and similar
terms. These forward-looking statements are based largely on
information currently available to our management and on our
current expectations, assumptions, plans, estimates, judgments and
projections about our business and our industry, and are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from historical results or those currently anticipated.
Although we believe our expectations are based on reasonable
estimates and assumptions, there is no assurance that our
expectations will, in fact, occur or that our estimates or
assumptions will be correct, and we caution investors and all
others not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
include, but are not limited to: changes in the general economic
and business environment; changes in the general or specialty
retail or apparel industries, including the extent of the market
demand and overall level of spending for women's private branded
clothing and related accessories; the availability of quality store
sites; the effectiveness of our brand strategies, awareness and
marketing programs; the ability to successfully execute and achieve
the expected results of our business strategies and particular
strategic initiatives (including, but not limited to, the Company's
revised organizational structure, retail fleet optimization plan
and three operating priorities which are driving stronger sales
through improved product and marketing; optimizing the customer
journey by simplifying, digitizing and extending the Company's
unique and personalized service; and transforming sourcing and
supply chain operations to increase product speed to market and
improve quality), sales initiatives and multi-channel strategies;
customer traffic; our ability to appropriately manage our inventory
and allocation processes; our ability to leverage inventory
management and targeted promotions; the successful recruitment of
leadership and the successful integration of new members of our
senior management team; uncertainties regarding future unsolicited
offers to buy the Company and our ability to respond effectively to
them as well as to actions of activist shareholders and others;
changes in the political environment that create consumer
uncertainty; the risk that our investments in merchandise or
marketing initiatives may not deliver the results we anticipate;
significant changes to product import and distribution costs (such
as unexpected consolidation in the freight carrier industry, and
the ability to remain competitive with customer shipping terms and
costs pertaining to product deliveries and returns); new or
increased taxes or tariffs (particularly with respect to
China) that could impact, among
other things, our sourcing from foreign suppliers; and significant
shifts in consumer behavior. Other risk factors are
detailed from time to time in the Company's Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q, Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors should be
considered in evaluating forward‑looking statements contained
herein. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or
revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future
changes make it clear that projected results expressed or implied
in such statements will not be realized.
Investor Relations Contact:
Tom Filandro
ICR, Inc.
(646) 277-1235
tom.filandro@icrinc.com
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SOURCE Chico's FAS, Inc.