St. Louis, MO, November 9-- May Department Stores, the second-largest U.S. upscale department store, on Tuesday said third-quarter earnings fell substantially, hurt by the acquisition of Marshall Field's and a dip in same-store sales.
Quarterly income dropped to $8 million, or 2 cents a share, from $43 million, or 15 cents a share, last year. The latest period includes divestiture charges of $1 million and early debt redemption costs of $10 million, or 2 cents a share. Excluding divestiture costs in both periods, the company reported earnings of $9 million, or 2 cents a share this year and $51 million, or 16 cents a share, a year ago. The Marshall Field's acquisition nicked profit in the latest quarter by 6 cents a share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected the company to earn 8 cents a share on sales of $3.61 billion for the period.
Sales for the quarter rose 17 percent to $3.48 billion from $2.98 billion. Same-store sales fell 3.4 percent. Sales rose in accessories, cosmetics, ladies' tailored items and men's designer collections, but the company said overall performance was disappointing, hurt by weak sales of dresses, coats, intimate apparel, children's, and men's sportswear basics as well as a difficult trend in home sales.
