San Francisco, CA, May 24, 2006--Upscale home-decor retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc. on Wednesday said quarterly profit fell, after charges related to closing its Hold Everything storage-goods stores and stock option expenses.
Net income for the company's fiscal first quarter, ended April 30, was $23.1 million, or $0.20 per share, compared with $26.2 million, or $0.22 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, the company, best known for its namesake cookware stores and Pottery Barn home decor stores, earned $0.26 per share.
The company said its sales rose $0.10 to $794.3 million, helped by 17 net new stores and a 1.3 percent rise in sales at stores open at least a year.
For the current quarter Williams-Sonoma, which also runs the West Elm chain of home furnishings stores, lowered its outlook for net earnings to $0.20 to 22 cents on revenue of $842 million to $856 million.
It had earlier forecast $0.22 to $0.24 per share on revenue of $858 million to $872 million.
But the company slightly raised its earnings forecast for the full year, to $1.91 to $1.95 per share versus its prior forecast of $1.90 to $1.94 per share.
