Business
The Children’s Place Reports Record Second Quarter Gross Margin, Operating Margin and Earnings Per Share
Q2 GAAP Earnings per Diluted Share of $1.60 versusGAAP Loss per Diluted Share of ($3.19) in Q2 2020 Q2 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share of $1.71
About this update from Children's Place, Inc. (the)
[{"type":"text","content":"Q2 GAAP Earnings per Diluted Share of $1.60 versusGAAP Loss per Diluted Share of ($3.19) in Q2 2020 Q2 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share of $1.71 versusAdjusted Loss per Diluted Share of ($2.68) in Q2 2020 SECAUCUS, N.J., Aug. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Children’s Place, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCE), the largest pure-play children’s specialty apparel retailer in North America, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended July 31, 2021. Jane Elfers, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We delivered another outstanding quarter with gross margin, operating margin and EPS all at record levels. The significant structural changes we made to our business in 2020, including an accelerated fleet optimization strategy to close 300 stores, or a third of our fleet, in less than 20 months, an occupancy cost reset of our remaining stores, optimization of our ecommerce fulfillment costs, the introduction of Gymboree into our portfolio of brands, and a restructuring of our P&L to support our digital-first business model, combined with the accelerated digital investments we made pre-pandemic, continue to propel our results. Importantly, we are now able to add another significant margin driver to the list. With the pandemic-driven acceleration of competitor liquidations and store closures, the competitive landscape now enables us to reset our pricing and promotional strategy, which we believe will be another key driver of accelerated operating margin expansion.” Ms. Elfers continued, “Our digital business continues to grow on both the top and bottom lines. Our digital sales represented 43% of the total net sales for Q2 2021 versus 29% in Q2 2019, with over 70% of our digital business now coming through a mobile device. Our active mobile users are up double digits, on top of the significant growth we experienced last year. We continue to invest in marketing and technology to support this profitable growth, as we target an industry-leading steady state annual digital penetration of 50%.” Ms. Elfers concluded, “We experienced a significant acceleration in back-to-school sales during the last two weeks of July, and the third quarter is off to an outstanding start. We continue to operate at a high level, while navigating the ever-changing COVID landscape. We remain firmly on offense and we look forward to continuing to delive...