VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
lululemon athletica inc. [NASDAQ:LULU] today announced that the Company
is updating its net revenue and earnings guidance for the fourth quarter
of fiscal 2013 ending February 2, 2014.
For the fourth quarter, the Company now anticipates that net revenue
will be in the range of $513 million to $518 million based on
comparable-store sales in the negative low-to-mid single digits on a
constant-dollar basis. This compares to the Company's previous guidance
of net revenue in the range of $535 million to $540 million for the
fourth quarter based on flat comparable-store sales on a constant-dollar
basis. The Company also now expects diluted earnings per share will be
in the range of $0.71 to $0.73 for the quarter. The previous EPS
guidance for the fourth quarter was a range of $0.78 to $0.80. EPS
guidance continues to assume 146.0 million diluted weighted-average
shares outstanding and a 30.0% tax rate.
John Currie, lululemon’s CFO stated: "We were on track to deliver on our
sales and earnings guidance through the month of December; however,
since the beginning of January, we have seen traffic and sales trends
decelerate meaningfully. Based on this recent performance and assuming
these trends continue through the remainder of January, we are reducing
our outlook for the fourth quarter." Mr. Currie continued: "As we end
2013, we are starting to see the results of the significant investments
we made throughout this past year to strengthen and enhance our
back-of-house product operations structure. While we realize that it
will require continued investment and time to get to best-in-class
status, with our new leadership in place we are very focused on building
on this stronger foundation to execute our long-term growth strategies."
Management will be meeting with analysts and investors and presenting at
the ICR XChange Conference in Orlando, Florida this week. See the
Company's separate press release for webcast information.
About lululemon athletica inc.
lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) is a yoga-inspired athletic
apparel company that creates components for people to live long, healthy
and fun lives. By producing products that help keep people active and
stress free, lululemon believes that the world will be a better place.
Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional designs, lululemon
works with yogis and athletes in local communities for continuous
research and product feedback. For more information, visit www.lululemon.com.
Non-GAAP Financial Measure
Constant-dollar net revenue changes, which exclude the impact of changes
in foreign exchange rates, is not a United States Generally Accepted
Accounting Principle (“GAAP”) performance measure. We provide
constant-dollar net revenue changes because we use the measure to
understand the underlying growth rate of revenue excluding the impact on
a quarter-by-quarter basis of changes in foreign exchange rates, which
are not under management’s direct control. We believe that disclosing
net revenue changes on a constant-dollar basis is useful to investors
because it enables them to better understand the level of growth of our
business.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that involve risks, uncertainties
and assumptions, such as statements regarding the effect of shipments of
products that fail to comply with our technical specifications or that
fail to conform to our quality control standards, the duration of any
shortage of products available for sale in our stores or for delivery to
guests or our ability to obtain replacement products in a timely manner,
any expected loss of net revenue resulting from the inability to sell
those products and related increased administrative and shipping costs,
and our future financial condition or results of operations, and our
prospects and strategies for future growth. In many cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,”
“should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “outlook,” “believes,”
“intends,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or the negative of these
terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements
are based on management’s current expectations but they involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events
could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking
statements as a result of risks and uncertainties, which include,
without limitation: our reliance on and limited control over third-party
suppliers to provide fabrics for and to produce our products; negative
publicity regarding any of our products or our the production methods of
any of our suppliers or manufacturers; the effects of shipments of
products that fail to comply with our technical specifications or that
fail to conform to our quality standards; the effects of a shortage of
products available for sale in our stores or for delivery to guests; an
economic downturn or economic uncertainty in our key markets; increasing
product costs and decreasing selling prices; our inability to anticipate
consumer preferences and successfully develop and introduce new,
innovative and updated products; our inability to accurately forecast
customer demand for our products; our inability to manage our growth and
the increased complexity of our business effectively; the fluctuating
costs of raw materials; our highly competitive market and increasing
competition; an unforeseen disruption of our information systems; our
inability to deliver our products to the market and to meet customer
expectations due to problems with our distribution system; our inability
to cancel store leases if an existing or new store is not profitable;
increasing labor costs and other factors associated with the production
of our products in China; our inability to successfully open new store
locations in a timely manner; our failure to maintain the value and
reputation of our brand; our failure to comply with laws related to our
human resources policies or other procedures; our failure to comply with
trade and other regulations; our transition to a new CEO and the
possibility of losing the services of other key personnel; our
competitors manufacturing and selling products based on our fabrics and
manufacturing technology at lower prices than we can; our failure to
protect our intellectual property rights; and other risks and
uncertainties set out in filings made from time to time with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov,
including, without limitation, our most recent reports on Form 10-K and
Form 10-Q. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in
evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary
statements. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of
the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to
publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent
events or circumstances, except as may be required by law.
ICR, Inc.
Investors:
Joseph Teklits/Jean
Fontana, 203-682-8200
or
Media:
Alecia Pulman,
203-682-8224
Source: lululemon athletica inc.