CLAIRES STORES INC - FORM 8-K - EX-99.1

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8-K - 8-K - CLAIRES STORES INC	d404524d8k.htm

Exhibit 99.1

NEWS BULLETIN

RE: CLAIRE’S STORES, INC.

2400 WEST CENTRAL ROAD, HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS 60192

CLAIRE’S STORES, INC. REPORTS FISCAL 2012

SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

CHICAGO, August 29, 2012. Claire’s Stores, Inc. (the “Company”) is one of the world’s leading specialty retailers of fashionable accessories and jewelry at affordable prices for young women, teens, tweens, and girls ages 3 to 27. The Company today reported its financial results for the fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended July 28, 2012.

Second Quarter Results

The Company reported net sales of $359.6 million for the fiscal 2012 second quarter, an increase of $1.1 million, or 0.3%, compared to the fiscal 2011 second quarter. The increase was attributable to new store sales and an increase in same store sales, partially offset by foreign currency translation effect of our foreign locations’ sales and the effect of store closures. Net sales would have increased 4.4% excluding the impact from foreign currency rate changes.

Consolidated same store sales increased 1.5% in the fiscal 2012 second quarter consisting of a 0.3% increase in North America and a 3.6% increase in Europe. Our third quarter consolidated quarter to date same store sales performance is in the mid positive single digits with North America in the low positive single digits and Europe in the high positive single digits. We compute same store sales on a local currency basis, which eliminates any impact from changes in foreign exchange rates.

Gross profit percentage decreased 60 basis points to 50.5% during the fiscal 2012 second quarter compared to 51.1% during the comparable prior year quarter. The decrease in gross profit percentage consisted of a 90 basis point decrease in merchandise margin partially offset by a 20 basis point decrease in occupancy rate and a 10 basis point decrease in buying and buying-related costs. The decrease in merchandise margin resulted primarily from an increase in markdowns. The decrease in occupancy rate resulted primarily from the leveraging effect of an increase in same store sales.

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $9.9 million, or 7.6%, compared to the fiscal 2011 second quarter. As a percentage of net sales, selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 280 basis points compared to the prior year. Selling, general and administrative expenses would have decreased $4.9 million excluding the effect of foreign currency exchange rate changes. The majority of the remaining decrease is primarily due to lower compensation-related expenses, such as bonus, salaries and non-cash stock compensation, and a reduction in marketing costs.

Adjusted EBITDA in the fiscal 2012 second quarter was $62.2 million compared to $57.4 million in the fiscal 2011 second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA would have been $65.2 million excluding the effect of foreign currency exchange rate changes. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before provision for income taxes, gain (loss) on early debt extinguishment, interest income and expense, depreciation and amortization, excluding severance, the impact of transaction-related costs and other non-recurring or non-cash expenses, and normalizing occupancy costs for certain rent-related adjustments. Net loss for the 2012 second quarter was $7.3 million. A reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA is attached.

At July 28, 2012, cash and cash equivalents were $130.5 million, including restricted cash of $4.1 million and the Company’s Revolving Credit Facility continued to be undrawn.

The fiscal 2012 second quarter cash balance decrease of $39.2 million consisted of positive impacts of $62.2 million of Adjusted EBITDA and reductions for $44.1 million of cash interest, $31.6 million from seasonal working capital use, $17.9 million of capital expenditures, and $7.8 million of tax payments and other cash items.


Store Count as of:	July 28, 2012		January 28, 2012		July 30, 2011

North America		1,940		1,953		1,959
Europe		1,134		1,118		1,061

Subtotal Company-Owned		3,074		3,071		3,020

Franchise and License		376		381		387

Total		3,450		3,452		3,407

Conference Call Information

The Company will host its second quarter conference call on August 30, 2012 at 10:00 am. (EDT). The call-in number is 210-839-8201 and the password is “Claires.” A replay will be available through September 30, 2012. The replay number is 866-403-8762 and the password is 6582. The conference call is also being webcast and archived until September 30, 2012 on the Company’s corporate website at http://www.clairestores.com, where it can be accessed by clicking on the “Events” link located under “Financial Information” for a replay or download as an MP3 file.

Company Overview

Claire’s Stores, Inc. is one of the world’s leading specialty retailers of fashionable accessories and jewelry at affordable prices for young women, teens, tweens and girls ages 3 to 27. The Company operates through its two store concepts: Claire’s^® Globally and Icing^® in North America. As of July 28, 2012, Claire’s Stores, Inc. operated 3,074 stores in North America and Europe. The Company also franchised or licensed 376 stores in Japan, the Middle East, Turkey, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Ukraine, Mexico and India. More information regarding Claire’s Stores is available on the Company’s corporate website at http://www.clairestores.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” which represent the Company’s expectations or beliefs with respect to future events. Statements that are not historical are considered forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Those factors include, without limitation: changes in consumer preferences and consumer spending; competition; our level of indebtedness; general economic conditions; general political and social conditions such as war, political unrest and terrorism; natural disasters or severe weather events; currency fluctuations and exchange rate adjustments; uncertainties generally associated with the specialty retailing business, such as decreases in mall traffic due to high gasoline prices or other general economic conditions; disruptions in our supply of inventory; inability to increase same store sales; inability to renew, replace or enter into new store leases on favorable terms; increase in our cost of merchandise; significant increases in our merchandise markdowns; inability to grow our store base in Europe or expand our international franchising operations; inability to design and implement new information systems or disruptions in adapting our information systems to allow for expansion into new geographic markets or grow our e-commerce sales; delays in anticipated store openings or renovations; uncertainty that definitive financial results may differ from preliminary financial results due to, among other things, final U.S. GAAP adjustments; results from any future asset impairment analysis; changes in applicable laws, rules and regulations, including changes in federal, state or local regulations governing the sale of our merchandise, particularly regulations relating to the content in our merchandise, general employment laws, including laws relating to overtime pay and employee benefits, health care laws, tax laws and import laws; product recalls; data or security breaches of confidential information; loss of key members of management; increases in the cost of labor; labor disputes; unwillingness of vendors and service providers to supply goods or services pursuant to historical customary credit arrangements; increases in the cost of borrowings; unavailability of additional debt or equity capital; and the impact of our substantial indebtedness on our operating income and our ability to grow. These and other applicable risks, cautionary statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from the Company’s forward-looking statements are included in the Company’s filings with the SEC, specifically as described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2012 filed with the SEC on April 4, 2012. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. The historical results contained in this press release are not necessarily indicative of the future performance of the Company.

Additional Information

Note: Other Claire’s Stores, Inc. press releases, a corporate profile and the most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q reports are available on Claire’s business website at: http://www.clairestores.com.

Contact Information

J. Per Brodin, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Phone: (847) 765-1100, or E-mail, investor.relations@claires.com

CLAIRE’S STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS

OF OPERATIONS

(In thousands)

SECOND FISCAL QUARTER


	Three Months			Three Months
	Ended			Ended
	July 28, 2012			July 30, 2011
Net sales	$	359,617		$	358,547
Cost of sales, occupancy and buying expenses (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)		177,866			175,382

Gross profit		181,751			183,165

Other expenses:
Selling, general and administrative		120,329			130,209
Depreciation and amortization		15,475			16,352
Severance and transaction-related costs		1,144			426
Other expense (income), net		149			(1,181	)

		137,097			145,806

Operating income		44,654			37,359
Gain on early debt extinguishment		—			233
Interest expense, net		48,879			44,335

Loss before income tax expense		(4,225	)		(6,743	)
Income tax expense		3,048			3,400

Net loss	$	(7,273	)	$	(10,143	)

YEAR TO DATE


	Six Months			Six Months
	Ended			Ended
	July 28, 2012			July 30, 2011
Net sales	$	700,234		$	704,993
Cost of sales, occupancy and buying expenses (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below)		351,869			346,741

Gross profit		348,365			358,252

Other expenses:
Selling, general and administrative		238,911			256,931
Depreciation and amortization		32,190			33,406
Severance and transaction-related costs		1,197			769
Other expense, net		580			4,130

		272,878			295,236

Operating income		75,487			63,016
Gain (loss) on early debt extinguishment		(4,602	)		482
Interest expense, net		95,901			90,570

Loss before income tax expense		(25,016	)		(27,072	)
Income tax expense		2,178			2,668

Net loss	$	(27,194	)	$	(29,740	)

CLAIRE’S STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS


	July 28, 2012			January 28, 2012
	(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of $4,100 and $4,350, respectively	$	130,515		$	174,374
Inventories		164,235			142,104
Prepaid expenses		18,758			20,010
Other current assets		26,602			25,423

Total current assets		340,110			361,911

Property and equipment:
Furniture, fixtures and equipment		214,552			207,620
Leasehold improvements		289,896			281,774

		504,448			489,394
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization		(301,835	)		(281,874	)

		202,613			207,520


Leased property under capital lease:
Land and building		18,055			18,055
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization		(2,257	)		(1,805	)

		15,798			16,250

Goodwill		1,550,056			1,550,056
Intangible assets, net of accumulated amortization of $53,096 and $49,270, respectively		541,665			549,768
Deferred financing costs, net of accumulated amortization of $65,254 and $55,818, respectively		34,037			33,025
Other assets		44,136			44,495

		2,169,894			2,177,344


Total assets	$	2,728,415		$	2,763,025


LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDER’S DEFICIT
Current liabilities:
Trade accounts payable	$	58,907		$	60,704
Income taxes payable		2,569			10,228
Accrued interest payable		48,543			31,859
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities		94,055			104,525

Total current liabilities		204,074			207,316


Long-term debt		2,398,071			2,386,382
Obligation under capital lease		17,262			17,290
Deferred tax liability		119,256			120,452
Deferred rent expense		28,855			28,861
Unfavorable lease obligations and other long-term liabilities		21,914			25,020

		2,585,358			2,578,005

Commitments and contingencies

Stockholder’s deficit:
Common stock par value $0.001 per share; authorized 1,000 shares;issued and outstanding 100 shares		—			—
Additional paid-in capital		618,535			619,453
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax		(14,960	)		(4,351	)
Accumulated deficit		(664,592	)		(637,398	)

		(61,017	)		(22,296	)


Total liabilities and stockholder’s deficit	$	2,728,415		$	2,763,025

Net Income (Loss) Reconciliation to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

EBITDA represents net income (loss) before provision for income taxes, gain (loss) on early debt extinguishment, interest income and expense, impairment and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA further adjusted to exclude non-cash and unusual items. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA as an important tool to assess our operating performance. Management considers Adjusted EBITDA to be a useful measure in highlighting trends in our business and in analyzing the profitability of similar enterprises. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is effective, when used in conjunction with net income (loss), in evaluating asset performance, and differentiating efficient operators in the industry. Furthermore, management believes that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to potential investors and analysts because it provides insight into management’s evaluation of our results of operations. Our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be consistent with “EBITDA” for the purpose of the covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measures of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, are not intended to represent cash flow from operations under U.S. GAAP and should not be used as an alternative to net income (loss) as an indicator of operating performance or to cash flow from operating, investing or financing activities as a measure of liquidity. Management compensates for the limitations of using EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA by using it only to supplement our U.S. GAAP results to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting our business. Each of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA has its limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP.

Some of the limitations of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are:

•

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect our cash used for capital expenditures;

•

Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated or amortized often will have to be replaced and EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect the cash requirements for such replacements;

•

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital requirements;

•

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect the cash necessary to make payments of interest or principal on our indebtedness; and

•

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect non-recurring expenses which qualify as extraordinary items such as one-time write-offs to inventory and reserve accruals.

While EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are frequently used as a measure of operations and the ability to meet indebtedness service requirements, they are not necessarily comparable to other similarly titled captions of other companies due to potential inconsistencies in the method of calculation.

While management believes that these measures provide useful information to investors, the SEC may require that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA be presented differently or not at all in future filings we will make with the SEC.

CLAIRE’S STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

ADJUSTED EBITDA

(UNAUDITED)

(In Thousands)


	Three Months Ended July 28, 2012			Three Months Ended July 30, 2011			Six Months Ended July 28, 2012			Six Months Ended July 30, 2011
Net loss (a)	$	(7,273	)	$	(10,143	)	$	(27,194	)	$	(29,740	)
Income tax expense		3,048			3,400			2,178			2,668
Loss (gain) on early debt extinguishment		—			(233	)		4,602			(482	)
Interest expense		48,913			44,431			95,965			90,737
Interest income		(34	)		(96	)		(64	)		(167	)
Depreciation and amortization		15,475			16,352			32,190			33,406

Reported EBITDA		60,129			53,711			107,677			96,422
– stock compensation, book to cash rent, intangible amortization (b)		(823	)		2,078			114			3,537
– management fee, consulting (c)		920			750			2,135			1,500
– other (d)		1,968			870			2,787			7,966

Adjusted EBITDA	$	62,194		$	57,409		$	112,713		$	109,425

a)	Fiscal 2011 includes a $(1.1) million gain and $2.2 million charge for the three and six months ended July 30, 2011, respectively, to remeasure the Euro Loan at the period end foreign exchange rate.

b)	Includes: non-cash stock compensation expense, net non-cash rent expense, amortization of rent free periods, the inclusion of cash landlord allowances, and the net accretion of favorable (unfavorable) lease obligations and non-cash amortization of lease rights.

c)	Includes: the management fee paid to Apollo Management and Morgan Joseph Tri-Artisan Capital Partners, and non-recurring consulting expenses.

Includes: non-cash losses on property and equipment associated with remodels, relocations and closures; costs, including third party charges and compensation, incurred in conjunction with the relocation of new employees; severance and transaction related costs; non-cash foreign exchange gains/losses resulting from intercompany transactions and remeasurements of U.S. dollar denominated cash accounts and foreign currency denominated debt of our foreign entities into their functional currency; and severance and transaction related costs. A majority of the fiscal 2011 adjustments is foreign exchange related.

CLAIRES STORES INC - FORM 8-K - EX-99.1 - August 30, 2012

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CLAIRES STORES INC Reports