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Reuters
Published
Aug 27, 2008
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Brown Shoe 2nd-quarter profit down; cuts outlook

By
Reuters
Published
Aug 27, 2008

NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Brown Shoe Co Inc posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and cut its full-year outlook and store growth plans, citing caution as shoppers curb spending on items such as shoes and clothing.


Naturalizer shoes

The maker of such brands as Naturalizer and Via Spiga said on Wednesday August 27th that net profit fell to $2.2 million, or 5 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter, ended Aug. 2, from $9.8 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net profit included a charge of 15 cents per share tied to the relocation of its Famous Footwear unit's headquarters.

Sales fell 1.3 percent to $569.2 million.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 6 cents a share on sales of $589.9 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Like Brown Shoe, other shoe and apparel companies have been suffering as consumers tighten spending and allocate more money for necessities like food and gasoline, whose prices have gone up in a weak U.S. economy.

Retail customers for Brown Shoe and its rivals have seen weak sales trends, and have been placing fewer orders to better cope with decreased demand.

The company said it now expects full-year earnings to range between $1.12 and $1.29 a share, and sales in the range of $2.38 billion to $2.40 billion.

Previously, it had forecast fiscal 2008 per-share earnings to range between $1.29 to $1.53 and sales of $2.43 billion to $2.48 billion.

Brown Shoe said it now plans to open 90 new Famous Footwear stores for the full year, down from its previous plan to open 100 to 110 stores.

For the third quarter, Brown Shoe expects sales of $650 million to $660 million and per-share earnings of 31 cents to 41 cents. (Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Dave Zimmerman)

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