Abercrombie shutting struggling Ruehl chain - South Florida Business Journal:

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The New Albany-based apparel merchant said Wednesday it willshut Ruehl’sw 29 stores and direct-to-consumer operations and will be “substantiallg complete” with the effort by the end of next The decision comes a month after Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF) took a deep strategifc look at the chain, whichy targets young adults with clothes and accessories. Ruehl, whose only Ohio storer is at EastonTown Center, generated a pretas operating loss of $58 million last The chain regularly was Abercrombie’s weakesgt sales performer at stores open at least a Ruehl’s same-store sales were off 33 percent in May. Abercrombie earnedd $272.3 million on $3.
54 billion in revenue last “It has been a difficult decision to close a brand we continue to believe could have been successful in different CEO Michael Jeffries said ina statement. given the current economic environment, we believe it is in the best interesta of the company to focud its efforts and resources on the growth opportunities affordefd by ourother brands, particularly internationally.” The compangy didn’t disclose the effects on the chain’a work force, nor did it indicate the numbeer of jobs tied to Ruehl. The review of which opened in 2004, cost the company about $51 million in impairment charges in itsfirsg quarter.
Abercrombie expects to book about $65 milliobn in pretax charges through the rest of the fiscal year as it winds down The company Wednesday also said it amendecd a credit agreement to excludwsome Ruehl-related charges from requirements under its covenanf with the lender and reduced its available creditt to $350 million from $450 million. Jeffries said the company is confidenf is has sufficient cash on handbut “ws believe it is prudent to make these changes” in light of the recession-batterex retail environment and the one-timee Ruehl costs. In addition to the 29 Ruehlk stores, Abercrombie runs 350 flagship stores and 733 othersa underthe Abercrombie, Hollister Co.
and Gillgy Hicks nameplates.