Limited Brands Profit Falls in 1Q

Monday, May 16th 2005, 8:40 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ Retail chain operator Limited Brands Inc. reported Monday that its first-quarter profit fell 76 percent from last year, hampered by higher expenses and lower revenue.

The company missed analysts' expectations and lowered its outlook for the second quarter and full year.

Limited Brands shares tumbled 83 cents, or more than 4 percent, to $19.60 in premarket trading.

The operator of Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Express, Express Men's, Limited Stores and other chains reported earnings of $23.1 million, or 6 cents per share, for the three months ended April 30 compared with $96.6 million, or 19 cents per share, in the prior-year period.

Stripping out a pretax non-operating $44.9 million gain in the year-ago quarter, which bolstered earnings by 6 cents per share, Limited reported adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share in the first quarter last year.

Sales for the quarter edged down to $1.97 billion from $1.98 billion a year ago.

Wall Street had forecast earnings of 8 cents per share on sales of $1.97 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Limited forecast earnings between 23 cents and 25 cents per share for the second quarter, and about $1.41 for the full year.

Wall Street's current forecasts are 29 cents per share for the current quarter, and $1.50 per share for the full year.