According to the Goldman Sachs retail composite index, April was a good month for department store retailing, cruel for discounters.
The J. C. Penney Co. (Plano, Texas) and Nordstrom (Seattle) led the sales gains at the nation’s retailers last month, while discounters like Wal-Mart Stores (Bentonville, Ark.) trailed, hurt by soaring gasoline prices and Easter showing up in March this year instead of April.
The index reported same-store sales rose 2.2 percent, compared with 4 percent in April 2004. Analysts had estimated an April increase of 2 percent.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, posted a 0.9 percent increase.
Penney’s and Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati) said first-quarter profit was higher than they expected as spring fashions lifted sales. The 12.5 percent gain at the Neiman Marcus Group (Dallas), which agreed to be bought this week, was the best result among luxury chains.
Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Talbots (Hingham, Mass.) and Costco Wholesale Corp. (Issaquah, Wash.) all posted sales above analysts’ estimates. J. C. Penney, the No. 2 department store chain, said its 3.6 percent sales gain was helped by demand for home and women’s accessories and shoes.
Sales at Neiman Marcus, which agreed to be bought this week, bounced up from a 1.6 percent increase in March, coming in at more than double analysts’ estimates. Saks Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.) posted a 0.3 percent gain, but a 7.1 percent gain for its New York-based Saks Fifth Avenue luxury chain. (A 5.4 percent decline at the regional chains dragged the rest of the company down.) Kohl’s Corp. (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) posted an 8 percent gain, with sales strongest in accessories and men’s wear, the company said in a recorded call.
Wal-Mart said that sales would rise 2 – 4 percent in May. The retailer, which is adding more supermarkets to its stores, said that food, rather than general merchandise, led the sales gains in all but one week last month.
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