Jones Apparel 1Q profit down 59%

Apparel maker Jones Apparel Group Inc. said today that its first-quarter profit declined 59 percent, as sales fell as the company exited some moderate sportswear lines.

Quarterly profit for the company, which is headquartered in New York and has operations in Bristol, Bucks County, fell to $19.5 million, or 23 cents per share, from $47.8 million, or 44 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Excluding costs related to the sale of Barneys New York in September 2007, severance and other restructuring charges, net income was 37 cents per share, in line with the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue fell 10 percent to $975.4 million from $1.08 billion, but beat analyst expectations for revenue of $936.9 billion. Revenue was hurt by a restructuring that had the company exit moderate sportswear lines, Jones Apparel said.

Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, fell 8.7 percent.

Jones Apparel, whose brands include Nine West and Anne Klein, said it tightened inventory control during the quarter but said markdowns at retailers were higher than in the first quarter of 2007.

Jones Apparel also lowered the top end of its 2008 guidance "to match our retail customers' conservative plans for the back half of the year," John T. McClain, company chief financial officer, said in a statement.

Shares were trading at $15.58 early this afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange, up from yesterday's close of $15.