L Brands September Comps. Up 5%; Pursuing All Alternatives For La Senza

(RTTNews) - L Brands Inc. (LB) reported that its comparable sales for the five weeks ended October 6, 2018 increased 5 percent, compared to the five weeks ended October 7, 2017. The company also announced that it is pursuing all alternatives for its La Senza business.

In Thursday pre-Market, LB is trading at $29.60, up $1.08 or 3.79 percent.

Net sales were $1.058 billion for the five weeks ended October 6, 2018, an increase of 8 percent, compared to net sales of $981.6 million for the five weeks ended September 30, 2017.

The company reported net sales of $7.524 billion for the 35 weeks ended October 6, 2018, an increase of 7 percent compared to net sales of $7.015 billion for the 35 weeks ended September 30, 2017. Comparable sales increased 3 percent for the 35 weeks ended October 6, 2018, compared to the 35 weeks ended October 7, 2017.

The company announced that it is pursuing all alternatives for its La Senza business, as part of an ongoing effort to drive shareholder value and in order to focus on its larger core businesses.

La Senza currently has 126 company-owned and operated stores in North America and 188 non-company owned international stores. Operating results for La Senza are included in the company's Other segment for financial reporting.

The company estimates that La Senza's 2018 revenues and operating loss will be about $250 million and $40 million, respectively.