L Brands Swings To Q1 Profit Driven By Sales Growth

(RTTNews) - L Brands Inc. (LB), the parent company of Victoria's Secret, Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $276.6 million or $0.97 per share, compared net loss of $296.9 million or $1.07 per share last year.

Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings were $1.25 per share compared to an adjusted loss of $0.99 per share last year.

Sales for the quarter were $3.02 billion, up from $1.65 billion last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.21 per share on revenues of $3.01 billion for the quarter.

Andrew Meslow, CEO of L Brands, commented, "L Brands delivered record first quarter earnings, driven by continued strength and exceptional performance at Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret."

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company forecast adjusted earnings of $0.80 to $1.00 per share. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $0.76 per share for the quarter.

Separately, L Brands announced the appointment of Chief Financial Officers for the standalone Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret businesses.

Upon the completion of the spin-off of Victoria's Secret, which is targeted to occur in August 2021, Wendy Arlin, currently SVP of Finance and Controller for L Brands, will become Bath & Body Works CFO, and Tim Johnson, previously CFO and Chief Administrative Officer for Big Lots, will become Victoria's Secret CFO.

As previously announced, current L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer will retire at that time.