Men's Wearhouse Conference Call Highlights

Shares of Men's Wearhouse

traded up six percent following its second quarter earnings release on Friday. Below are some highlights and key takeaways from its conference call: Financials: • Our first quarter GAAP earnings were $0.34 per share. • Included in those results were one-time charges amounting to $26.5 million or $0.35 per share. • The charges were primarily related to the acquisition of Joseph A. Bank. • We were pleased with the sales results in each of our retail brands in spite of an ongoing difficult retail climate and severe weather closures during the month of February. • Our comp sales for the Men's Wearhouse brand were up 2.9%. • The effect of all this is an improvement in adjusted EBIT of 2.3%. • We had higher interest expense in the period by about $800,000 and our tax rate was approximately the same as last year. • We ended the quarter with $96 million in cash. Inventories were $646 million which is higher than last year by $47 million or 7.8%. • Men's Wearhouse represented 67% of our overall sales and finished the quarter with a 2.9% comp sales increase. • Initiatives to attract younger customers continue to produce results as slim fit now represents 45% of our sales. Strategic issues: • Regarding the acquisition of Joseph A. Bank, we're now on track to finalize the financing and close the merger. • We'll launch a bond offering next week. • We hope to price the bond offering next week and close the merger in the middle to latter part of the following week. Guidance: • We're not providing any guidance at this time. • We do not have enough information about the Joseph A. Bank business to provide any valuable future guidance. • To be clear, due to the review by the FTC, we have not been permitted to have any discussions with management of Joseph A. Bank regarding key retail strategies or results.