Gap report sales decrease

In a press release the company stated: “We were pleased that merchandise margins in December were significantly above last year, which is consistent with our strategy of delivering earnings with healthy margins,” said Sabrina Simmons, executive vice president of finance and acting chief financial officer of Gap Inc. “However, we did not sell through as much inventory as we anticipated, and we’ll focus on clearing through remaining holiday product in January.”

Year-to-date net sales of $14.83 billion for the 48 weeks ended January 5, 2008, increased 1 percent compared with net sales of $14.74 billion for the 48 weeks ended December 30, 2006. Due to the 53rd week in fiscal year 2006, fiscal year 2007 year-to-date comparable store sales are compared with the 48 week period ended January 6, 2007. On this basis, the company’s year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 5 percent, compared with a 7 percent decrease in the prior year.