lululemon athletica inc. [NASDAQ: LULU; TSX: LLL] wishes to provide further information regarding the items driving the earnings per share guidance revision for fiscal 2008. As announced yesterday, the Company now expects its diluted earnings per share to be between $0.68 and $0.71 for fiscal 2008, compared to its earlier guidance for the period of $0.70 and $0.72. The key changes from earlier guidance are as follows:
| Item | Amount | ||||
1. | Management Upgrades – relates to various charges including options expense, recruiting and severance charges that are incrementally related to anticipated new members of management. | $1.3 million | |||
2. | Assistant Manager Position – relates to the incremental salary charge for the additional Assistant Manager position that is being added to the current store structure. | $1.5 million | |||
3. | Depreciation of New IT systems –throughout our original budgeting process we estimated the cost of each component and allocated the depreciation based on the implementation dates of each of these systems. Accounting rules require that we depreciate the majority of the costs with the first phase of implementation which has begun. At a 30% declining balance depreciation rate, this pull forward of depreciation results in an additional $1.2 million in expense. | $1.2 million | |||
4. | Margin Offset – on $10 million additional expected sales at approximately 20% margin. | ($2.0 million) | |||
5. | Tax Savings – at approximately a 30% tax rate on net change to operating income. | ($0.6 million) | |||
| Expected net additional operating expenses for FY2008 | $1.4 million | ||||
| Diluted earnings per share revision | $0.02/share | ||||
About lululemon athletica inc.
lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU; TSX: LLL) is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company that creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives. By producing products that help keep people active and stress free, lululemon believes that the world will be a better place. Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional designs, lululemon works with yogis and athletes in local communities for continuous research and product feedback. For more information, http://www.lululemon.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, such as statements regarding our future financial condition, financial results or results of operations, our prospects and strategies for future growth, both in North America and internationally, the development and introduction of new products, and the implementation of our marketing and branding strategies. In many cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,”“will,” “should,”“expects,” “plans,”“anticipates,” “believes,”“intends,” “estimates,”“predicts,” “potential” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations but they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: the possibility that we may not be able to manage operations at our current size or manage growth effectively; the possibility that we may not be able to identify suitable locations to open new stores or attract customers to our stores; the possibility that we may not be able to successfully expand in the United States or in other markets, or expand into new markets; the possibility that a general economic slowdown could adversely affect our results of operations and growth plans; increasing competition, which may cause us to reduce the prices of our products or to increase significantly our marketing efforts to avoid losing market share; the possibility that we may not be able to continually innovate and provide our consumers with improved products; and other risk factors detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors contained in our fiscal 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and other filings we make with the SEC. Our filings with the SEC are available at http://www.sec.gov. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this current report and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Contacts:
Joseph Teklits, 203-682-8200
