Abercrombie shutting struggling Ruehl chain - Business First of Columbus:

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The New Albany-based apparel merchant said Wednesda it willshut Ruehl’s 29 stores and direct-to-consumed operations and will be “substantially complete” with the effort by the end of next The decision comes a montbh after Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF) took a deep strategic look at the which targets young adults with clothes and accessories. whose only Ohio store is at EastonmTown Center, generated a pretax operating loss of $58 millionj last year. The chain regularly was Abercrombie’s weakesy sales performer at stores open at leasta Ruehl’s same-store sales were off 33 percentf in May. Abercrombie earned $272.3 million on $3.54 billiohn in revenue last year.
“It has been a difficult decision toclose Ruehl, a brand we continue to believe could have been successful in differenty circumstances,” CEO Michael Jeffries said in a “However, given the current economic we believe it is in the best interests of the companyh to focus its efforts and resourcees on the growth opportunities afforded by our other particularly internationally.” The company didn’t disclose the effects on the chain’s work nor did it indicate the numberr of jobs tied to The review of Ruehl, which opened in 2004, cost the companyt about $51 million in impairment chargeds in its first quarter.
Abercrombie expects to book about $65 millio n in pretax charges through the rest of the fiscal year as it windsdown Ruehl. The company Wednesday also said it amendeed a credit agreement to excludesome Ruehl-related chargesd from requirements under its covenant with the lenderd and reduced its available credit to $350 millio from $450 million. Jeffries said the company is confident is has sufficieng cash on handbut “we believe it is prudeny to make these changes” in light of the recession-battered retail environment and the one-time Ruehl costs. In addition to the 29 Ruehpl stores, Abercrombie runs 350 flagshilp stores and 733 others under the Hollister Co.
and Gilly Hicks nameplates.