Children's Place posts higher May same-store sales

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Children's Place Retail Stores Inc (PLCE.O) said on Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year rose a better-than-expected 10 percent in May, led by strength at mall and outlet stores.

Wall Street had expected a same-store sales gain of 4.3 percent, according to Thomson Reuters Estimates. Same-store sales had risen 6 percent in the year-earlier month.

The children's clothing retailer said total sales rose 19 percent to $109.4 million in the four weeks ended May 31.

Same-store sales rose at outlet and mall stores for the month, but fell in a low single-digit percentage range at non-mall stores, the company said on a recorded call. Internet sales more than doubled.

The company said it had closed one namesake store in May.

Former Chief Executive Ezra Dabah, a board member who owns 17 percent of Children's Place, has been pushing for a sale of the company and has said he might buy it outright at $24 a share. Children's Place shares closed on Wednesday at $34.21.

In May, the company sold its Disney store chain back to Walt Disney Co (DIS.N). Children's Place now operates about 900 namesake stores.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman in New York and Karen Jacobs in Atlanta; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)