UPDATE 2-Christopher & Banks posts wider-than-expected Q4 loss
* Posts Q4 adj loss $0.65/shr vs est $0.64/shr
* Q4 rev $103.9 mln vs est $104.1 mln
* Same-store sales down 20 pct
* Halves capital expenditure for 2010
* Says will close 15 to 20 stores in FY10 (Adds conference call details)
April 9 (Reuters) - Women's apparel retailer Christopher & Banks Corp (CBK.N) posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss as sales fell due to tightened consumer spending, and it said it would not provide earnings-per-share outlook at this time.
"Our core customer has been spending very sparingly on her wardrobe for the past six months, yet we remain confident that we are well capitalized to outlast this recession," Chief Executive Lorna Nagler said.
For the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, the Plymouth, Minnesota-based company posted a loss of $28.8 million, or 82 cents a share, compared with a loss of $8.2 million, or 6 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue fell to $103.9 million from $122.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
The company, which operates 815 stores in 46 U.S. states, forecast capital expenditure of about $8 million to $9 million for fiscal 2010, compared with about $18 million it spent in 2009.
In a conference call with analysts, Nagler said the company had scaled back its real estate expansion and planned to close between 15 and 20 stores and open no more than 5 stores.
The company would concentrate more on small market stores that have higher productivity and lower occupancy costs, the CEO said.
Shares of the company, which has been taking steps to reduce costs including job cuts, were trading down 2 percent at $4.78 after the bell. (Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan, Ratul Ray Chaudhuri)
