Limited's June same-store sales fall 9 percent

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Limited Brands Inc said on Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year fell a worse-than-expected 9 percent in June, hurt by weak results at its Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works stores.

The company also forecast that July same-store sales would decline in the mid-to-high single digits on a percentage basis.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting a June same-store sales drop of 7.4 percent.

The retailer said total sales in the five weeks ended July 5 fell to $1.02 billion from $1.21 billion a year earlier.

Same-store sales fell 12 percent at Victoria's Secret and 8 percent at Bath & Body Works.

Limited, best known for the supermodels it uses in its lingerie advertising, had forecast that same-store sales, a key gauge of retail performance, would be down in the mid-to-high single digits in June.

Limited, whose stores are found at U.S. malls, has suffered from a downturn in foot traffic this year. U.S. consumers have cut back on trips to the mall and have reined in spending on discretionary items, whether lacy undergarments or sweet-smelling bath products.

Limited has been tightening its inventory and cutting costs.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman and Martinne Geller; editing by John Wallace)