Right Start Expects Sharp Earnings Decline

The Right Start Inc., a mail-order marketer of upscale children’s items based in Westlake Village, said its earnings for its fiscal third quarter ending Feb. 26 will decline sharply because of disappointing results of its 1991 holiday catalogue.

The company blamed the recession for a poor response rate to its catalogue, despite mailing more than 3 million out, compared to 1.7 million a year earlier.

The company said it reduced its January mailing to 2.2 million catalogues and expects revenues for the remainder of its fiscal year to be flat with the previous year.

Right Start, whose largest shareholder is American Recreation Centers Inc. in Sacramento, recently sold 2.3 million shares of common stock in an initial public offering. In its fiscal second quarter that ended Nov. 27, Right Start’s profit declined 9% to $266,000 from $292,000 a year earlier, while revenue increased 44% to $6.55 million from $4.56 million.