Dress Barn’s Quarterly Profit Falls 34%

Women’s apparel retailer Dress Barn Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell 34% to $8.25 million, or 44 cents a share, a penny better than analyst expectations.

Sales at the company’s 720 stores rose a slight 1% to $177.3 million. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 6% and are down for August and this month so far, the Suffern, N.Y.-retailer said.

Dress Barn said it managed to control inventory and expenses in the quarter. Customer spending and store traffic weakened because of the economic slowdown.