Sales up, profit down at Saks

Department store retailer Saks Inc. said fiscal first-quarter profit fell 86% from the year-ago period, which included gains on the sale of its Saks Department Store Group businesses.

The company operates Saks Fifth Avenue, which comprises 54 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 49 Saks Off 5th stores and saks.com as well as Club Libby Lu stores.

Net income in the quarter ended May 5 fell to $11 million, or 7 cents a share, from $77.9 million, or 57 cents, a year earlier, when the company saw a gain of $66.2 million on the sale of certain department stores.

Excluding one-time items, Saks would have reported profit of 19 cents a share in the quarter.

Sales grew 16% to $792.7 million from $684.1 million last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected revenue of $787 million.

Shares of Saks fell $1.36, or nearly 6%, to $21.33.