Abercrombie & Fitch sales fall for 14th straight quarter

An Abercrombie & Fitch store is pictured on 5th Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 23, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co's sales dropped for the 14th straight quarter, hurt by lower traffic, including from tourists, at its flagship stores.

The company's shares tumbled nearly 12 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The retailer's comparable sales at stores open at least a year fell a slightly steeper-than-expected 4 percent in the second quarter ended July 30.

"Flagship and tourist locations continued to account for the vast majority of the comparable sales decline as traffic remained a significant headwind," Executive Chairman Arthur Martinez said.

"As we look to the rest of the year, we now expect flagship and tourist locations will continue to weigh on the business."

Abercrombie has also been hurt by fierce competition from fast-fashion retailers such as H&M and Inditex's Zara.

To win back shoppers, it has been remodeling its Hollister stores, hired designers from top brands to keep up with trends and shifted away from logo-centric designs.

Comparable sales at Abercrombie stores open at least a year fell 7 percent in the quarter. Analysts on average had expected a fall of 6.50 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

The company's total net sales fell 4.2 percent to $783.2 million.

The net loss attributable to Abercrombie increased to $13.1 million, or 19 cents per share, from $810,000, or 1 cent per share. Excluding items, it lost 25 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 20 cents per share and revenue of $782.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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