Bath & Body Works reports drop in Q3 sales

Bath & Body Works reported net sales of 1.562 billion dollars for the third quarter, a decrease of 2.6 percent.

The company’s earnings per diluted share rose to 52 cents for the quarter compared to 40 cents for the same period of the prior year. Third quarter operating income was 221 million dollars compared to 202 million dollars last year and net income was 119 million dollars compared to 91 million dollars last year.

Commenting on the trading update, Gina Boswell, CEO of Bath & Body Works, said: “Our performance in the quarter was marked by strong merchandise margin improvement and the ongoing benefits of our cost optimization initiatives.”

For fiscal 2023, the company expects net sales to decline 2.5 percent to 4 percent compared to 7.560 billion dollars in 2022 and earnings per diluted share to be between 2.99 dollars and 3.19 dollars compared to 3.40 dollars in 2022.

The company expects full-year adjusted earnings per diluted share to be between 2.90 dollars and 3.10 dollars.

The company expects fourth quarter net sales to decline 1 percent to 5 percent compared to 2.889 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2022 and earnings per diluted share to be between 1.70 dollars and 1.90 dollars compared to 1.86 dollars in the previous year.