Quarterly sales reached $595.5 million, versus $608.6 million during the year-ago period, Bon-Ton executives said.
Sales at stores open more than a year fell 1.5 percent in the quarter.
Bud Bergen, president and chief executive officer, said lower selling expenses and a tax benefit helped narrow the quarterly loss compared to the same period in fiscal 2010.
“We recognized our comparable-store sales and gross margin did not perform to the desired levels,” Bergen said in a statement. “We made adjustments to our merchandise assortment that we believe will yield improved performance in the second half of the year.”
For the first six months, the company lost $68.3 or $3.79 per diluted share, versus $57.3 million, or $3.24 per diluted share, lost a year ago. Total sales slipped 1.9 percent to $1.2 billion, compared with $1.3 billion during the first six months of last year, the company said.
Chief Financial Officer Keith Plowman said the company expects to earn between 70 cents and $1 per diluted share this year. Comparable store sales should end fiscal 2011 flat or with an increase of up to 1 percent, Plowman said.
Shares of Bon-Ton (Nasdaq: BONT) slipped to $6.06 in early trading, down 29 cents or 4.6 percent from the previous day’s close.
The stock has a 52-week range of $5.59 to $17.49.
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