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Earnings Calls: 
Limited Brands First Quarter Earnings Call
Author: Rozalina Destanova
123jump.com
Last Update: 5:05 AM EDT May 26 2008

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Net sales fell to $1.9 billion, from $2.3 billion in 2007. Results included a gain of 24 cents per share from the sale of a non-core joint venture, as well as an impairment charge of 6 cents per share. Same-store sales fell 8%. The company projects Q2 share earnings to be between 16 cents and 20 cents, compared with 20 cents last year, and 2008 share earnings to between $1.38 and $1.58, excluding the 18 cent share gain in Q1.


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Stuart Burgdoerfer: On gross margin, we would expect to continue to have merchandise margin rate improvement for the balance of the year, and offsetting that, as was the case in the first quarter, there is buying occupancy - deleverage, and that can be compounded based on what our sales result is. That is where we are on that, and it is better management of inventory that is contributing meaningfully to that result.

Dana Telsey (Telsey Advisory Group): What are the levers for additional SG&A as you look at through the balance of the year?

Stuart Burgdoerfer: We have taken action there last summer. A big contributor to the result this quarter was the ongoing disciplined management of expenses. We do continue to look at additional opportunities in the form of home office headcount, technology related project spending, etc. We do not intend to reduce expenses in a way that would lessen the customer experience, so we are focused on what we would call more discretionary overhead and project-related spending, and that focus will continue for the foreseeable future.

Dana Telsey (Telsey Advisory Group): Are there any initial thoughts on 2009 expansion?

Stuart Burgdoerfer: No. we are working to deliver a good 2008, and we will get more focused on modeling assumptions for 2009 as we move through the year.

Marni Shapiro (Retail Tracker): Can you talk about the SG&A line?

Stuart Burgdoerfer: There was some decline in marketing in the first quarter for the Victoria''s Secret business yearonyear. We managed that carefully, recognizing the trade-off with sales. We are looking at home office spending; project-related spending is the areas of continued scrutiny and opportunity.

Richard Jaffe (Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Inc.): On the SG&A savings and the ad spend plan for this year by division, could you talk about year-over-year change in the ad spends and also in the channels you will be advertising in for both those brands?

Stuart Burgdoerfer: Marketing in total is going to be flat in aggregate year-on-year for Limited Brands on a rate basis. In terms of our level of marketing investment, it is flat year-on-year on a rate basis.

Richard Jaffe (Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Inc.): Is that the same for both divisions?

Stuart Burgdoerfer: We are not going to go that specific.

Kimberly Greenberger (Citigroup): Could you comment on the reduction in some of your real estate initiatives?

Stuart Burgdoerfer: One aspect of it is how many we do before lease expiration. The substantial portion of those is being done at lease expiration, but that is one aspect of it that we look closely at. The other piece is how large we make the stores and how much we invest in the stores is another piece. The last is around new store project count, which we have also taken down, again, just managing relative risk trade-off there, a balance between the incremental sales and profits with the relative return of those new stores.
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