Third Quarter Net Loss for Harry & David

Third quarter net sales at Harry & David Holdings dipped 5%, to $68.3 million for the 13 weeks ended March 29. Last year’s third quarter sales were $73.3 million.

Company officials noted in a release that all quarterly results “reflect continuing operations net of the company’s divestiture of its Jackson & Perkins business in April 2007, and the addition of the Wolferman’s business acquired in January 2008.”

According to the company, the net sales decrease was largely due to the shift in Fruit-of-the-Month Club product shipments in Harry & David’s direct marketing segment into the second fiscal quarter this year from the third fiscal quarter last year, and lower sales in the wholesale segment. Results were partially offset by the shift of Easter sales from the fiscal fourth quarter last year to the fiscal third quarter this year.

Net loss for the third quarter was $21.0 million, compared to a net loss of $13.0 million for the same period last year.

“While our third-quarter results did not meet our expectations, when normalized for one-time events, they were generally consistent with the retail environment and broader economic trends impacting our customers,” president and CEO Bill Williams said in the release. “Our focus in the coming months will be on continuing to build market share and effectively managing our costs of goods sold, expenses and inventory levels in the face of ongoing increases in energy and commodity prices.”