L Brands, Parent Company to Victoria’s Secret, Beats Earnings Estimates

The Angels are soaring.   L Brands, parent company to Victoria’s Secret, beat earnings expectations Wednesday evening, causing company shares to rise by as much as 15 percent during after-hours trading. But there’s a secret: the gains were felt almost exclusively in the company’s Bath & Body Works brand. In fact, revenues at Victoria’s Secret online business fell 5 percent. In store, sales fell 7 percent. That’s on top of a 5 percent decline a year earlier. Meanwhile, revenues at Bath & Body Works rose for the quarter, both online and in stores, 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Across the entire company, net sales for 2019’s first quarter were flat at $2.62 billion, the same as last year. Meanwhile, income for the three-month period ending May 4, was $40.3 million, down from $47.5 million a year earlier. Still, it was enough for the company to raise its full-year guidance — to $2.30 to $2.60 earnings per share, up from $2.20 to $2.60 a share — and tame investor fears over worries about a slow turnaround. That’s because, Victoria’s Secret, while still the market share leader in the women’s intimate apparel space, has been losing revenues for the last two years.

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