Coach misses after cutting back on promotions and limiting supply (COH)

Reuters

(Reuters) - Coach Inc reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales on Tuesday as the handbag maker cut back on promotions and limited its supply to department stores.

The company's net sales rose slightly to $1.04 billion in the first quarter ended Oct. 1 from $1.03 billion a year earlier, its slowest growth in four quarters.

Coach said its net income rose to $117.4 million, or 42 cents per share, in the quarter, from $96.4 million, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 45 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 45 cents per share and sales of $1.07 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The 75-year-old company has reduced its promotional activities and stopped supplying to more than 250 department stores as it tries to regain its premium status.

In its fight to ward off growing competition from peers such as Michael Kors Holdings Inc, Coach renovated its stores and hired well-known fashion designer Stuart Vevers to revive demand for its products.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Martina D'Couto)

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