Abercrombie & Fitch quarterly profit more than doubles, shares jump

[November 20, 2015]  (Reuters) - Abercrombie & Fitch Co's third-quarter same-store sales fell less than expected and its profit more than doubled as the teen apparel retailer boost gross margin by offering fewer promotions and controlling costs.

The company's shares surged 20 percent to $23.46 in premarket trading on Friday.

Abercrombie & Fitch's adjusted gross profit rate improved by 120 basis points to 63.4 percent in the third quarter ended Oct 31.

The rise was due to an increase in full price selling and a drop in costs per unit. Inventories declined 3 percent in the quarter.

The company's comparable sales fell 1 percent. Analysts' on average had expected a decline of 2.4 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

Abercrombie & Fitch's total revenue fell 3.6 percent to $878.6 million.

Net income attributable to the company jumped 130 percent to $41.9 million, or 60 cents per share.

Excluding items, the company earned 48 cents per share.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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