Levi's reports plummeting sales

Levi Strauss' profits plummeted 98 per cent in the second quarter as sales in U.S. drop. The denim company earned only a marginal profit of $701,000 on sales of $936.3 million in the quarter ended May 25. Last year in the same quarter the company earned $45.7 million on sales of $1 billion. Levi Strauss blamed weak consumer spending in major global markets, including the United States, and said the rest of the year would be challenging.

"We're getting no help from the economy in any of our markets around the world," said chief executive John Anderson. "Given the slowing macro-economic indicators we are seeing globally and our continued investment to stabilize our ERP system, we expect the rest of the year to be challenging," he said.