American Apparel reports flat Q2 net sales

REPORT_ American Apparel net sales remained flat at 162.4 million dollars compared to 162.2 million dollars for the

 2013 period on a 6 percent decrease in retail comparable store sales and a 9 percent increase in wholesale net sales. The company now estimates Adjusted EBITDA will be in a range of 40 million dollars to 45 million dollars for the year.

Gross profit declined 2 percent and was 82.4 million dollars compared to 83.9 million dollars for the 2013 period. Operating expenses decreased 7 percent, whereas adjusted EBITDA increased 85 percent to 14.6 million dollars compared to 7.9 million dollars for the 2013 period.

The strength in the company's US Wholesale business offset the negative impact of the decrease in comparable store sales. Additionally, increasing efficiency in operations caused a significant increase in the Company's EBITDA performance.

Gross margin decreased to 50.7 percent for the second quarter of 2014 compared to 51.7 percent for the second quarter of 2013. The decrease was due to a shift in the sales mix from retail and online sales to lower margin wholesale net sales.