Sales boost for US apparel in May

Most American retailers reported sales increases in May on Thursday at established stores,

mainly driven by warmer weather and an increase in consumer spending. Sales were also boosted by the May 12 Mother's Day shopping.

The National Retail Federation in April expected spending on Mother's Day gifts to reach about 20.7 billion dollars, with consumers spend ranging on average of 168.94 dollars on Mother's Day gifts, up 11 percent from 152.52 dollars last year.

Apparel retailer L Brands Inc., the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its May comparable store sales rose 3 percent on higher sales across all its three brands.

Good news as well for teen apparel retailer Buckle, Inc. that announced that comparable store net sales for the month of May increased 4.1 percent. Net sales increased 4.2 percent from last year to 72.8 million dollars.

In the same vein, Zumiez Inc. reported Wednesday that its comparable store sales for May increased 1.1 percent. Total net sales grew 16.7 percent from last year to 43.6 million dollars.

American Apparel Inc continued its turnaround and reported a 10 percent jump in same-store sales, the biggest gain among the companies reporting while Cato Corp became the rare exception when said same-store sales fell 2 percent, a smaller drop than expected.

Finally, analysts at Barron highlighted that in after-market trading, shares of Quicksilver (ZQK) dropped nearly 9 percent to 7 dollars after the company reported a loss of 12 cents per share. Analysts were looking for earnings of 4 cents for the fiscal second quarter ended in April, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue came in at 458.75 million dollars, below the 505 million dollars analysts were looking for.

In the UK, Marks & Spencer, the country’s biggest clothing retailer, said annual profit dropped as customers spent less on clothes and other fashion items.