Abercrombie pops as brand prez exits

Struggling teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is one step closer to filling its vacant chief executive job.

Fran Horowitz, who has led the company’s more successful Hollister brand for the past year, was named on Tuesday to a newly created position — president and chief merchandising officer — leapfrogging her chief rival.

Christos Angelides, who was president of the Abercrombie brand for the last 14 months — and hired at the same time as Horowitz — was forced out of the company on Tuesday after guiding the brand to four straight quarters of declining samestore sales.

Adding insult to injury, A&F shares popped 6.6 percent on the news, to close at $27.23, an 11month high.

Angelides had been seen as the most likely successor to Michael Jeffries, former CEO of the company, according to FBR & Co. analyst Susan Anderson. Jeffries resigned a year ago after he failed to turn around the company’s declining fortunes.

Both brands have lost significant market share to fastfashion retailers H&M, Forever 21 and Zara. But Hollister has been making a comeback this year, led by Horowitz’s priceslashing strategy.

Hollister reported a 3 percent increase in samestore sales in the third quarter, after 14 consecutive quarters of negative comps.

“The international business was a big driver of the improvement of the Hollister brand,” Anderson said, pointing to price reductions of up to 20 percent in its overseas stores.

Horowitz will report directly to Executive Chairman Arthur Martinez. The company, in a statement, said it is on the “right track” and is not “actively conducting a search for a CEO at this time.”

“Fran looks like the frontrunner at this time,” said Guggenheim analyst Howard Tubin.