Victoria’s Secret slips less than expected

L Brands reported that comparable-store sales fell by 13 percent in February, slightly better than Wall Street’s estimates.

Total sales for February, announced Thursday, fell to $765.5 million from $849.3 million for the same month last year.

The sales decline was driven by a 16 percent drop in comparable-store sales at the Columbus-based retailer’s Victoria’s Secret brand. The decline, while stiff, was less than Wall Street analysts had anticipated.

While the lingerie chain has seen comparable-store sales hurt by its ongoing exit of swimwear and apparel, there were other reasons for the sales decline, said Amie Preston, chief investor relations officer.

The main reason: “challenging mall traffic levels,” Preston said. That, in turn, led to lower profit margins, primarily because sales were necessary to draw in shoppers.

The retailer’s Bath & Body Works chain saw comparablestore sales drop by 4 percent in February, slightly better than Wall Street expectations. To bring in customers, the chain also was pushed to offer discounts, which led to lower profit margins.

The drop in mall traffic was something that L Brands had cited in an announcement last week, said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, a retail research firm. Because of that, the comparable-store decline reported for February “was not as bad as feared and exceeded lowered expectations,” Perkins said.

Looking ahead to March, L Brands predicts a similar decline in comparable-store sales partly because Easter falls in April, which is expected to hurt March comparable-store sales.