Christopher & Banks fourth quarter loss narrower than expected

Christopher & Banks

April 15 (Reuters) - Christopher & Banks Corp (CBK.N) posted a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss, as a better merchandise mix helped the women's apparel retailer draw more shoppers to its stores.

The company, whose clients are mainly women in their forties and above, also said it expects same-store sales in the current quarter to be up in the mid to high single-digits.

Gross margins are expected to rise by a couple of hundred basis points.

During the quarter ended Feb. 27, Christopher & Banks lost $6.4 million, or 18 cents a share, including a 5 cent a share charge for store asset impairment.

Excluding the charge, the company posted a loss of 13 cents a share, while analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 27 cents a share.

Revenue came in at $101.9 million. Gross margins increased to 31.9 percent for the quarter from 18.8 percent last year, helped by more sales of higher-margin accessories.

Shares of the Plymouth, Minnesota-based company were up at $10.91 Thursday 15 April in after-hours trade. They closed at $10.77 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri)