Investing.com -- Shares in Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) fell by more than 2% on Thursday after the multinational retailer posted disappointing same-store sales across the board during the month of August.
Over the four-week period that ended on August 30, Gap's sales fell 3% to $1.20 billion on a year-over-year basis in comparison to the company's revenues in August, 2014. Overall, Gap saw its comparable store sales fall by 2% for the month, significantly below analysts' forecasts of a 0.2% decline. Comparable store sales at Gap, account for sales from stores that have been open for at least a year, as well as online sales.
Same-store sales at Gap's namesake brand plunged 8%, far below expectations of a 3.4% monthly decrease. Last August, Gap's monthly sales fell on a yearly basis by 6%. Comparable sales fell even further at Banana Republic, which decreased by 11% from its level last August. Analysts anticipated a decline of 2.3% on the month.
Unlike the other aforementioned divisions, Old Navy exceeded analysts' expectations with its performance in August. Same-store sales at Old Navy increased by 6%, above forecasts for gains of 3.8%. Old Navy increased comparable-store sales by 2% in August, 2014.
“We’re pleased that Old Navy delivered another strong month of positive comps driven by a healthy back-to-school business, as we remain focused on improving product performance across our portfolio,” Gap, Inc. CFO Sabrina Simmons said in a statement.
Gap also noted that the Labor Day holiday this year falls one week later, in comparison with 2014, offsetting the benefit from the shift of tax-free holidays in a number of states from July last year to August this year.
In June, Gap announced a wave of cost-cutting measures, which includes the elimination of 250 corporate jobs and the closure of 140 stores by next February.
Shares in Gap fell by 0.75 or 2.27% to 33.00 in after-hours trading.