USA: Gap’s Same Store Sales Drop One Per Cent In July

Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) today reported sales of $851m for the four weeks ended July 29, 2000, an increase of 22 per cent over sales of $696m for the comparable period ended July 31, 1999. The company's comparable store sales for July 2000 decreased 1 per cent compared to a 2 per cent increase in July 1999. Sales of $5.68 billion for the 26 weeks ended July 29, 2000, represent an increase of 20 per cent over sales of $4.73bn for the same period in 1999. The company's year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 2 per cent compared to a 10 per cent increase a year ago. As of July 29, 2000, Gap Inc operated 3,284 stores compared to 2,661 at July 31, 1999, an increase of 23 percent. Due to weaker than expected results in July, the company believes that earnings per share will come in two to three cents below the current consensus estimate of $0.23.The news led to a sharp drop in the company's stock's price in after-hours trade on Wednesday.On the Instinet electronic trading system, the Gap was last set at 32-1/2, down from its close at 37-15/16 on the New York Stock Exchange. In regular NYSE trading, Gap rose 15/16.On Island, Gap was last executed at 37.6250 on that order-matching system.