TORONTO - Roots Corp. says it lost $8.9 million in its latest quarter as it missed out on some sales because it didn't have enough of its fleece products to keep up with demand and is still seeing shoppers grapple with economic headwinds.
The Toronto-based apparel retailer's first-quarter result announced Monday compared with a loss of $8.0 million a year earlier.
The loss amounted to 22 cents per share for the quarter ended May 4, compared with a loss of 19 cents per share a year earlier, while sales totalled $37.5 million for the most recent quarter, down from $41.5 million in the same quarter last year.
Meghan Roach, chief executive of Roots, attributed much of the decline to a fall in the company's corporate retail store and e-commerce sales, which amounted to $31.4 million, down from $35.4 million a year ago.
Some of the decline may have come from consumers rethinking purchases because of high inflation and interest rates, while Roots holding lower amounts of inventory than they had in the past may also have weighed on sales.
Roach said parsing out which had a bigger impact is "difficult."