J. Crew in the News: Earns Big This Quarter

As mentioned in the "J.Crew Announces Latest Quarter Results {higher sales!}" post, the fiscal fourth-quarter earnings for J.Crew were impressive. The following is Fashionista's take on it (click here to read in its entirety):

J.Crew Earns Big: Retailer’s Net Income More Than Triples to Over $15M
By Dhani Mau Tuesday
March 20, 2012

As should come as no surprise, J.Crew is raking it in. And so are its top executives. After a somewhat tumultuous year that included a $3 billion buyout, some positive press from Michelle Obama, some not-so-positive press from others (ahem, Fox news), and some great collections, the company has ended up on top.

J.Crew’s reported net income for the quarter ending on January 28 was $15.1 million, versus $4 million one year ago, WWD is reporting. Part of the reason for lower reported income in the past year was that the company went private early in 2011 in a buyout that was costly to the company and left them with high interest rates. However, the company looks to be bouncing back from that just fine.

A better indication of how the company is doing at this point might be the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which rose from $51.6 million to $59.5 million.

And if you were wondering how much President and executive creative director Jenna Lyons and Chairman and CEO Mickey Drexler took home, the company released that information as well. Drexler’s base salary, which has not increased since 2003, is $200,000. Of course, that’s in addition to stock options valued at $11.32 million as well as $1.67 million in other compensation and an opportunity for a $1.2 million bonus. Lyons’s salary was an even $1 million, in addition to stock options valued at $2 million.

It’s a good time for J. Crew, which is solidifying itself as a private company, and things can only go up from here.

There was a conference call to discuss fourth quarter results yesterday. To read the transcript, click here. Some quotes worth highlighting:

• Our long-term goal continues to be to grow our North American square footage in the low- to mid-single-digit range annually over the next 3 to 5 years. In 2012, we plan to open 17 retail stores, which includes 3 locations in Canada. We will be opening in Vancouver late in the first quarter, Edmonton in the second quarter, and our second Toronto store at the Eaton Centre in the third quarter.
• we also plan on opening a standalone Men's store at The Grove in Los Angeles in the second quarter
• Our 2012 plan is to open 10 new factory stores, including our first 2 factory stores in Canada.
• We also launched a flat rate shipping program in the third quarter and made enhancements to our website during the year, which have been well received by our customers.
• In addition to our international online and Canadian bricks-and-mortar expansion efforts, we are in the initial stages of exploring opportunities in the U.K. and Asia. We are focused on building our international team to support these expansion efforts and we are currently evaluating opportunities for store openings in 2013.

What are your thoughts on this latest news? Do you think J.Crew's top executives are worth their salaries?