NEW YORK (AP) -- The Jones Group Inc.'s fourth-quarter loss narrowed partly because of lower charges. Its gross profit margins also improved because of the upscale Kurt Geiger shoe business and better results from its core businesses.
The New York company, whose brands include Nine West and Anne Klein, saw its adjusted earnings and revenue results beat Wall Street's expectations. Its stock gained 35 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $9.89 Wednesday morning. The shares have traded between $8 and $15.02 over the past year.
The Jones Group lost $21.1 million, or 27 cents per share, in the quarter. That compares with a loss of $40.1 million, or 47 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.
Removing impairment charges, restructuring costs and other items, earnings were 10 cents per share.
This easily topped the 3 cents per share that analysts polled by FactSet forecast.
The Jones Group's quarterly performance also benefited from a decline in cost of goods sold, which fell to $574 million from $604.3 million.
For the period ended Dec. 31, revenue climbed 2 percent to $893.6 million from $873.7 million. Wall Street expected $885.9 million in revenue.
However, CEO Wesley Card said the performance was weaker than expected because of a highly promotional environment and a replenishment orders slowing down.
Last month Jones Group cut its quarterly revenue guidance, saying that the weak economy was driving more discounting.
The company also announced in January that it had ended talks on the potential sale of its jeans division.
The Jones Group said that its earnings for the year fell 4 percent to $49.2 million, or 61 cents per share, from earnings of $51.4 million, or 62 cents per share, in the previous year.
Adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $1.30 per share.
Full-year revenue rose 4 percent to $3.79 billion from $3.64 billion.
The Jones Group also declared a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on March 9 to shareholders of record on Feb. 24.
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