Barington Outlines Specific Measures To Unlock Chico's FAS's Value Potential

(RTTNews) - Barington Capital Group L.P., who, together with its affiliates and the other participants in its solicitation, beneficially owns over 1.5% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Chico's FAS Inc. (CHS), delivered a letter to the Chairman of the Board of the Company today.

The letter set forth Barington's serious concerns with respect to the Company's performance and outlines measures that Barington believes Chico's needs to implement to unlock its value potential.

Barington has nominated two directors for election to the Board of Directors of Chico's at the Company's 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The 2016 Annual Meeting is scheduled to be held on July 21, 2016.

Barington is convinced that if the Company implements certain measures, Chico's could more than double its earnings per share in three years, which Barington estimate could translate to a stock price of approximately $25 to $27 per share.

Barington believes that the core focus of the Company needs to be on improving revenue at its three brands: Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma. Barington believes that this can be done through a combination of efforts to improve execution, merchandising and store productivity at the Company.

Barington believes that the Company's stock is more undervalued now than it has been in the past five years and therefore recommend that the Company increase its share repurchases.

Barington believes that the Company's executive compensation arrangements for its President and CEO Shelley Broader fail to properly align pay with performance. Barington is disappointed that the Board granted her a compensation package that is almost twice the size of the median compensation paid to the CEOs of the Company's peers in 2015, and that over 75% percent of the compensation she is to receive is guaranteed with no requirement for the Company to achieve any performance goals.