Gap Suffers Sales Drop In 'Challenging' September

(RTTNews) - Gap (GPS) revealed lower sales for September, a month the clothing retailer described as "challenging." A negative impact from foreign currency exchange and weakness in its Banana Republic division weighed on results.

Gap said its net sales for the 5-week period ending October 3 dropped 1 percent from last year. The figure came in at $1.46 billion compared to $1.48 billion in the same period in 2014.

Excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange, sales were up by 2 percent.

Comparable store sales showed a decline for the month. The figure, which strips out sales at newly opened stores, also declined by 1 percent in September. This compared to a flat showing in September of 2014.

Breaking it down by division, the firm's Banana Republic unit had the worst performance during the month. Global comparable sales were down 10 percent in October, compared to a 2 percent increase in 2014.

This more than offset an improvement at Old Navy, where global comparable sales climbed 4 percent in the month. The company's flagship Gap brand had a flat performance in September.