Victoria’s Secret Holiday Sales Drop as Bath & Body Works’ Jump

(Bloomberg) -- L Brands Inc., owner of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, offered a glimpse into holiday sales for mall-based chains -- and it’s mixed.

The retailer’s Bath & Body Works chain, which sells soaps, lotions and hand sanitizer, saw comparable sales rise 17% in the nine-week period ended Jan. 2. Sales on that basis, a key metric in retail, slumped 9% at Victoria’s Secret, a struggling brand that L Brands is preparing to separate from Bath & Body Works this year.

The holiday season -- always a crucial time for mall-based stores -- was seen as even more important this year as retailers worked to make up for sales lost during Covid-19 shutdowns in the spring. This holiday shopping season, which started earlier than usual, saw a boom in e-commerce, helping offset a dramatic drop in shopper foot traffic.

At Victoria’s Secret, comparable sales dropped 23% in stores, but jumped 24% in e-commerce.

Shares of L Brands were little changed in early U.S. trading.

Overall the company, one of last year’s top performers in the S&P 500 Index, reported sales that increased 5% in the period, according to a statement Thursday.

L Brands, based in Columbus, Ohio, said it expects earnings per share between $2.70 and $2.80 in the fiscal fourth quarter ending Jan. 31, excluding some items. Analysts anticipated $1.96, on average.

Earlier this week Tiffany & Co. said preliminary comparable sales worldwide were up 4% in the final two months of the year, even as U.S. sales dropped 4%.

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