Abercrombie store in the US

Abercrombie has reduced its earlier capital expenditures projection for fiscal 2009 from $200 million to $185 million, due to lower-than-expected construction costs and the reduction and deferment of non-essential projects related to existing stores.

At quarter end, abercrombie had $366.5 million of cash and cash equivalents along with outstanding debt and letters of credit of $79.6 million. The company repaid $100 million of US dollar-denominated outstanding debt, and obtained approximately $37 million in foreign currency denominated borrowings to fund its international lease and capital expenditures.During the quarter, the company opened its first Epic Hollister flagship store in New York, two Hollister mall-based stores in the UK, and one abercrombie outlet store in the US.

Abercrombie mulls opening nine mall-based stores in fiscal 2009 in the US, which includes two Abercrombie stores, four Hollister stores, one Gilly Hicks store, and two outlet stores. Internationally, the company intends to open 10 mall-based stores in the current fiscal year, including one Ruehl No.925 store in Canada, one Hollister store each in Germany and Italy, and seven Hollister stores in the UK.