(Reuters) -Lululemon Athletica Inc said on Monday it expects the Omicron coronavirus variant to have dented holiday-quarter results as the yoga-wear maker cut down on staffing and store hours during the key shopping period, sending its shares down 7%.
Omicron has further hurt the retail sector that has been grappling with shipping delays and product shortages due to an overburdened supply chain.
Personal products maker Bath & Body Works Inc said last week its post-Christmas sales were below expectations, while department store chain Macy’s Inc reduced U.S. store hours for the rest of month.
Lululemon, which had a strong start to the holiday season, has been hurt by several Omicron-driven shortfalls, including increased capacity constraints and reduced store hours in some locations, Chief Executive Calvin McDonald said.
The Vancouver, Canada-based company said it now expects fourth-quarter net revenue to be toward the low end of its previous forecast of $2.13 billion to $2.17 billion.
It also expects fourth-quarter adjusted profit per share to be toward the low end of its earlier outlook of $3.25 to $3.32.
Analysts on average had estimated Lululemon to post a profit of $3.34 per share on revenue of $2.17 billion in the holiday quarter.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Vinay Dwivedi)