Boutique takes $43-million hit

Clothing retailer Boutiques San Francisco took a $38.2-million writeoff on Les Ailes de la Mode store in downtown Montreal as the company posted a $43.2-million loss in the third quarter.

The big loss and writeoff comes less than a week after the company filed for court protection from its creditors so that it could restructure.

• FROM DEC. 17, 2003: Boutique files for creditor protection

"It was based on these anticipated results that we asked for and obtained the protection of the court to prepare a major restructuring plan, a step that I found essential after taking on the management of the company," said Sylvain Toutant, the firm's president and CEO.

Boutiques San Francisco's net sales for the third quarter were $43.4 million, down from $72 million a year earlier.

The decline in sales was principally due to the closing earlier in the year of the Les Ailes de la Mode store at the Bayshore Centre in Ottawa and the sale of the company's unprofitable banners: Frisco, L'Officiel and West Coast. Early in the third quarter, the company also closed seven Bikini Village boutiques.

From CBC News Online