(Source: PrimeNewswire)
SECAUCUS, N.J., July 6, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCE) sent a letter to stockholders citing positive analyst comments about the Company's performance over the past 21 months and urging support of its three highly qualified and independent incumbent directors up for election at the Company's 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on July 31, 2009. The Children's Place urges stockholders to vote FOR Sally Frame Kasaks, Malcolm Elvey, and Norman Matthews on the WHITE proxy card - and to reject the three hand-picked nominees of former Chairman and CEO Ezra Dabah. Since Mr. Dabah and his father-in-law Stanley Silverstein are existing members of the Board, election of Mr. Dabah's three hand-picked nominees would result in his designation of five of nine directors - the majority of the Board - and de facto control of the Company.
The letter highlights the decisive steps taken by The Children's Place's current Board and management to turn around the business as well as the Company's operational and financial performance since Mr. Dabah was forced to resign as CEO in September 2007 after Deloitte & Touche, then the Company's auditors, told the Board it was no longer willing to rely on Mr. Dabah's representations in connection with its audits. These actions to reduce risk, enhance liquidity and return the Company to balanced growth have resulted in The Children's Place stock price outperforming all 15 companies in its peer group since the beginning of fiscal 2008 -- up 42% -- far ahead of the S&P Retail Index, which is down 24% during the same period.
The full text of the letter sent today to The Children's Place stockholders follows:
July 6, 2009
THE CHILDREN'S PLACE PERFORMANCE HAS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED SINCE EZRA DABAH'S RESIGNATION
To Our Stockholders:
Your Board and management team have taken decisive steps to turn around and revitalize The Children's Place since Ezra Dabah was forced to resign as CEO in September 2007 after Deloitte & Touche, then the Company's auditors, told the Board it was no longer willing to rely on his representations in connection with its audits. Your Board and management have a proven track record of creating value for The Children's Place stockholders.
We ask for your support to continue to build on the Company's recent successes. Vote today FOR the three highly qualified and independent incumbent directors up for election - Sally Frame Kasaks, Malcolm Elvey, and Norman Matthews - on the WHITE proxy card at the Company's 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on July 31, 2009. We urge you to reject the three hand-picked nominees of Mr. Dabah and his efforts to gain control of the Company.
Since Mr. Dabah's resignation, the Company has performed very well operationally and financially despite a recessionary economy and negative industry trends. The decisive actions undertaken by your Board and management to reduce risk, enhance liquidity and return the Company to balanced growth have resulted in strong fundamental performance based on key metrics including overall sales growth, comparable retail sales growth, operating margin, liquidity and earnings per share. The Company's success since Mr. Dabah resigned is a direct result of actions taken by the Board and management to achieve measured growth, increase profitability and enhance liquidity.
DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT - NUMEROUS INDEPENDENT ANALYSTS HAVE RECOGNIZED THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR CURRENT BOARD AND MANAGEMENT! * "Under current management, PLCE has gotten its financials up to date after the options scandal under its former CEO, rid itself of the poorly performing Disney stores, an albatross around the company's neck also brought on by the ex-CEO, cut expenses and inventories, improved the balance sheet and repositioned PLCE to move margins back up. We think current management's done a good job after the problems under the previous team and should be allowed to continue." (Dorothy Lakner, Caris & Company, 22 June 2009) * "Despite a challenging economic environment in 2008, PLCE was able to generate 7% sales growth, a 2% comp, 200 bps improvement in gross margin and leveraged SG&A by 70 bps (excluding one-time items), resulting in a 60% improvement in EPS. However, despite the company's recent success, management is not complacent; they are seeking to capitalize on the opportunities for further market share gains that the economy and weak competitors have provided. In addition, continued vigilance regarding sourcing will likely yield further cost savings in 2H09 and 2010." (emphasis added) (Richard Jaffe, Stifel Nicolaus, 10 June 2009) * "We fully acknowledge the progress Children's Place has made over the last year under interim CEO Charles Crovitz.
