American Apparel Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Financial Results 

• For the year: Up $0.07 per share to a loss of $0.35 in 2012 from a loss of $0.42 in 2011.
• For the fourth quarter: Up $0.15 per share to $0.04 in 2012 from a loss of $0.11 in 2011.

Dov Charney, chairman and CEO of American Apparel Inc., stated, "We are pleased with our fourth quarter results that again show solid growth and continuing momentum in all business segments and almost all major geographies. Significant sales growth, operating expense control and the acceleration of leverage of our fixed costs allowed us to increase EBITDA performance to $17.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 from $9.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. For the full year, EBITDA increased to $36.6 million from $14.5 million in the prior year. Although we are pleased with this growth, we are focused on continuing to improve our financial performance. During this past year, we have carefully invested in systems and infrastructure to facilitate future growth.

Operating Results - Fourth Quarter 2012

Comparing the fourth quarter 2012 to the corresponding period last year, net sales increased 10 percent to $173.0 million on an 11 percent increase in comparable store sales in the retail and online business and a 19 percent increase in net sales in the wholesale business.

Gross profit of $93.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 represented an increase of 11 percent from $83.8 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2011. Foreign currency effects were minimal for the quarter. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2012 was 53.8 percent as compared with 53.2 percent for the same quarter in 2011. The gross margin improvement was due to a shift in sales mix to higher margin online sales, reductions in manufacturing costs, and an improvement in retail gross margin.