"We had an outstanding quarter," said Burton M. Tansky,president and CEO of the retailer during Wednesday's earningsconference call. "The results were accomplished by leveraging ourexpense base, and improving our gross margin through an emphasis onfull-price selling and inventory management," he noted, adding thatsame-store sales throughout the company's properties rose 8.4%.Some analysts had predicted an increase of 9.8%.

First-quarter revenues for the specialty retail stores segment,which consists of Neiman Marcus stores and Bergdorf Goodman, were$737 million, compared to $665 million in the previous year,representing an increase of 10.4% at Neiman Marcus stores and 14.3%at Bergdorf Goodman. Comparable revenues for Neiman Marcus storesincreased 10.6% for the first quarter of fiscal 2005.

Tansky attributed the same-store sales growth throughout thecompany to strong performances by items such as handbags, women'ssportswear, denim and shoes. Regarding the holiday sales season nowunder way, he said that the company was looking forward tobenefiting from the two extra days between Thanksgiving andChristmas this year. He also noted that he thought the springfashion lines now coming out of New York, Paris and Milan would be"very salable" looking ahead.