The Hingham-based women's apparel retailer, which operates 1,368stores in 47 states under the Talbots and J. Jill names, earnedjust $17,000 in the quarter ended January 27, 2007. In the samequarter a year earlier, the company brought in a net profit of$19.8 million, or 37 cents per share.

Chief Executive Arnold Zetcher said in a conference call thatcustomer traffic and sales began to slow in October after sixmonths of positive comparable store sales, but never gainedmomentum as the quarter progressed.

"We anticipated a strong fourth quarter and increased ourinventory commitment," said Zetcher. "Unfortunately, these strongsales trends were not sustained, which resulted in higher levels ofmarkdown merchandise available for our post-Christmas, semi-annualclearance event and deeper discounts." Unseasonably warm weatheradded to the sales slowdown, he noted.