109156--10/29/2009--ZALE

related topics

{capital, credit, financial}

{customer, product, revenue}

{acquisition, growth, future}

{product, market, service}

{competitive, industry, competition}

{control, financial, internal}

{loss, insurance, financial}

{gas, price, oil}

{debt, indebtedness, cash}

If the general economy performs poorly, discretionary spending on goods that are, or are perceived to be, "luxuries" may not grow and may decrease. The concentration of a substantial portion of our sales in three relatively brief selling periods means that our performance is more susceptible to disruptions. Most of our sales are of products that include diamonds, precious metals and other commodities. A substantial portion of our purchases and sales occur outside the United States. Fluctuations in the availability and pricing of commodities or exchange rates could impact our ability to obtain, produce and sell products at favorable prices. Our sales are dependent upon mall traffic. We operate in a highly competitive and fragmented industry. Any failure by us to manage our inventory effectively will negatively impact sales and earnings. Any failure of our pricing and promotional strategies to be as effective as desired will negatively impact our sales and earnings. Because of our dependence upon a small concentrated number of landlords for a substantial number of our locations, any significant erosion of our relationships with those landlords or their financial condition would negatively impact our ability to obtain and retain store locations. Changes in regulatory requirements relating to the extension of credit may increase the cost of or adversely affect our operations. Any disruption in, or changes to, our private label credit card arrangement with Citibank, N.A. may adversely affect our ability to provide consumer credit and write credit insurance. We are dependent upon our revolving credit agreement for our liquidity needs. If the credit markets continue to deteriorate, our ability to obtain the financing needed to operate our business could be adversely impacted. Acquisitions and dispositions involve special risk, including the risk that we may not be able to complete proposed acquisitions or dispositions or that such transactions may not be beneficial to us. Ineffective accounting controls can have adverse impacts on the Company. Changes in estimates, assumptions and judgments made by management related to our evaluation of goodwill and store impairments could significantly affect our financial results. Additional factors that may adversely affect our financial performance.

Full 10-K form ▸

109156--10/29/2009--ZALE_CORP