Jeans Makers Sew Up Major Stock Deal

0

True Religion jeans aren’t the working class garb of yesteryear. They’re premium in every way.


Just ask Jeffrey and Kymberly Lubell, the husband-and-wife team that runs Los Angeles-based True Religion Apparel Inc. The two are poised to receive up to $24 million from a stock trading plan adopted last month.


The plan allows the Lubells, through a family trust, to sell 1.2 million True Religion shares over four quarters starting Oct. 1, with plans for sales ranging between $15 and $20 a share. After the sales, the couple still would hold more than 8 million shares, about 35 percent of the outstanding stock.


The plan is intended “to permit the Lubells to diversify a portion of their holdings in the company,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The Lubells have done so before, selling 1.8 million shares for more than $14.7 million starting last October. Back then, True Religion shares were trading at about $2.50 each on the OTC bulletin board; last week they were priced around $15.50 each on Nasdaq.


The stock trading plan was disclosed after True Religion raised its full-year profit and sales forecasts. For the year, the company projects sales of $95 million to $97 million and earnings per share of 77 cents to 79 cents.


That’s quite a bit more than Jeffrey Lubell, who is chairman and chief executive, had in mind when he began the company in 2002.


When True Religion was just getting off the ground, Lubell told Women’s Wear Daily that he set modest sales goals for the brand.


“I don’t need to do $60 million to make a nice profit here,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind having a small little business here that is profitable.”



*This story is from the Oct. 3 edition of the Business Journal.

No posts to display