August 18 - Fashion apparel retailer Citi Trends Inc posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, hurt by a double-digit fall in same-store sales and costs related to the closure of its underperforming stores.

Photo: www.cititrends.com

The Savannah, Georgia-based company said its comparable store sales fell 11.9 percent in the second quarter.

The company reported a May-July net loss of $10 million, or 69 cents a share, compared with a loss of $567,000, or 4 cents a share, last year.

Sales rose 1 percent to $130.2 million.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 64 cents per share on sales of $131.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company closed at $12.37 on Tuesday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)