Changes made in how Zale measures amortizing jewelry protection plan sales --due to a change in the product offering from a two-year to a lifetime agreement-- resulted in a 1.5 percent drop in total revenue; however, sales of the plans increased 61 percent.

For the full fiscal year -- revenues were flat at $2.44 billion and same-store-sales fell by 0.2 percent.

“Our performance was consistent with plan for the fourth quarter,” said Betsy Burton, CEO. “We remained focused on maximizing gross margin dollars and maintaining good expense control in a somewhat challenging macro environment. As we start the beginning of a new fiscal year, our focus will be value creation for shareholders and improvement of the fundamentals of our business.”