Reference no: EM131631787

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Finish Line Inc. took defensive measures to prevent a possible takeover as the company lowered its annual financial targets and guided that it would earn its smallest profit since 2009 in its current fiscal year.

Shares, already down 45% this year, fell 24% to $7.95 in extended trading on Monday as the footwear retailer said it expects sales at stores open at least a year to decline between 3% and 5%, compared with previous guidance of a low single-digit percentage gain.

The Indianapolis company's board approved a so-called shareholders-rights plan aimed at blocking any individual stockholder from owning more than 12.5% of the shares outstanding. Sports Direct International PLC, the British sporting gear retailer, disclosed last week in a securities filing it owned 7.9% of Finish Line common stock and has an economic interest, but no voting power, in an additional 20.13% of shares.

BlackRock Fund Advisors was the largest shareholder in Finish Line as of June 30, reporting it held more than 11% of the company's shares outstanding, according to FactSet.

Finish Line didn't identify any shareholders but said the plan was enacted "given the current market conditions and recent share accumulations."

The news from Finish Line comes more than a week after its larger peer Foot Locker Inc. reported weaker-than-expected sales in its latest quarter on a decline in so-called athleisure market and lack of new products.

"The marketplace for athletic footwear became much more promotional as our second quarter progressed resulting in challenging sales and gross margin trends," Finish Line Chief Executive Sam Sato said in prepared remarks.

The company said its adjusted per-share profit in the current fiscal year would be between 50 cents and 60 cents, down from previous guidance of $1.12 to $1.23.

The company, which also disclosed preliminary results for the quarter ended Aug. 26, said sales in the period fell 3.3% to $469.4 million, with comparable sales falling by a steeper margin of 4.6%. Finish Line, which expects a profit between 8 cents a share and 12 cents a share for the quarter, will report full results on Sept. 22.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Finish Line to report a second-quarter profit of 36 cents a share on revenue of $477.2 million.

Finish Line also said it expects comparable sales in the third quarter, which includes the tail end of the back-to-school period, to decline from the year-ago period.