Dive Brief:

• Abercrombie & Fitch managed to please many of its investors Thursday despite an overall Q1 sales drop of 14% and a same-store sales drop of 8%. Analysts had predicted a 9% drop in same-store sales. The company reported an overall net loss of $23.7 million for Q1.

• In Q1, the company faced $26.9 million in charges related to unloading inventory. After months of slashing prices to move inventory, the company said it’s starting to bring in merchandise it says will appeal to its teenage customers. The company plans to sell it at full price.

• Executive chairman Arthur Martinez, who — with COO Jonathan Ramsden, Abercrombie & Fitch brand president Christos Angelides, and Hollister brand president Fran Horowitz — is leading the company, said the search continues for a new CEO and that he will not be taking the job.

Dive Insight:

It seemed to take Abercrombie & Fitch a while to realize that its Mike Jeffries-era approach to selling to teenagers had stopped working. Jeffries himself left long after many thought he should, for one thing. And despite pivots away from elements such as overtly sexual advertising, hiring based on looks, and dark, perfumed stores, the retailer’s changes also seem slow. Many of the stores remain dark, making it difficult to see if anyone’s even in there.

Still, despite the reported loss, shares were up 15% after Thursday’s report, perhaps because sales do finally seem to be falling less precipitously.