St John Knits Company

The founders of St. John Knits Inc., saying they're tired of trying to satisfy Wall Street's insatiable demand for rapid growth, announced plans Tuesday to buy all the shares of the upscale clothing maker and take it private. "We wanted to slow the growth down, and Wall Street doesn't like slow growth," Chief Executive Robert E. Gray said. "We feel the best way to do that is by being private."

Wall Street analysts and big investors took aim at St. John Knits Inc. Chief Executive Robert E. Gray on Thursday, calling the $28-per-share, $490-million offer his family has made for the upscale women's apparel maker "grossly inadequate" and "really ridiculous." Their comments came during a Thursday conference call intended to discuss the Irvine company's fourth-quarter profits, which fell for the first time since St. John went public in 1993.

If Diane Griffith and Kelly Gray, co-designers of the Griffith & Gray division at St. John, are feeling any pressure about starting a new line for a company that already has a large, devoted following, they're not showing it. They are sitting in their Irvine offices surrounded by racks of tailored wool suits, embroidered silk blouses and little black dresses from their latest collection. Both women are perfectly poised and immaculately dressed.

St. John Knits Inc. appointed three new board members on Friday to help evaluate an offer from the company's founders to buy the Irvine-based upscale clothier for $490 million and then take the company private. The new directors are attorney Robert Davis, a former president and chief operating officer of St. John Knits; Mark R.

Hips first, the models stalked the runway, prompting appreciative smiles and intermittent applause from wide-eyed admirers. For buyers, St. John Knits Inc.'s spring line presented a heady array of options, from trim business suits and shimmering slip dresses to billowing evening wear and even a swimsuit. Throughout the Sept. 1 fashion show, one thing was perfectly clear: St. John knows how to dazzle. But the production was not seamless.

St. John Knits Inc. said it fired Amen Wardy Jr., chief executive of the four-store Amen Wardy home-furnishings chain, which has lost money since it opened about a year ago. Wardy, the son of a well-known Southern California designer, was succeeded by David Frankel, an executive vice president at Irvine-based St. John as of Aug. 31, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. St. John owns 51% of the Amen Wardy chain.

Wall Street analysts and big investors took aim at St. John Knits Inc. Chief Executive Robert E. Gray on Thursday, calling the $28-per-share, $490-million offer his family has made for the upscale women's apparel maker "grossly inadequate" and "really ridiculous." Their comments came during a Thursday conference call intended to discuss the Irvine company's fourth-quarter profits, which fell for the first time since St. John went public in 1993.

St. John Knits Inc. said it expects to report a profit ranging from $10.7 million to $11.1 million for its fiscal 1993, which ended Oct. 31. That compares to an $8.3-million profit in the Irvine women's apparel maker's fiscal 1992. The company said its annual sales climbed to between $96 million and $100 million, up from $80.2 million a year earlier. The anticipated annual profit is expected to range from $1.31 to $1.35 per share, compared to $1.02 per share in the company's fiscal 1992. St.

St. John Knits Inc.'s stock jumped 22% Wednesday, one day after the founders announced they intend to buy all shares of the Irvine company and take it private. The stock closed at $26.75, up $4.81 a share. More than 1.9 million shares changed hands, almost 11 times average daily volume for the past three months. Early in the session, the shares traded as high as $27.94 before retreating. The company announced Tuesday after the market closed that Chief Executive Robert E.

St. John Knits Inc.'s founders, saying they're tired of trying to satisfy Wall Street's insatiable demand for rapid growth, announced plans Tuesday to buy all the shares of the upscale clothing maker and take it private. "We wanted to slow the growth down, and Wall Street doesn't like slow growth," Chief Executive Robert E. Gray said Tuesday. "We feel the best way to do that is by being private."

The founders of St. John Knits Inc., saying they're tired of trying to satisfy Wall Street's insatiable demand for rapid growth, announced plans Tuesday to buy all the shares of the upscale clothing maker and take it private. "We wanted to slow the growth down, and Wall Street doesn't like slow growth," Chief Executive Robert E. Gray said. "We feel the best way to do that is by being private."

In a legal battle that is getting increasingly nasty, upscale women's clothier St. John Knits Inc. filed a countersuit against Amen Wardy Jr., claiming that he diverted assets and that one female employee accused him of sexually harassing her during his tenure as chief executive of the company's money-losing home-store subsidiary.

An ongoing feud between St. John Knits and Amen Wardy Jr. intensified Tuesday when a Colorado company owned by Wardy and his father filed a lawsuit against the upscale clothier's executives. The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, rehashes many of the issues covered in a wrongful termination lawsuit that Wardy filed against the Irvine company in October after he was fired as chief executive of St. John subsidiary Amen Wardy Home Stores LLC. It claims that St.

St. John Knits Inc. has adopted a "poison pill" plan designed to thwart any hostile takeover of the Irvine-based maker of upscale women's apparel. The company said Wednesday it knows of no specific takeover move. But analysts have speculated that St. John may be ripe for a buyout bid because its stock has skidded this year on a spate of disappointing financial results. The shares tumbled to a 52-week low of $13 on Oct. 8, about six months after trading at a high of $48.31.

The detail-oriented executive who runs St. John Knits was scouring the clothing racks at South Coast Plaza, and what he found was not pretty. Well, pretty, maybe, but not perfect. Amid the racks of stylish and immaculate St. John apparel, sought by well-heeled women from Barbara Walters to Hillary Clinton, were garments with crooked pockets and loose buttons. In a move that exemplifies a company obsessed with perfection, Chief Executive Bob Gray quickly dispatched St.

St. John Knits, struggling to fix problems in its high-end apparel and home-store lines, said Thursday that third-quarter profit rose 2% as sales surged more than 20%. The results were in line with the Irvine company's warning last month that profits and sales would be below analysts' expectations, news that triggered a 30% plunge in St. John's shares. On Thursday, St. John lost an additional 2.4%, to $17.63, a 52-week low as the overall stock market moved dramatically lower.

Executives at St. John Knits artificially inflated the company's stock price by making false statements about its business prospects, according to a lawsuit filed this week. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, contends that Robert E. Gray, chief executive of the Irvine-based women's apparel maker, sold 100,000 shares of St. John stock for $2.9 million after company officials forecast 15% to 20% earnings growth earlier this year. St.