VERA BRADLEY PROVIDES ADDITIONAL BUSINESS UPDATES RELATED TO COVID-19

FORT WAYNE, Ind., April 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vera Bradley, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRA) (“Vera Bradley” or the “Company”) today announced additional business updates related to COVID-19.

Rob Wallstrom, Chief Executive Officer of Vera Bradley, noted, “The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every person, family, and company in this country and around the world, and our Vera Bradley family is no exception.  As the situation continues to evolve, we are evaluating plans and reacting as quickly and thoughtfully as possible.  We have tried hard to minimize the pandemic’s impact on our Associates, shareholders, and other stakeholders.”

“Since March 19, when we closed our Vera Bradley Full Line and Factory Stores to the public, we have provided ongoing pay and benefits to all store Associates affected by the temporary closures,” Wallstrom stated.  “Even though we continue to operate verabradley.com, the store closures and overall lower demand necessitates that a smaller workforce support the business during the crisis.  Consequently, we have made the painful decision to continue to furlough (place on unpaid leave) the majority of our store Associates and to furlough certain home office Associates effective April 5 until it is considered safe and advisable to reopen our stores.  Additionally, a number of our distribution center Associates were furloughed last week.  Our furloughed Associates remain valued members of our Vera Bradley family, and we look forward to calling them back to work as soon as possible.”  These furloughed Associates will continue to receive enrolled benefits, at no cost to the Associate, for a period of up to 12 weeks from their original furlough date.

With the crisis continuing, Vera Bradley is taking several additional unprecedented steps to protect its financial position, maximize liquidity, and to position the Company for a strong “reopening” once the pandemic subsides. Those actions include:

• Temporarily reducing base compensation for remaining corporate Associates and store management, with reductions on a graduated scale ranging from 15% to 30%, and 75% for the Chief Executive Officer.
• Temporarily suspending cash compensation to the board of directors.
• Temporarily eliminating the Company 401(k) and charitable donation matches.
• Tightly managing inventory levels through the cancellation of orders, delay of receipts, or seeking price concessions where possible.
• Actively working with landlords on addressing rent abatement and payment terms as well as delaying or cancelling certain planned new store openings.
• Reducing non-payroll operating expenses, including but not limited to, marketing and travel.
• Extending vendor payment terms.

The Company previously announced it had suspended its share buyback program and that it had drawn $60 million on its bank line of credit to increase its cash position and provide additional flexibility.