US Footwear company Brown Shoe has reported a 6.7% drop in sales for October for same-store sales, blaming the poor economic climate. Earnings are likely to be between 66 and 68 cents per share for the third quarter, beating analysts' estimates of 62 cents. However, for the same period last year, the company produced earnings of 88 cents.

Sales for the four weeks to November 3, 2001 fell 0.4% to $69 million from $69.3 million in the same period last year. Third quarter same-store sales for the 924-strong retail arm, Famous Footwear, also fell 9.4% compared with last year while total sales were down 4.0% to $281 million from $292.8 million last year.