HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Francesca's Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:FRAN) today announced the appointment of Erik Lautier as Senior Vice President Direct-to-Consumer & Marketing. Mr. Lautier will assume his responsibilities on November 30, 2015 and will report to Michael W. Barnes, the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lautier will lead all channels of online commerce, digital & social media customer engagement initiatives, integrated marketing campaigns, CRM initiatives, and the alignment of digital-ecosystems with francesca's brick-and-mortar channel.

Mr. Lautier brings more than 15 years of retail experience to francesca's having held a variety of leadership roles in ecommerce, marketing, social media engagement, brand development and customer relations at retailers such as Bebe, Lacoste, and Edun. Most recently, Mr. Lautier served as Executive Vice President & Chief Digital Officer at Bebe Stores, Inc. He holds a BA from Duke University, a Masters from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a MBA from INSEAD, where he was the recipient of the L'Oréal Scholarship.

Mr. Barnes said, "We are truly excited to have Erik on the francesca's leadership team. He brings to us a wealth of experience and the creative acumen we need to strengthen the foundation and build upon our marketing initiatives. Erik's brand-development and marketing skills combined with his understanding of our core customer will strongly complement the skills of our talented executives leading our customer-facing disciplines. I look forward to working closely with Erik as we continue to grow our ecommerce business and drive our marketing and digital initiatives forward."

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended.  Such forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations or beliefs concerning future events and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected.  These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: the risk that we cannot anticipate, identify and respond quickly to changing fashion trends and customer preferences; our ability to attract a sufficient number of customers to our boutiques or sell sufficient quantities of our merchandise through our direct-to-consumer business; our ability to successfully open and operate new boutiques each year; our ability to efficiently source and distribute additional merchandise quantities necessary to support our growth; and our ability to attract and integrate a new Chief Merchandising Officer.  For additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements, please refer to "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2015 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2015 and any risk factors contained in subsequent quarterly and annual reports we file with the SEC.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.

About Francesca's Holdings Corporation:

francesca's® is a growing specialty retailer with retail locations designed and merchandised to feel like unique, upscale boutiques providing customers a fun and differentiated shopping experience. The merchandise assortment is a diverse and balanced mix of apparel, jewelry, accessories and gifts. Today francesca's® operates 619 boutiques in 47 states and the District of Columbia and also serves its customers through francescas.com. For additional information on francesca's®, please visit www.francescas.com.

CONTACT: ICR, Inc.
         Jean Fontana
         646-277-1214
         
         Company
         Mark Vendetti
         832-494-2315
         Mark.Vendetti@francescas.com / IR@francescas.com

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