On similar note, which we announced yesterday, our Burberry outlet of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to 500,000 shares of Inter Parfums, Inc. common stock, and in February, 129,524 shares were repurchased at an average price of $16.95 per share.Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath,and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half, so that it will support the heaviest teams, and perchance the snow covers it to an equal depth, and it is not to be distinguished from any level field.In February 2008, we purchased an additional 200,000 shares for an average purchase price of €25 per share. The total shares purchased represent approximately 4.5% of the approximately 12 million outstanding shares. We used $22.3 million of cash on hand to finance the share purchase.
With both parts of our burberry scraf, European and US, running in high gear you can expect higher levels of inventory to be the norm.Early in the morning, while all things are crisp with frost, men come with fishing-reels and slender lunch, and let down their fine lines through the snowy field to take pickerel and perch; wild men,who instinctively follow other fashions and trust other authorities than their townsmen, and by their goings and comings stitch towns together in parts where else they would be ripped.In both cases, our Board determined that the fair value of our stock and that of our subsidiary were significantly greater than market value, making shares in both a potential good long-term investment and a prudent use of our cash, which may reward our shareholders to reduce share count and dilution.I would like to point out that inventory levels at year-end, while up around 50% from year-end 2006 were up only 5% from the close of the third quarter of 2007.
Thus far, we have seen no signs of our burberry handbags slowing down.We remain cautious. We will attempt to respond quickly if needed and intend to continue to operate our business under the fortification of a strong balance sheet. From today’s vantage point, it appears that 2008 will be considerably better than our earlier guidance.Moving on to other business, when we announced our initial 2008 guidance we also reported that from late December 2007 through early January 2008, we purchased 350,000 shares of our majority owned subsidiary Inter Parfums’ SA for an average purchase price of 30 per share.Before handing the call over to Jean, I will add that we are hearing the same economic warnings as you about consumer spending, the luxury sector, the credit crunch, and all the rest.