Rex Q1 Sales Decline 9%, Net Climbs 35%
Staff -- TWICE, 6/3/2002
Dayton, Ohio— Although sales declined about 9 percent at Rex Stores in the retailer's first fiscal quarter, dropping to $93.5 million, compared with $104.8 million in the year-ago period, net income for the period climbed 38 percent. Comp-store sales declined 9 percent in the first quarter.
Net income hit $4.3 million in the first quarter, before an extraordinary expense for the early retirement of debt, up from $3.1 million in the same three months in 2001. Without the extraordinary expense, net income was $4.2 million in the first quarter, about a 35 percent increase over the same three months last year.
"Underscoring our long-term focus on the bottom line, the first quarter of fiscal 2002 represents the ninth consecutive quarterly period in which Rex delivered double-digit earnings-per-share growth," said Stuart Rose, chairman/CEO.
Gross margin for the first quarter, ended April 30, increased 120 basis points, to 29.1 percent, compared with 27.9 percent in the year-ago three months. Rex generated a net margin of 4.5 percent in the first quarter, compared with 3 percent in the same quarter last year.
