Dayton, Ohio — Higher demand for LCD, DLP and plasma TVs, as well as increased major appliance sales in the fiscal first quarter at Rex Stores, lifted net sales 6 percent, reaching $89.7 million, up from $84.6 million in the year-ago period.
Comp -store sales rose 7 percent.
Net income in the first quarter, ended April 30, increased 49 percent, hitting $6.1 million, compared with $4.1 million in the same three months in 2004. First-quarter net income includes $6 million of pretax income from synthetic fuel limited partnerships, compared with $5.2 million of comparable investment income in the same quarter the prior year.
Rex recorded a 36 percent rise in operating income over the first three months, increasing to $1.7 million from a year-on-year $1.2 million.
“Our sales force did a great job of serving the customer and focusing on products we sell best, like LCD, DLP and plasma televisions, whose price points have fallen to a level that is now attractive to our customer base,” said Stuart Rose, Rex’s chairman/CEO.
Late in May, the specialty retailer expanded a previous common stock repurchase authorization by an additional 1 million shares. In the first quarter, Rex purchased about 119,800 shares, and since has purchased 146,300 additional shares. The company has about 1.19 million shares remaining available for purchase.