West Chester, Pa. — Demonstrating gains across all areas of its business, while “significantly” expanding both its top and bottom lines, video games and related products specialty retailer Electronics Boutique increased its fiscal third-quarter revenue by 37.4 percent, hitting $446 million, up from a year-ago $324.7 million.
Comp-store sales for the third quarter climbed 13.8 percent, compared with 6.5 percent in the same three months last year. The rise was driven by broad-based strength in all categories and across all geographic regions, said the retailer. Top-line growth resulted from a 35 percent increase in video game software sales.
Net income for the third quarter, ended Oct. 30, was $7.3 million, an increase of over four times the net income recorded in the same period a year earlier.
Electronics Boutique cited better-than-anticipated new release performance for its quarterly gains, as well as the early launch of Sony’s Playstation2 model. In addition, the retailer said it continued to make progress in its initiatives to grow its higher margin pre-played category and international business.
During the third quarter, the retailer opened 140 new stores, bringing its total count to 1,436 locations operated at the end of the three months.
For the nine months, Electronics Boutique total revenue increased 26.9 percent to $1.2 billion, compared with $925.5 million in the same period in 2003. Net income rose 125 percent, reaching $14.2 million, up from a year-over-year $6.3 million.
Given the strong lineup of new releases, the retailer said it is very encouraged by the state of the industry. Among the hot titles, it noted Microsoft’s Halo 2 and Take Two’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It also anticipated positive results from the launch of the Nintendo DS in the portable gaming category late in November.
