Pier 1 Sales Tick Up in 4th Quarter

March 3, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on March 4, 2010

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (PIR), Fort Worth, Texas, announced fourth quarter sales of $396 million for the period ended Feb. 27, a 1.8 percent increase over fourth-quarter 2009.

Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter increased 6.5 percent. Total sales for the 2009 fiscal year decreased slightly from $1.32 million to $1.29 million, but comparable store sales for fiscal 2010 increased 1.5 percent.

The figures were released in anticipation of Pier 1's participation in the Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference March 7-10 in Orlando, Fla. Alex W. Smith, president and CEO, and Cary Turner, executive vice president and CFO, will make a presentation at the conference next Wednesday during which they will provide a general update on the Pier 1's business.

For the fourth quarter, the Company anticipates that reported merchandise margins will be better than expected at approximately 55.7 percent, compared with 44.3 percent reported last year. Reported earnings per share are expected to be at least $0.29 per share compared with a loss of $0.33 last year.

"We are proud of our fourth quarter performance, which began with an extremely successful holiday selling season," Smith said. "We knew that the strength of December sales, the resulting seasonal sell-through, and the lower level of markdown inventory would shorten the Pier 1 sale. However, we were able to more than offset the pressure on sales in January with a very strong merchandise margin improvement. Our quarter ended with strong sales and margin in February, despite the extreme weather conditions experienced in many parts of the country. The increase in margin rate during the quarter is attributable not only to less clearance merchandise but also to our initial markups which remained strong."