Cost Plus/World Market Posts $21.1 Million Income for 4th Quarter

March 25, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on March 26, 2010 Cost Plus (NASDAQ: CPWM), owner of World Market, reported net income of $21.1 million for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, compared to a loss of $18.3 million in the fourth quarter last year.

Sales for the quarter were $320 million, a 4.6 percent decrease from the $335.4 million in sales for the same quarter last year. Same-store sales for the quarter dropped 2.5 percent compared to 6.1 percent decrease during the fourth quarter last year.

"We are pleased with the return to profitability in our most important quarter," said Barry Feld, president and CEO.  "The company's core competency in unique and affordable seasonal gift-giving and entertaining products, augmented with a new customer acquisition campaign, reversed the negative trend in customer count and drove significantly more profitable sales in the quarter than year ago."

The retailer posted a net loss of $63.3 million for the year, compared to a net loss of $102.7 million for fiscal 2008.

"By tightly controlling expenses and inventory purchases in fiscal 2009, we were able to dramatically reduce operating losses," Feld said. "In January, we made the necessary changes to our merchandising organization needed to improve gross margin. I am pleased with our results thus far in the quarter and feel confident that we are on course to deliver positive EBITDA for fiscal 2010."