Fred's December Comparable Store Sales Up 2.4% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Fred's Inc. (FRED) reported that its comparable store sales for the month of December 2015 rose 2.4% compared with a decline of 1.4% in the year-earlier period.

Fred's total sales for the month increased 10% to $231.9 million from $210.7 million in December 2014. Excluding $8.0 million from last year's December sales related to 47 subsequently closed locations, total sales increased 14% for the month.

Jerry Shore, Chief Executive Officer, said," December comparable store sales were driven by strong general merchandise department sales, with increases in holiday gift-giving categories as well as continued balance in our sales mix across all categories. On the other hand, comparable sales for our retail pharmacy department were negatively affected in December by a very low incidence of cold and flu activity, which reduced December overall comparable store sales by approximately 125 basis points."

Fred's total sales for the first 11 months of 2015 increased 9% to $1.994 billion from $1.830 billion for the same period last year. Excluding sales of $71.7 million from stores closed mainly in late 2014, total sales increased 13% for the first 11 months of 2015. On a comparable store basis, year-to-date sales increased 1.5% versus a decline of 1.0% for the year-earlier period.