Fred's January Adj. Comps Down; Warns On Q4 EPS - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Fred's Inc. (FRED) reported sales for the four-week month of January and 52-week fiscal year 2013, which ended February 1, 2014, versus five-week month and 53-week year-earlier periods.

The company said that its comparable store sales, on an adjusted basis, decreased 1.8% in January versus flat comparable store sales in the year-earlier period. The fourth quarter comparable store sales, on an adjusted basis, increased 0.1% compared with a decrease of 2.8% in the prior-year period.

On an adjusted basis, comparable store sales for fiscal 2013 increased 0.6% versus a decrease of 1.4% for fiscal 2012. On an unadjusted basis, Fred's total sales for January 2014 were $134.8 million compared with $173.5 million for the five-week year-earlier period.

On an unadjusted basis, fourth quarter total sales were $495.1 million compared with $533.4 million for the year-earlier quarter.

Total sales for 52-week fiscal 2013 were $1.939 billion versus $1.955 billion for 53-week fiscal 2012.

To make the January sales results for 2013 comparable with those of the prior year, the company said it eliminated the first week of the month, quarter and year in 2012 to make similar four-, 13- and 52-week periods. On this adjusted basis, total sales decreased 1.1% for January, increased 0.5% for the fourth quarter, and increased 1.4% for fiscal 2013.

Bruce A. Efird, Chief Executive Officer, said, "The weather was a significant challenge for us in January. It not only disrupted consumer shopping patterns, but also resulted in more than 120 store closings during the final week of the month. Prior to the last week of January, sales were running in the mid-range of our forecast, with reconfiguration departments leading the way. In the final week of the month, comparable store sales dropped into the negative double digits, culminating in a weather effect on comparable store sales for all of January that is estimated at more than 300 basis points."

The company noted that lower-than-anticipated sales in the last week of January will reduce earnings for the final quarter of 2013 by approximately $0.03 per share.

The company now expects to report fourth quarter earnings per share in the range of $0.13 to $0.16 versus earnings of $0.15 per share for the comparable 13-week period last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.18 per share for the fourth-quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.