Expanding base drives Family Dollar.(Business Today)(Family Dollar Stores Inc. )(statistical data included)

Home Textiles Today, December, 2003 by Hogsett, Don

MATTHEWS, NC -- With holiday gift-giving pulling sales away from basic consumables, first-quarter sales and profits were both slightly off their earlier strong pace at neighborhood value retailer Family Dollar Stores Inc., but still came in with double-digit gains. Helped by rising sales, driven by continued expansion, profits climbed 12.1 percent, to $64.5 million from $57.5 million last year.

Sales advanced by 12.3 percent, to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion, and the acid-test gauge of same-store sales improved by 2.6 percent. Results were somewhat off their stronger pace during the third fiscal quarter, when earnings improved by 13.8 percent; sales rose by 14.2 percent; and same-store sales advanced by 4.6 percent. "When consumers begin to...

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