CSK Auto Corporation Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2007 Financial Results

Business Wire, April 18, 2008

PHOENIX -- CSK Auto Corporation (the "Company") (NYSE:CAO), the parent company of CSK Auto, Inc., today reported net sales of $427.0 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 ended February 3, 2008, a decrease of 9.6%, or $45.2 million compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. The decrease in net sales was primarily due to one additional week of sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, which resulted in additional sales of approximately $34.3 million. Same store sales decreased 3.5% for the quarter, comprised of a decrease of 4.9% in retail same store sales and an increase of 3.1% in commercial same store sales.

For the quarter the Company reported a net loss of $12.3 million, or $0.28 loss per diluted common share compared to a net loss of $1.3 million or $0.03 loss per diluted common share for the same period last year. Gross profit as a percentage of sales increased to 47.2% from 46.9% last year.

The Company recorded a pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 for the settlement of its class action securities litigation consisting of $10.0 million in cash and $1.7 million in Company stock. The Company's primary insurer under its directors and officers liability insurance policy will pay the entire cash component of the settlement, in addition to $5.0 million in litigation and regulatory-related defense costs. The Company expects to recognize a pre-tax gain of $15.0 million in its results of operations in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.

For the fiscal year ended February 3, 2008, net sales were $1,851.6 million, a decrease of 2.9% from the prior year. For fiscal 2007, net income decreased by $17.4 million to a net loss of $11.2 million, resulting in a $0.25 loss per diluted common share for the fiscal year. Our 2007 fiscal year consisted of 52 weeks as compared to our fiscal year 2006, which had 53 weeks.

Safe Harbour

Portions of this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined by federal law. Although the Company believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. Any such statements are made in reliance on the "safe harbor" protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Additional information about issues that could lead to material changes in the Company's performance is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company makes no commitment to revise or update any forward looking statement in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made.

About CSK Auto

CSK Auto Corporation is the parent company of CSK Auto, Inc., a specialty retailer in the U.S. automotive aftermarket industry. As of February 3, 2008 the Company operated 1,349 stores in 22 states under the brand names Checker Auto Parts, Schuck's Auto Supply, Kragen Auto Parts and Murray's Discount Auto Stores.

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The following table provides certain financial information not derived in accordance with GAAP. We have included calculations of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

We believe that EBITDA is a recognized supplemental measurement tool widely used by analysts and investors to help evaluate a company's overall operating performance, its ability to incur and service debt, and its capacity for making capital expenditures. We use EBITDA, in addition to operating income and cash flows from operating activities, to assess our performance relative to our competitors and relative to our own performance in prior periods. We believe that it is important for investors to have the opportunity to evaluate us using the same measures. EBITDA is calculated as follows ($ in thousands):

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EBITDA, and EBITDA as adjusted, do not represent funds available for our discretionary use and are not intended to represent or to be used as substitute for net income or cash flow from operations data as measured under GAAP. The Company's definition of EBITDA as adjusted, is consistent with the definitions applied in our term loan facility. The items excluded from EBITDA, and EBITDA as adjusted, are significant components of our statement of operations and must be considered in performing a comprehensive assessment of our overall financial performance. EBITDA, and EBITDA as adjusted, and the associated year-to-year trends should not be considered in isolation. EBITDA, and EBITDA as adjusted, may differ in method of calculation from similarly titled measures used by other companies.