Fred's heading into the holidays behind 15% September growth

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred's Super Dollar on Thursday reported a 15% sales increase to $211.5 million for the five weeks ended Oct. 3. Excluding $6.2 million from last year's September sales related to 52 subsequently closed locations, total sales increased 19% for the month. Comparable store sales for the month rose 4.2% compared with an increase of 0.2% in the year-earlier period.

 

"We are pleased to report a solid sales performance for September, as both total and comparable sales exceeded our plan," commented Jerry Shore, Fred's CEO. "This reflected strong growth in retail and specialty pharmacy, along with higher general merchandise sales as our merchandising and marketing programs produced balanced contributions across all major front-end categories."

 

Fred's total sales for the year-to-date period increased 9% to $1.4 billion. Excluding sales of $51.3 million from stores closed mainly in late 2014, total sales increased 13% for the first eight months of 2015. On a comparable store basis, year-to-date sales increased 1.3% versus a decline of 0.5% for the year-earlier period.

 

"Our team is excited as we head into the important holiday season," Shore added. "We have a sense of confidence about the opportunities ahead considering the way we continue to increase the coordination of initiatives for merchandising, marketing, supply chain and store operations. We believe the outlook for strong sales to continue is good, which in turn will lead to stronger financial performance in the future."