Sales, Income Rise for Chico's, PETsMART
Net sales for Chico's FAS Inc. in the third quarter ended Nov. 2 skyrocketed 46.1 percent to a record $137.3 million from $94 million in the fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 3, 2001, the Fort Myers, FL, company said yesterday.Net income increased 74.7 percent to $15.5 million from $8.9 million in the previous year's third quarter. Comparable-store sales for company-owned stores rose 18.2 percent in the 13 weeks ended Nov. 2 compared with the same time frame a year ago.
For the nine months ended Nov. 2, net sales increased 41.9 percent to a record $392.8 million from $276.7 million in the comparable period ended Nov. 3, 2001. Net income was up 59.7 percent to $51.7 million from $32.4 million. Comparable-store sales for company-owned stores rose 14.4 percent for the 39-week period.
"The third-quarter net income increase of 74.7 percent represents our 20th consecutive quarter with more than a 45 percent improvement in net income [excluding last year's third quarter]," Chico's CEO Marvin Gralnick said in a statement.
"Our November same-store sales increase of 11.3 percent, in spite of an unfavorable calendar shift, indicates an initial strong acceptance of our holiday collections," he said.
In the 39 weeks ended Nov. 2, net sales by catalog and Internet totaled $10.92 million, up from $7.32 million in the comparable period ended Nov. 3, 2001. For the 13 weeks ended Nov. 2, net sales by catalog and Internet reached $3.87 million, up from $2.68 million in the comparable period.
The company also announced an alliance with Amazon.com to offer Chico's merchandise at Amazon's apparel and accessories store, www.amazon.com/apparel. Chico's will join other apparel retailers on Amazon.com in time for the fall 2003 season.
In other news:
PETsMART Inc., Phoenix, reported fiscal third quarter net income of $20.7 million for the period ended Nov. 3, up from $5.8 million in the third quarter a year ago. Net sales in the quarter totaled $657 million compared with $599 million last year. Comparable-store sales, or sales in stores open at least a year, rose 9 percent in the quarter. Services sales in the quarter reached $36.7 million, up $8.6 million, or 30.5 percent.
