Kohl's Rolls Out Expansion Plans

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/15/2005 12:00:00 AM

Menomonee Falls, Wis. —

Kohl's Corporation had a decent spring season in home, although the category wasn't among the top three business segments for the second quarter, company executives said during a second-quarter earnings call last week.

Kohl's Chairman and CEO Larry Montgomery said, “As expected, we continued gaining momentum in comparable-store sales in the second quarter, achieving the high end of our guidance for both comp-store sales and EPS. Looking forward, we continue to target comparable-store sales growth in the mid-single digit range for the fall season.”

The company reported net income rose in the second quarter 27.4 percent, to $187.2 million from $146.9 million last year.

Net sales for the quarter increased 15.6 percent, to $2.9 billion from $2.5 billion a year ago; while comp-store sales rose 5.1 percent.

For the six months ended July 30, net income increased 24.8 percent, to $311.9 million from $250 million last year. Net sales for the timeframe were up 15.4 percent, to $5.6 billion from $4.9 billion a year ago.

Two items favorably impacted this year's second quarter and year-to-date numbers, according to the company. First, Kohl's income taxes were favorably impacted by $4.9 million due to the resolution of “certain tax matters,” and its gross margin was favorably impacted by $2.4 million due to a change in inventory accounting.

During the first half of the year, Kohl's opened 33 new stores, including entry into the Buffalo, N.Y., market with three stores; seven stores in the Southeast; seven in the Midwest and four stores each in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, South Central and Southwest regions.

The company plans to open another 62 stores in the third quarter: four in August and 58 in October. It will enter the Orlando market with six stores and Jacksonville, Fla., market with three stores. In addition, Kohl's will add 15 stores in the Midwest region, nine stores each in the South Central and the Southwest regions, eight stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, seven stores in the Northeast region and five stores in the Southeast region. In total, the company plans to open 95 stores in fiscal 2005.