Dollar Gen. rating bumped to "stable"

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/10/2003 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Moody's Investors Service, one of the Big Three corporate credit rating agencies, has confirmed Dollar General's current ratings and raised its outlook to "stable" from "negative," after the company successfully refinanced its lines of bank credit and retired a $383 million lease facility using internal cash sources.

Moody's said the current rating of senior implied rating of "Ba2" is "supported by the company's large established network of discount stores, and a favorable outlook for the value segment which has shown limited seasonality and cyclicality relative to other retail concepts."

But putting a ceiling on the rating, Moody's said the rating also reflects Dollar General's "aggressive growth strategy which results in ongoing needs to update its information and inventory planning systems, to search for high quality store and field managers, and to increase distribution capacity in the near term."

Additionally, the rating partly takes into consideration possible changes to operating and financial strategy given multiple factors, including an SEC inquiry.