Family Dollar Hits Record Net Income

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 10/19/2009 12:00:00 AM

Matthews, N.C. —

As Family Dollar continues to capture new better-income shoppers the retailer described as “trade-down, middle-income customers” compared to the chain’s typically lower-income consumer, the company hit a new record in fiscal 2009 as its net income per share jumped 24.7% to $2.07.

The company also enjoyed a healthy 25.0% increase in net income to $291.3 million.

“Our improvements in traffic suggest that we are building momentum with both our core lower-income customer as well as more middle-income customers who are trading down in search of value,” explained Howard Levine, chairman and ceo, during the company’s quarterly conference call. “To drive continued market share growth, we have identified additional opportunities to broaden the appeal of our assortment and improve the in-store shopping experience for both our core customer as well as customers who in the past shopped us less frequently.

Consumables continued to be the primary driver of sales for the fourth quarter, increasing to 66.2% of sales compared 63.7% of sales in fiscal 2008, but home was singled out as a discretionary segment with a potentially bright future in the coming year.