Bed Bath & Beyond profit jumps in 4Q

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 4/5/2012 1:48:12 PM

Union, N.J. - Bed Bath & Beyond late yesterday reported a 32% boost in earnings for both the fourth quarter and full fiscal year.
Net earnings for the quarter ended Feb. 25 were $351.0 million, or $1.48 per share. Sales rose 9.1% to $2.5 billion, with comps up 6.8% on top of an 8.5% increase in the year-ago quarter.
Fiscal year earnings were $989.5 million, or $4.06 per share. Sales climbed 8.5% to $9.5 billion, with comps up 5.9%.
Steve Temares, ceo, said during the company's quarterly analyst call the relocation of Bed Bath's merchandising operation to its headquarters in Union should be substantially completed by the end of the summer. He offered no further comments on the process.
So far during the first quarter, the company has opened two new Bed Bath & Beyond stores. During the current fiscal year, it expects to open another 40 stores across all its concepts, which also include Christmas Tree Shop, buybuy Baby, Harmon and Harmon Face Values.