Value City records 1Q loss of $7.8M
By Don Hogsett -- Home Textiles Today, 6/18/2001
COLUMBUS, OH — With same-store sales dropping off and costs and interest expense both headed sharply higher, Value City Department Stores recorded a first-quarter loss of $7.8 million.
Sales climbed higher by 14.7 percent, to $530.1 million from $462.1 million last year, getting a big lift from last year's acquisition of Filene's Basement Stores. But same-store sales declined by 3.9 percent, up against a year-ago gain of 6.5 percent.
Putting earnings under pressure, costs climbed higher by 160 basis points, to 39.3 percent from 37.7 percent a year ago. Measured in absolute dollars, costs shot up by 19.7 percent, or $34.3 million.
Acting as a further drag on profits, interest expense shot by 57.6 percent, to $8.4 million from $5.4 million, costing the off-price retailer an extra $3.1 million. Driving the big increase in interest expense, long-term debt shot up by 46.1 percent, to $401.9 million from $275.1 million in the wake of the Filene's Basement buyout.
On the upside, the company's cash position improved to $48.8 million from $7.7 million last year, and inventories were whittled down by 14.6 percent, to $484.1 million from $566.7 million last year.
Value City is the nation's 31st largest retailer of home textiles products, with home fashions sales last year of $125 million.
| Qtr. 5/5 (x000) | 2001 | 2000 | % CHG |
| Sales | $530,114 | $462,053 | 14.7 |
| Oper. income (EBIT) | (4,013) | 5,735 | — |
| Net income | (7,799)a | 55a | — |
| Per share (diluted) | (0.23) | 0.00 | — |
| Average gross margin | 38.1% | 38.5% | — |
| SG&A expenses | 39.3% | 37.7% | — |
| (loss) a-Results in the first quarter include a $10,000 gain on the sale of assets, compared with a $20,000 loss the prior year; an $884,000 pre-tax loss on the company's share of a joint venture, vs. a year-before profit of $269,000; and an income-tax benefit of $5.5 million, compared with a prior-year tax provision of $37,000. | |||
