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Pier 1 has strong November; others mixed

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, December 9, 2001

FORT WORTH, Texas — The holiday season started off with a bang for Pier 1 Imports here, which posted a November sales jump of 21.5% to $142.7 million as same-store sales spurted 12.5% for the month.

Havertys also had positive November numbers, while The Bombay Company saw a small drop in adjusted total revenues.

Marvin Girouard, Pier 1's chairman and chief executive officer, said sales and traffic during the last week of November were stronger than anticipated. Based on November sales, "We are again revising our earnings forecast up for the third quarter to a range of 25 to 26 cents from our most recent guidance of 21 to 23 cents," he said.

Pier 1 sales for the third quarter were up 12.8% to $387.4 million and year-to-date sales were $1.1 billion, up 9.1%. Same-store sales were up 5.1% for the quarter and 2.4% for the first nine months of the year.

Sales for Atlanta-based Haverty Furniture were up 6.2% for November and 8.6% to date for the company's fourth quarter. Same-store sales increased 0.4% for the month and 2.2% for the quarter to date.

For the first 11 months of the year, Havertys reported sales of $613 million, down just 0.9% from the comparable 2000 period. Same-store sales year-to-date were off 6.2%.

Jay Slater, president and chief executive officer, said sales finished the month stronger than expected and Havertys now expects that both December and the fourth quarter will generate low-single-digit percentage increases in same-store sales rather than the modest decreases the company previously predicted.

Slater said Havertys is revising its fourth-quarter earnings guidance upward to a range of 39 to 41 cents per share, which would equal or slightly exceed the results in the same period a year ago. "It is very encouraging to be nearing the end of a difficult, recessionary year with continuing prospects for positive sales and earnings momentum," he said.

Bombay, also based in Fort Worth, said sales for the four weeks ended Dec. 1 were $46.7 million, a 12% increase over the $41.9 million realized during the four weeks ended Nov. 25 last year. But the increase was the result of the company's 53-week reporting calendar in which sales for November of this year benefited from one week of post-Thanksgiving sales.

After adjusting for the calendar change, Bombay said same-store sales for the four weeks ended Dec. 1 were off 10% compared with the four-week period ended Dec. 2, 2000, while total revenues decreased 2%.

Bombay year-to-date revenues were up 8% to $331.7 million. Same-store sales dipped 1% for the 43-week period ended Dec. 1, compared with the 43-week period ended Dec. 2 last year, while total revenues were up 5%.

Meanwhile, Toronto-based Sears Canada reported total revenues for the four weeks ended Nov. 24 slipped 0.1% to C$634.8 million, compared with the same period last year. Merchandise sales were off 0.8% and same-store sales decreased 4.5%.

Sears Canada Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Cohen said the weakness in sales reflected the overall slowing of the economy as well as the effect of unseasonably warm weather throughout most of Canada.

The company operates 118 Sears department stores, seven Eatons department stores and 37 furniture and appliance stores. In addition, Sears Canada has 135 dealer stores, 17 outlet stores, 38 floor covering stores, 48 auto centers and 110 Sears Travel offices.

Retailers report November sales
Company	Sales	Change	Same-store change
Sears Canada¹	C$634.8	-0.1%	-4.5%
Pier 1²	$142.7	21.5%	12.5%
Havertys	$65.6	6.2%	0.4%
Bombay²	$46.7	12.0%	-10.0%
1. In Canadian dollars. For the four weeks ended Nov. 24.
2. For the four weeks ended Dec. 1.
Source: Retailers

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