Williams-Sonoma reports 7.4% sales gain over holidays

Same-store sales grow 6.5% for Pottery Barn parent

Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, January 14, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — Pottery Barn parent Williams-Sonoma has reported a strong holiday season with a 7.4% increase in sales during the eight weeks ended Dec. 27.

The company's revenues during the period totaled $783 million, up from $729 million the same period in 2008. Same-store sales were up 6.5%, the company said.

"We are extremely pleased with our holiday performance," Chairman and CEO Howard Lester said in a statement. "Revenues, selling margins and controllable expenses all exceeded the high end of our expectations, and the actions we have taken to drive our business from both a competitive and financial perspective proved to be highly successful."

He added that the company is raising its fourth quarter revenue guidance to between $1.06 billion and $1.08 billion and its diluted earnings per share guidance to a range of 65 to 70 cents.

This year, he said, the company will focus on gaining market share and improving profitability. It expects revenue growth in the low single digits and a 10%-15% increase in diluted earnings per share in 2010.

"These are the same initiatives that drove our success in 2009," he said. "To gain market share, we will continue to enhance our value proposition; optimize our brand positioning; capitalize on our multi-channel capabilities; and enrich the customer experience across all of our channels. To improve profitability, we will drive increased efficiencies in our world-wide supply chain and enhance retail productivity."

To achieve that goal, the company expects to decrease its leased retail square footage by 1% to 2% this year. The company also expects that inventory growth in 2010 initially will rise faster than sales growth as the company replenishes goods that depleted faster than expected due to strong fourth-quarter sales.