Dollar General Corp. (DG) reported that its first-quarter of 2013 net income increased to $220.08 million, or $0.67 per share, from $213.42 million, or $0.63 per share in the same quarter last year.
Adjusted net income for the quarter grew about 8 percent to $232.4 million from the prior year's $215.1 million. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter increased 13 percent to $0.71 from $0.63 in the year ago quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.71 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Adjustments included the expenses relating to secondary offerings of the Company's stock in both the 2013 and 2012 periods and losses associated with restructuring the Company's credit facility in 2013 and an amendment of the Company's revolving credit facility in 2012.
Net sales for the quarter increased 8.5 percent to $4.23 billion from last year's $3.90 billion. Twenty two analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $4.24 billion for the quarter.
Same-store sales increased 2.6 percent resulting from increases in both customer traffic and average transaction amount. Total sales increases in consumables significantly outpaced increases in the Company's non-consumable categories, reflecting the impact of continued financial pressures on consumers as well as unfavorable weather conditions in many of the Company's geographic regions.
"For the quarter, we achieved same-store sales growth of 2.6 percent reflecting strong growth in our consumables categories offset by softer sales in seasonal and weather-sensitive categories," said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General's chairman and chief executive officer.
The company said it has updated its outlook for the year 2013 to reflect moderating sales growth and a lower expected gross profit rate than it previously anticipated. Sales of non-consumables are expected to remain challenging, and it anticipates a continued shift to lower margin items within consumables and higher inventory shrink, the company said.
For the 2013 fiscal year, the company now anticipates adjusted earnings per share to be approximately $3.15 to $3.22, and total sales to increase 10 to 11 percent over the 2012 fiscal year. Same-store sales for the year are now expected to increase 4 to 5 percent. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $3.28 per share on revenues of $17.62 billion for fiscal 2013.
Earlier, the company had expected adjusted earnings in the range of $3.15 to $3.30 per share, along with a total sales increase of 10 to 12 percent for fiscal 2013. The company expected same-store sales growth of 4 to 6 percent.
Adjusted operating profit for 2013 is expected to be in the range of $1.73 billion to $1.77 billion.
The company noted that it plans to open approximately 635 new stores, including approximately 20 Dollar General Market stores and 40 Dollar General Plus stores. In addition, the company plans to remodel or relocate a total of approximately 550 stores. Square footage is again expected to increase by approximately 7 percent. The company expects its new Pennsylvania distribution center to be fully operational in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.
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