Big 5 posts 3Q net sales, income decline
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Big 5 Sporting Goods reported net sales of $223.2 million for its third quarter ended Sept. 28, compared to net sales of $231.3 million for the 2007 third quarter. Same-store sales declined 6.6% for the third quarter, primarily due to a decrease in customer traffic resulting from the continuation of the challenging consumer environment.
Net income was $4.5 million, or 21 cents per diluted share, compared to net income of $8.4 million, or 37 cents per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2007.
"We are pleased with the relative strength of our performance in this challenging consumer environment, as we delivered third-quarter earnings that exceeded the high end of our guidance," said chairman, president and ceo Steven G. Miller. "By focusing on managing our inventory and controlling expenses, we continued to mitigate the impact of the difficult macro-economic environment on our sales. We achieved increased efficiencies in our distribution center and reduced total product inventories by 4.9% from the prior year, despite operating 19 more stores.
"While recent events have demonstrated that economic conditions are difficult to forecast and consumer spending is likely to remain soft through the holiday season, we believe that we are well positioned from an operational, promotional and product offering perspective," continued Miller. "We are taking the steps that we believe are necessary to weather the current economic turbulence while continuing to offer a strong value proposition that we believe will resonate with consumers as they evaluate their spending power in today's economy."