Candy, tobacco help lift Dollar General's sales

Dollar General grew customer traffic and average ticket for the 30th consecutive quarter even as the company refocuses on efforts to strengthen topline growth.



The retailer reported net sales of $5.1 billion for its fiscal 2015 second quarter ended July 31.



“[Dollar General] delivered 7.9% sales growth, 2.8% same-store sales growth, robust gross margin expansion and 14% diluted EPS improvement over the 2014 second quarter," stated Todd Vasos, Dollar General CEO. "We also grew both customer traffic and average ticket for the 30th consecutive quarter when compared to the prior year quarter," he said. “With new leadership in place for store operations and merchandising, we are well positioned to execute our key initiatives to drive topline growth over time."



Dollar General, the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer by store count, said its financial results were helped by strong demand for candy, snacks and tobacco products.



Over the first half of Dollar General's fiscal year, net sales increased 8.3% over the comparable 2014 period to $10 billion. Same-store sales increased 3.3%. Increases in customer traffic and average transaction amount contributed to the increase in same-store sales. The remainder of the sales increase was attributable to new stores, partially offset by closed stores.



During that 26-week period, the company opened 428 new stores and remodeled or relocated 593 stores. The company is on track to open 730 new stores in 2015.