Dollar General Posts Lower Q3 Earnings

Goodlettsville, Tenn., Dollar General Corp. reported net income for the third quarter of $71.1 million, down from $77.9 million in the third quarter a year ago.

The discount chain previously reported that net sales during the third quarter increased 11.5% to $1.88 billion. The increase resulted primarily from new-store growth and a same-store sales increase of 3.4%.

Gross profit during the quarter was $554 million, or 29.5% of sales, vs. $516.9 million, or 30.7% of sales, in the prior year. Sales of highly consumable items, which generally have lower gross profit rates than the chain's other merchandise categories, increased as a percentage of total sales mix.