Five Below sales up in Q4

Philadelphia — Specialty value retailer Five Below's fourth quarter total sales for the period from October 28, 2012 through January 12, 2013 increased 34% to $158.5 million, while comparable store sales for the same period increased 4.2%.



Five Below has proposed a secondary offering of 7,000,000 shares of its common stock, amid reports that sales are not as bad as originally feared.



All the shares are being offered by selling shareholders, including certain members of Five Below's management team and board and board affiliates. The underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase an additional 1,050,000 shares of common stock. The Philadelphia-based specialty value retailer, which went public April 2012, will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares in this offering.



Five Below operates more than 200 locations in 18 states, and has plans to open an additional 100 stores in the next two years. It offers a broad range of trend-right, high-quality merchandise targeted at the teen and pre-teen customer for $5 or less.



Five Below has filed a registration statement relating to these securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission but it has not yet become effective.



“Though our sales results for the quarter-to-date time period were impacted by the effects of Hurricane Sandy in the month of November, we saw improved trends in December and January and believe that customers responded favorably to our compelling merchandise offering and value price points during the key holiday selling season," said Thomas Vellios, co-founder, president and CEO, stated. "We are pleased with the overall performance of our fiscal 2012 class of stores. Additionally, fiscal 2013, for which we have planned 60 new stores, will be off to an exciting start with our initial entry into the Texas market, including the Dallas and Austin metropolitan areas."