Kirkland's posts comp increase in Q4

Kirkland's says weather kept shoppers away from stores in January, but the home furnishings retailer still reported a slight increase in same-store sales for the fourth quarter.



For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, net sales increased 11.4% to $199 million compared with $178.7 million for prior year quarter. Same-store sales, including e-commerce sales, rose 1.3% compared with an increase of 8.2% in the prior-year quarter. Kirkland's opened 12 stores and closed six during the fourth quarter, bringing the total number of stores to 376 at quarter end.



"Promotional levels were higher during the quarter, as we had anticipated," said Mike Madden, Kirkland's president and CEO. "Adverse weather provided traffic challenges in late January, yet we expect fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2015 to be within our existing guidance range of $0.88 to $0.95 per diluted share."



Net sales for the 52 weeks ended Jan. 30 increased 10.7%, to $561.8 million compared with $507.6 million for the 52 weeks ended Jan. 31, 2015. Same-store sales for fiscal 2015, including e-commerce sales, increased 2.9% compared with a 6.1% increase in fiscal 2014. The company opened 43 stores and closed 11 during fiscal 2015.



The company continues to expect adjusted fiscal 2015 earnings per diluted share in the range of 89 cents to 96 cents, excluding a 2 cents per diluted share charge related to the retirement of the company's previous CEO.



The company operates 376 stores in 35 states.