Net sales at 99 Cents drop in shortened fiscal 2014

99 Cents Only recently changed its fiscal year from the Saturday closest to the end of March, to the Friday closest to the end of January, to be in line with its retail industry peers. But during the shortened fiscal year consisting of 44 weeks, from March 31, 2013 to Jan. 31, the company widened its net loss.



Total net sales were $1.53 billion, down 8% from $1.66 billion. Same-store sales rose 3.7%.



"We are pleased with the progress we have made on implementing our strategic plan to accelerate store growth and improve sales and margin," said CEO Stephane Gonthier, staying positive and looking forward. “We are also encouraged by the favorable responses from our consumers to our 'Go-Taller' program, which has retrofitted the display shelving from a height of 54 inches to 78 inches at 64 of our stores in the past two months. We are on track to complete the retrofits by Sept. 2014.”

During the shortened fiscal year, the company opened 27 net new stores. As of the end of fiscal 2014, the company operated 343 stores, an increase of 8.5% in store count over the end of fiscal 2013.