Pep Boys Announces 2Q Results

Philadelphia The Pep Boys announced its earnings for the second quarter and first half of its fiscal year, ended Aug. 2, 2008.

For the second quarter, sales slipped to $500.0 million, compared to $552.1 million for the same timeframe in 2007. Same store sales decreased by 7.5%.

The company did increase net earnings from continuing operations to $5.8 million, vs. $3.9 million in 2007. And net earnings increased to $5.4 million compared to $4.2 million in 2007. This includes a one-time $2.2 million tax benefit resulting from the recording of a deferred tax asset due to a June 2007 state tax law change.

For the first half of the fiscal year, sales were $998.1 million, compared to $1.091 billion in 2007. Comparable sales also decreased 6.6%.

Similar to the second quarter, the company’s net earnings increased to $11.0 million vs. $7.0 million last year. Net earnings increased to $10.1 million compared to $7.4 million in 2007. Net earnings also included the aforementioned $2.2 million tax benefit.

In effort to increase sales moving forward, the company is reorganizing its sales floors and recreating assortments based on customer buying trends.

“We expect to complete the re-assortment of our core automotive categories by the end of this third quarter,” said Mike Odell, CEO. “Our remaining non-core clearance inventory is down to $1.2 million, and is being returned to our distribution centers for liquidation.”