Tuesday Morning turnaround efforts pay off in Q4

During the fourth quarter, Tuesday Morning Corporation continued working on the final phase of its turnaround program. Judging by its comparable-store sales trend, increased inventory turnover and improved cash position, the company’s plan is working.



The off-price retailer with more than 800 stores across the United States has been selling off exited categories, expanding replacement categories, further reducing its clearance merchandise and enhancing its store layouts. Those efforts helped fuel net sales of $212.6 million for the quarter, an increase of 5.2% compared to $202.1 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.



Comparable-store sales increased by 7.4% and were driven by a 9.8% increase in customer transactions, partially offset by a 2.1% decrease in average ticket.



The company's operating loss for the quarter was $6.2 million compared to an operating loss of $11.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.



"As a result of completing this challenging year-and-a-half long turnaround program, we believe that we are confident that we have a solid foundation in place," CEO Michael Rouleau said. "Looking forward, we have high expectations for very successful fall and holiday seasons and, over the longer term, expect to continue to improve our sales productivity and bottom line profitability."



For the quarter, the company reported gross profit of $71.3 million and gross margin of 33.5% compared to $66.8 million of gross profit and gross margin of 33% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.