Whole Foods plans 38-42 new stores as Q4 beats street

Austin, Texas --Whole Foods Market reported that its net income rose a better-than-expected 5.8% to $128 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Sept. 28, 2014, from $121 million in the year-ago period. The company also said it plans to open 38 to 42 stores, including five to six relocations, in fiscal 2015.



Sales rose 9% to $3.26 million from $2.98 million. Same-store sales grew 3.1%. Higher gross profits helped drive the better-than-expected net income growth.



“We are pleased with our quarterly and fiscal year results which reflect continued market share gains, record EBITDA, and healthy returns on invested capital," said John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. "The last few months have been an incredibly exciting and rewarding time for our company as we opened a record number of new stores and launched several strategic initiatives.”



For the full fiscal year, net income rose 5% to $579 million from $551 million and sales increased 10% to $14.19 billion from $12.92 billion.



Whole Foods expects store openings to be spread fairly evenly throughout fiscal 2015, with seven former Dominick's locations re-opening as Whole Foods Market stores in the last three quarters of the year. The company also expects higher sales and same-store sales during the fiscal year.



So far in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Whole Foods has opened three new stores, including one relocation, and expects to open six additional stores. The company currently has 401 stores and expects to cross the 500-store mark in fiscal year 2017. Longer term, the company sees the potential for 1,200 Whole Foods Market stores in the U.S.