Flooring retailer increases growth outlook

After reporting a 13.2% first quarter same store sales increase, The Tile Shop boosted its full year profit forecast and said it would open between 9 and 12 stores this year.

With 116 stores in 31 states, The Tile Shop has benefitted from the same home improvement tailwinds as Home Depot and Lowe¹s, except its 21,000 square foot showroom style stores are focused exclusively on flooring.

Total company sales increased 16.1% to $84.7 million due to the addition of new stores and a same store sales increase of 13.2% during the first quarter ended March 31. Profits increased 84.7% to nearly $6.8 million, or 13 cents a share, from $3.7 million, or seven cents a share.³ We are very pleased to report a tremendous start to 2016. Our continued efforts against our key initiatives concluded with another quarter of very strong results and significant momentum for our business,² said Tile Shop CEO Chris Homeister. ³ The continuing strength of our business has led us to increase our full year outlook for 2016. We are eager to build upon our first quarter accomplishments as we seek to deliver significant growth in sales, operating margins and earnings per share throughout the remainder of 2016 and beyond.²

During the quarter, the company opened one new store in the Atlanta suburb of Buford, its third location in the sprawling market and after the quarter ended it added a new store in the Philadelphia suburb of Deptford, NJ, its sixth location in the market.

Those locations are among a total of nine to 12 locations slated to open this year following the addition of seven stores last year. With the addition of new selling space and same store sales forecast in the mid to high single digit range, The Tile Shop expects to end 2016 with annual sales of $320 million to $329 million. The company has nearly doubled its store count since becoming publicly held in August 2012.