ITASCA, Ill. -- Midas Inc. reported a net loss of $(0.2) million, or $(2 cents) per diluted share, for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 2, compared to net income of $2.7 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, in the prior year.
The company said fourth quarter 2009 results were negatively affected by business transformation charges of $2.9 million, or $(12 cents) per diluted share.
Total sales and revenues were $45.7 million for the fourth quarter and $182.8 million for the full year, compared to $46.7 million and $187.4 million in 2008.
Retail Sales
“Retail sales in 2009 for Midas were challenging, although we saw sequential improvement in the second half,” said Alan Feldman, Midas’ chairman and chief executive officer. “Comparable shop sales in U.S. Midas shops increased by 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter, after being down by 1.1 percent in the third quarter and 3 percent in the first half.
“Our growth in U.S. Midas shop traffic also continues to accelerate,” he said. “Average daily car count per shop in the U.S. was up 20 percent in the fourth quarter after growth of 17 percent in the third quarter and 11 percent in the second quarter.”
Feldman said that Midas’ marketing strategy in 2009 was to build shop traffic with value-priced oil changes, to alert customers to additional service needs on their vehicles using detailed courtesy checks and to begin building long-term relationships with these new customers.
“The growth in shop traffic and in our oil change business confirmed that we were successful in attracting new customers to Midas,” Feldman said.
“Midas’ comparable shop oil change business increased by 28 percent during the quarter and was up 27 percent for the year. Our focus on tires also is paying off, with tire sales in U.S. Midas shops up by 11 percent in the fourth quarter and 8 percent for the year,” he said.
Feldman added that trends in the brake business at Midas’ U.S. shops also are improving.
