ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Monro Muffler Brake has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the retail store assets of Import Export Tire Co., a small independent tire chain in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The company will purchase all five Import Export Tire stores, which focus on selling tires and automotive related services. The business generated annual net sales of approximately $10 million in 2009.

Monro management expects the Import Export Tire stores to be slightly accretive in the first 12 months following the completion of the acquisition. The addition of the Import Export Tire stores will increase the company's number of tire stores in the Pittsburgh market to 12. Additionally, these stores are expected to enhance the effectiveness of the company's "Black Gold" initiative in many of its existing 45 service stores in the market. Black Gold is a program designed to increase sales in Monro's service stores, particularly of tires and related services.

The acquisition is expected to close at the end of March and to be funded through the company's existing line of credit. It is management's intention to retain the store employees of the acquired business.

Separately, the company today also provided a business update for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, the company expects a comparable store sales increase of approximately 7.5 percent, which is above the high-end of the company's previously anticipated range. This estimate is on top of an 11.2 percent comparable store sales increase in the prior year quarter. Additionally, the company now expects diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter to be in the range of 23 cents to 25 cents, increased from its previously expected range of 20 cents to 23 cents. This estimate compares to 15 cents in the prior year quarter and is based on 20.8 million weighted average shares outstanding. The impact of the acquisition of Import Export Tire is not included in the company's guidance for fiscal 2010.

Chairman and CEO Robert Gross commented, "We are very pleased with our continuing momentum to date in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 as we maintained our organic growth and are poised to further expand our market share through our strategy of seeking value-priced transactions. We are encouraged by our strong sales trends as we achieved comparable store sales increases of 9.4 percent and 4.3 percent in January and February respectively, with March expected to be up approximately 11 percent. Additionally, we look forward to increasing our presence in the Pittsburgh market and bolstering our tire distribution footprint through the addition of Import Export Tire to the Monro family."