ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Monro Muffler Brake has announced record financial results for its third quarter ended Dec. 25, 2010. Due to the company's three-for-two stock split, which was effective as of Dec. 23, 2010, per share data for all periods is presented on a split adjusted basis.

Third-Quarter Results
Sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2011 increased 8.4 percent to a record $165.5 million, compared to $152.7 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. The company said sales growth was driven by strong in-store sales execution, as well as recent acquisitions. Comparable store sales increased 5.4 percent on top of a 7.2 percent increase last year. Comparable store sales increased approximately 8 percent for tires, 7 percent for shocks, 6 percent for maintenance services and 2 percent for brakes, with exhaust flat and alignments down slightly as compared to the third quarter last year.

Operating income for the quarter increased 31 percent to $18.7 million from $14.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2010.

Net income for the third quarter increased 39.9 percent to a record $11.1 million from $7.9 million in the prior year period. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter increased 40 percent to 35 cents, as compared to diluted earnings per share of 25 cents in the third quarter of fiscal 2010, and exceeded the company's previously estimated range of 29 cents to 33 cents. Net income for the third quarter reflects an effective tax rate of 38.3 percent as compared with 40.7 percent for the prior year period.

The company separately opened four locations and closed four other locations during the quarter, ending the third quarter of fiscal 2011 with 783 stores.

First Nine-Month Results
For the nine-month period, net sales increased 16.4 percent to a record $485.9 million from $417.4 million in the same period of the prior year. Comparable store sales for the nine months were up 5.7 percent. Net income for the first nine months of fiscal 2011 increased 37.6 percent to a record $37.6 million, or $1.18 per diluted share, compared with $27.3 million, or 89 cents per diluted share in the comparable period of fiscal 2010.

Robert Gross, chairman and CEO stated, "We are very pleased that we were able to sustain our strong momentum into the second half of fiscal 2011. Our record top- and bottom-line results in the third quarter demonstrate our ongoing ability to leverage our increased scale, capitalize on favorable macroeconomic conditions that continue to drive our business and gain market share. Importantly, our strong value proposition and reputation as a trusted service provider continue to resonate with our customers, and we continue to see consumers choosing Monro to help them maintain older vehicles for a longer period of time. As a result, we once again achieved a same store traffic increase of more than 5 percent and generated a solid performance across most of our major service categories during the third quarter."

Based on current visibility and business and economic trends, the company anticipates fourth quarter comparable store sales growth in the range of 2 percent to 4 percent on top of an 8 percent increase last year. Monro expects diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter to be between 22 cents and 26 cents, compared to 19 cents for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

For fiscal 2011, the company is increasing its expected sales range for the year to $635 million to $645 million, from $625 million to $640 million. Monro is narrowing its estimated fiscal 2011 comparable store sales growth to a range of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent, from 4 percent to 6 percent. The company is also increasing its estimated fiscal 2011 diluted earnings per share to a range of $1.41 to $1.45, from $1.33 to $1.37, compared to $1.07 last year. The estimate is based on 32 million weighted average shares outstanding.

Gross added, "Overall, we are pleased with our performance through the first nine months of the year. The macroeconomic drivers of our results over the past few years are still in place and support our positive outlook. Our recent acquisitions are outperforming expectations, and we anticipate further expansion of our market share through additional fairly-priced, opportunistic acquisitions in our existing markets. With our sales and earnings outlook for fiscal 2011, we are on track to achieve our tenth consecutive year of comparable store sales increases and to generate compound annual earnings growth of approximately 30 percent over the last three years."