ROANOKE, Va. – Advance Auto Parts has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended Oct. 5. Third quarter earnings per diluted share (EPS) were $1.42, which was a 17.4 percent increase versus the third quarter last year and includes 4 cents of transaction expenses related to the company’s pending acquisition of General Parts International Inc. (GPI) and 2 cents of integration expenses for BWP Distributors Inc.
“Our sales grew 4.3 percent and operating income increased 13.5 percent in the third quarter compared to the third quarter of 2012. We are pleased with our profit improvement in consecutive quarters and remain cautious on the underlying sales environment,” said Darren Jackson, CEO. “We remain focused on improving our sales performance while making the necessary adjustments to our business to continue improving our profitability. Our recent announcement to acquire GPI is another strategic step forward for Advance as we look to accelerate our growth strategy and position Advance to capitalize on positive long-term fundamentals."
Fiscal Third Quarter and Year-to-Date Highlights
Total sales for the third quarter increased 4.3 percent to $1.52 billion, as compared with total sales during the third quarter of fiscal 2012 of $1.46 billion. The sales increase was driven by the acquisition of BWP and the net addition of 170 new stores over the past 12 months, partially offset by a comparable store sales decrease of 2.0 percent versus a comparable store sales decrease of 1.8 percent during the third quarter of fiscal 2012. Year-to-date, total sales increased 4.3 percent to $5.09 billion, compared with total sales of $4.88 billion over the same period last year.
“We are pleased that we were able once again to exceed our profit expectations for the quarter,” said Mike Norona, executive vice president and CFO. “Despite the continuation of the softer sales environment, our gross profit improvements and disciplined focus on expense management allowed us to increase our earnings per share 17.4 percent and our operating margins by 91 bps during the quarter. As we enter our fourth quarter, we expect the softer sales environment to continue and our annual 2013 comparable store sales to be in the low negative single digits and reaffirm our annual 2013 EPS outlook to be in the range of $5.30 to $5.45 excluding all one-time costs incurred in the fourth quarter related to the General Parts acquisition."
Store Information
During the third quarter, the company opened 35 stores and closed seven stores inclusive of five Autopart International store closures. As of Oct. 5, the company’s total store count was 4,018, including 222 Autopart International stores.
Share Repurchase Program
Year-to-date, the company repurchased approximately 1 million shares of its common stock at an aggregate cost of $77.3 million, or an average price of $77.47 per share. As of Oct. 5, the company had approximately $415 million available on the company’s $500 million share repurchase program authorized by the company’s board of directors on May 14, 2012.
