From Canadian Press

BOUCHERVILLE, Quebec — Uni-Select Inc. increased its fourth-quarter profit by 25 percent from a year ago, helped by sharply higher sales from the company’s U.S. acquisition of Middle Atlantic Warehouse Distributor Inc.

The Quebec-based auto parts distributor said Wednesday it earned $12.4 million (Cdn) or 64 cents a diluted share for the three months ended Dec. 31. That compared with a profit of $9.9 million or 54 cents per share for the last three months of 2003. The analyst consensus according to Thomson One Analytics had been for a profit of 60 cents a share.

Quarterly sales increased to $229.7 million from $169.1 million in the same period a year earlier.

“Management is pleased with the contribution of our new operations in the United States,” Jacques Landreville, Uni-Select’s president and chief executive, said in a release.

“Although results were only impacted for a short period in 2004, we are, nevertheless, able to appreciate their potential. We must, as we are in the habit of doing, ensure that all synergies are met in order to materialize full value.”

In the fourth quarter, Uni-Select’s Automotive Group USA division increased its sales from $36 million in the fourth quarter of 2003 to $92.3 million in 2004.

Sales for the company’s Automotive Group Canada unit rose to $116.2 million from $115.4 million a year earlier.

For all of 2004, Uni-Select earned $30.9 million or $1.65 per diluted share on revenue of $788.2 million. That compared with a profit of $31.4 million or $1.70 per share on revenue of $720.6 million in 2003.

Uni-Select is Canada’s second-largest distributor of auto and heavy duty replacement parts, tools and accessories. It operates more than 800 stores in Canada and almost 2,000 in the U.S.

Shares in the company fell 25 cents at $29.65 in Wednesday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Copyright 2005 Canadian Press. All Rights Reserved.

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