Conn's 4Q sales rise 7 percent
Conn's 4Q sales rise 7 percent on higher demand for furniture and mattresses
WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) -- Conn's Inc. said Thursday that its fourth-quarter revenue at stores open at least a year rose 7 percent, thanks to higher demand for furniture and mattresses.
The metric is a key measure of a retailer's health, because it excludes sales at stores that opened or closed during the year.
Revenue for furniture and mattresses at stores open at least a year jumped 40 percent. The figure rose 12.6 percent for home office items, which includes computers, tablets and printers.
Total sales of furniture and mattresses rose 54 percent to $40 million, while total home office sales grew 16 percent to $22.6 million.
For consumer electronics, revenue at stores open at least a year fell 11 percent. But Conn's CEO Theodore Wright said in a press release that the higher profit margins of electronics helped blunt the effect of the drop in sales. Total sales of consumer electronics fell 7 percent to $72.4 million from $78.1 million.
For the quarter ended Jan. 31, Conn's said that its total net sales rose 10 percent to $208.4 million from $189.7 million in the same period a year ago.
The Woodlands, Texas-based retailer sells home appliances, furniture, mattresses and televisions. It has 68 stores in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.
Shares of the company rose 7 cents to $30.05 in morning trading Thursday.
