Macy's, Inc. reported significantly increased sales and earnings for the first quarter of 2012, the 13-week period ended April 28, 2012. Earnings for the quarter were 43 cents per diluted share, an increase of 43 percent compared with 30 cents per diluted share in the same period last year.

“The momentum in our business at Macy's and Bloomingdale's continued to build in the first quarter, with sales and earnings that exceeded our expectations going into the year. The quarterly data clearly demonstrates the strength of our results as we continue to implement our key strategies – My Macy's merchandise localization; omnichannel integration of stores, online and mobile; and MAGIC Selling for enhanced customer engagement,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy's, Inc. chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“We are as excited about the future as we have been about the significant progress we have made over the past several years to build a culture of growth at Macy's, Inc.,” Lundgren said. “In particular, we feel very good about the business opportunities in front of us for the remainder of fiscal 2012. This spring, Macy's significant national promotion featuring the fashions, colors and rhythms of Brazil is an example of a new dimension in merchandising and marketing innovation to capture the imaginations of our diverse customers. We have numerous initiatives in place to generate continuous improvement at Macy's and Bloomingdale's in the coming quarters and years, including new thinking we recently announced for attracting customers in the Millennial generation.”

Sales

Sales in the first quarter of 2012 totaled $6.143 billion, an increase of 4.3 percent, compared with sales of $5.889 billion in the same period last year. On a same-store basis, Macy's, Inc.'s first quarter sales were up 4.4 percent in 2012 over 2011.

Online sales (macys.com and bloomingdales.com combined) were up 33.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Online sales are included in the same-store sales calculation for Macy's, Inc. and positively affected the company's same-store sales by 1.5 percentage points in the first quarter.

In the first quarter of 2012, Macy's opened new stores in Salt Lake City, UT, and Greendale, WI.

Operating Income

Macy's, Inc.'s operating income totaled $391 million or 6.4 percent of sales for the first quarter of 2012, compared with $330 million or 5.6 percent of sales for the same period in 2011.

Cash Flow

Net cash provided by operating activities was $265 million in the first quarter of 2012, compared with $67 million in the first quarter last year. Net cash used by investing activities in the first quarter of 2012 was $202 million, compared with $64 million a year ago. Net cash used by financing activities in the first quarter of 2012 was $999 million, including $795 million used to repay debt. In the first quarter of 2011, net cash used by financing activities was $315 million, including $335 million used to repay debt.

The company repurchased approximately 5.4 million shares of its common stock for a total of approximately $214 million in the first quarter of 2012. At April 28, 2012, the company had remaining authorization to repurchase up to approximately $1.138 billion of its common stock.

Looking Ahead

The company continues to expect same-store sales to grow by approximately 3.5 percent for the remainder of the year. When added to the first quarter's reported results, same-store sales growth for fiscal 2012 as a whole now is expected to be approximately 3.7 percent – slightly higher than previous guidance for a same-stores sales increase of approximately 3.5 percent in fiscal 2012. The company reiterates its guidance for earnings per diluted share in fiscal 2012 of $3.25 to $3.30.

Macy's, Inc., with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation's premier retailers, with fiscal 2011 sales of $26.4 billion. The company operates about 840 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, as well as the macys.com and bloomingdales.com websites. The company also operates seven Bloomingdale's Outlet stores.