West Marine, Inc. reported that net sales for the five weeks ended September 27, 2003 were $56.6 million, a 26.6% increase from net sales of $44.7 million for the same period a year ago. Comparable store net sales for the five weeks ended September 27, 2003 increased 1.7% from the same period a year ago.
Sales from 62 BoatU.S. stores acquired in January 2003 from Boat America are included in total sales, but are not reflected in comparable store sales statistics.
Net sales for the thirteen weeks ended September 27, 2003 were $191.9 million, an increase of 27.3% from net sales of $150.7 million for the same period a year ago. Comparable store net sales for the latest thirteen weeks increased 1.2% compared to the same period a year ago.
Net sales for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2003 were $536.0 million, an increase of 22.4% from net sales of $437.9 million for the same period a year ago. Comparable store net sales for the latest thirty-nine weeks decreased 3.6% compared to the same period a year ago.
John Edmondson, CEO of West Marine, said, “September sales improved toward the end of the month. Comparable store sales by region were Southeast 4.5%, Northeast 2.0% and West Coast -2.1%. We believe part of the improvement was due to Hurricane Isabel, which affected a large portion of the eastern seaboard. However, Isabel also contributed to boats coming out of the water earlier than usual for the season. Therefore, we expect our winterizing sales to be moved forward from last year, which may produce better than expected sales in the first couple of weeks of October and weaker sales later in October and November.
“Our guidance for the fourth quarter remains the same. We expect sales of $125 million to $130 million and our estimate for a fourth quarter loss ranges from ($0.11) to ($0.09) per share versus last year's loss of ($0.07) per share.”
