Federated Department Stores, Inc. reported total sales of $5.708 billion for December, an increase of 99.9% compared to total sales of $2.856 billion in the same period last year when including the acquired May Company stores. On a same-store basis, Federated's December sales were up 3.4%. For the combined November-December period, same-store sales were up 1.1%.
For the year to date, Federated's sales totaled $21.495 billion, up 43.7% from total sales of $14.958 billion in the first 48 weeks of 2004. On a same-store basis, Federated's year-to-date sales were up 1.3%.
Federated's total sales for September through December include the May Company acquisition, which was completed Aug. 30, 2005. Federated's same-store sales include only Macy's and Bloomingdale's locations. Sales from the company's Bridal Group division, which the company intends to divest and is being treated as a discontinued operation, are excluded from Federated total sales for September through December.
Terry J. Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased with Macy's and Bloomingdale's strong performance in December, despite disruptions caused by the New York City transit strike the week before Christmas. In particular, key components of our apparel and accessories businesses performed very well as customers responded to our assortments of “affordable luxury” goods. We were also pleased with sales in the former May Company divisions, which on a same-store basis were down slightly in the November-December period and exceeded our initial expectations.
“We remain on track to achieve our expected same-store sales increase of 1-2% in the fourth quarter,” Lundgren said. “January same-store sales are expected to increase between 0.5-1.5%.”
The company reiterated its guidance for earnings of $2.00 to $2.20 per share from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005. Excluding integration-related pre-tax costs of $100 million to $150 million, the company continues to expect fourth quarter earnings from continuing operations of $2.35 to $2.45 per share.
