FGL Sports revenues increased 7.5 percent to $367.4 million in the first quarter ended March 30, according to its parent company, Canadian Tire Corporation Limited (CTC). Comp store sales increase 8.8 percent compared with the 7.3 percent increase reported for the first quarter of 2012. FGL is Canadas largest sporting goods retailer.
FGL had a very good start to the year with retail sales growth of 5.6 percent over the same period in 2012, CTC said in its first quarter earnings release. Same store sales grew by 8.8 percent, partly due to the planned closure of non-strategic banners such as Sport Mart and Athletes World. Adjusting for store closures, corporate same store sales still grew by a strong 3.1 percent, notwithstanding the impact of March weather. The core corporate banner, Sport Chek, experienced strong sales in apparel and equipment, particularly in winter-related categories such as hockey, ski and snowboard.”
CTC also operates Canadian Tire Retail (CTR), is a major operator of gas stations and owns the apparel retailer Marks. Consolidated revenue from all those retail businesses increased 1.7 percent to $2.5 billion in the quarter as a result of strong performance at FGL Sports and sales growth at Petroleum, Financial Services and Mark’s. Consolidated net income increased to $73.0 million and diluted earnings per share rose to $0.90 , an increase of 3.3 percent over Q1 2012. Consolidated retail sales increased 0.8 percent or $20.4 million to $2.4 billion in the quarter.
On Thursday, CTC announced it was promoting its senior vice-president of automotive and marketing, Allan MacDonald, to the position of chief operating officer of CTR. The company, which operates hundreds of general merchandise stores that also sell sporting goods, accounted for $1.17 billion, or about 48 percent of CTCs retail revenues in the first quarter.
MacDonald joined CTC four years ago and has held senior roles influencing all of CTR’s areas of operations, including Dealer relations, global sourcing, merchandising, supply chain, marketing, digital strategy, store design and vendor management.
“Allan has clearly demonstrated the skills and commitment to lead Canadian Tire Retail as we enter a sustained period of unprecedented change in our industry,” said Wetmore.
Marco Marrone , CTR’s current chief operating officer, has decided to leave the company following a 27 year career. Marrone has advised the company that he is not able to make a longer-term commitment to his current role. With the recent agreement between the company and its dealers to a new dealer contract, Marrone believes that the time is right for a smooth transition of his role to MacDonald .
| Retail segment financial results | ||||||||
| (C$ in millions) | Q1 2013 | Q1 2012 | Change | |||||
| Retail sales | $ | 2,435.5 | $ | 2,415.1 | 0.8% | |||
| Retail return on invested capital (ROIC) | 7.35% | 7.75% | ||||||
| Revenue | $ | 2,216.9 | $ | 2,184.1 | 1.5% | |||
| Gross margin | 599.5 | 591.0 | 1.5% | |||||
| Other income | 7.5 | 2.0 | 288.9% | |||||
| Operating expenses | 566.5 | 551.2 | 2.8% | |||||
| EBITDA | 120.7 | 118.7 | 1.8% | |||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 80.2 | 76.9 | 4.2% | |||||
| Net finance (income) costs | 17.5 | 17.3 | 1.9% | |||||
| Income before income taxes | 23.0 | 24.5 | (5.8)% | |||||
| Retail Segment – by banner | ||||||
| (C$ in millions, except number of stores and gas bars) | Q1 2013 | Q1 2012 | Change | |||
| CTR retail sales growth | (1.6)% | 3.8% | ||||
| CTR same store sales growth | (2.4)% | 3.3% | ||||
| CTR revenue | $ | 1,174.3 | $ | 1,184.8 | (0.9)% | |
| Number of CTR stores | 490 | 488 | ||||
| Number of PartSource stores | 87 | 87 | ||||
| Canadian Tire Petroleum retail sales growth | 3.7% | 5.2% | ||||
| Canadian Tire Petroleum gasoline volume (litres) growth | 2.7% | (1.9)% | ||||
| Canadian Tire Petroleum revenue | $ | 485.5 | $ | 469.7 | 3.4% | |
| Canadian Tire Petroleum gross margin dollars | $ | 33.1 | $ | 32.0 | 3.4% | |
| Number of gas bars | 299 | 289 | ||||
| FGL Sports retail sales growth | 5.6% | 6.4% | ||||
| FGL Sports same store sales growth | 8.8% | 7.3% | ||||
| FGL Sports revenue | $ | 367.4 | $ | 341.8 | 7.5% | |
| Number of FGL Sports stores | 406 | 506 | ||||
| Mark’s retail sales growth | 1.6% | 6.7% | ||||
| Mark’s same store sales growth | 1.5% | 5.8% | ||||
| Mark’s revenue | $ | 194.1 | $ | 191.5 | 1.4% | |
| Number of Mark’s stores | 386 | 385 | ||||
