Matthew D. Serra, President and CEO of Foot Locker provided attendees at The Super Show in Orlando, Florida with a review of the Company's key profitable growth strategies. Mr. Serra also confirmed that the Company expects its fourth quarter comparable-store sales to increase 4 to 6% and raised its earnings guidance for the current period.
Mr. Serra said, “Foot Locker, Inc.'s sales to date for the fourth fiscal quarter are running at the high end of our previous expectations. Comparable-store sales trends, which strengthened significantly in late December, have continued to accelerate during January. Our Foot Locker stores in the United States and Europe, in addition to our Footlocker.com Internet channels, have been the strongest drivers of our fourth quarter comparable-store sales increase.”
“Given our continuing strong sales trend, we are raising our earnings guidance and currently expect our fourth quarter net income from continuing operations to be in a range of $0.41-to-$0.45 per share,” continued Mr. Serra. “This EPS estimate, which is within the range of current Wall Street estimates, would represent, at a minimum, a 24 percent improvement versus the fourth quarter of 2002.”
Mr. Serra reviewed Foot Locker, Inc.'s key growth strategies that include opening new stores in international markets, expanding its high-growth Internet and catalog direct-to-customers business and improving the productivity of its existing U.S. stores. During 2004, the Company plans to expand its international business into the Republic of Ireland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Mr. Serra concluded by saying, “We have established certain financial objectives that we expect to achieve over the next few years. These objectives include increasing sales to $350 per gross square foot and achieving an 8.5 percent operating profit margin, while maintaining strong positive cash flow. In addition, the Company remains focused on improving its credit ratings to investment grade status.”
