Gander Mountain Company expects pretax income for the fiscal fourth quarter to be in the range of $21 million to $22 million, an increase of 20% to 25% over the fiscal fourth quarter of 2004. The company anticipates that sales for the quarter will total $275 million to $280 million, compared to $237 million for the same period of the prior year, a gain of at least 16%. Comparable store sales are expected to decline approximately 7% to 8% in the quarter.
For the full year ending January 28, 2006, the company estimates that the pretax loss will be $13.5 to $14.5 million on sales of approximately $800 million. In fiscal 2004, the company reported a pretax profit of $1.6 million on sales of $642.1 million. The company estimates that at fiscal year end its inventory will be approximately $310 million, and the company expects to be in compliance with all covenants of its credit facility. Comparable store sales are expected to decline approximately six percent for the full year.
“We expect to achieve a higher operating profit margin in the fourth quarter compared to last year, due in part to reduced clearance activity and improved cost controls at the store level,” said Mark Baker, President and CEO. “As we improve our sales and gross margin performance, continue to build our store base and contain our operating costs, we expect to see further improvement in our operating margin.”
