West Marine, Inc. reported that net sales for the five weeks ended April 3, 2004 were $62.4 million, a 12.2% increase from net sales of $55.6 million for the five-week period a year ago. Comparable store net sales for March increased 6.9% compared to the same period a year ago. Sales from 62 BoatU.S. stores acquired in January 2003 from Boat America are included in comparable store sales statistics.
Net sales for the thirteen weeks ended April 3, 2004 were $129.2 million, an increase of 16.2% from net sales of $111.1 million for the same period a year ago. Comparable store net sales for the latest thirteen weeks increased 10.2% compared to the same period a year ago.
John Edmondson, CEO of West Marine, said, “Sales were very strong for the first three weeks of the month and then slowed as we encountered cold, wet weather in the northeast and mid-Atlantic areas during the last two weeks of March. Our gross margin was strong for the month and, as a result, we remain comfortable with our previous guidance of a loss per share of ($0.16) to ($0.14) versus last year's loss per share of ($0.32).”
