Fred's April Comps Rise, But Total Sales Decline - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Fred's Inc. (FRED) reported that its total sales for the month of April 2017 decreased 3.0 percent year-over-year to $159.1 million from $163.9 million in the year-ago period.

However, total comparable store sales for the month increased 1.2 percent, compared with a 0.3 percent increase in comparable sales in the prior year period.

The April 2017 comparable store sales reflected double digit growth for Easter seasonal categories, which was the result of the shift of the Easter holiday from March 27 last year to April 16 this year.

Fred's total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 decreased 3.0 percent to $532.9 million compared with $549.5 million for the same period last year. The company closed 39 underperforming stores in the quarter.

On a comparable store basis, year-to-date sales decreased 1.2 percent versus an increase of 1.0 percent for the year-earlier period.

Comparable store sales for the quarter included a negative 1.4 percent impact as a result of the sale of low productive discontinued inventory versus the same quarter last year.

Michael Bloom, Chief Executive Officer, said, "The Fred's Pharmacy healthcare transformation is well under way as we continue to experience sequential sales improvement. The initiatives we began implementing in 2016 and early 2017 are taking hold and laying the foundation for continued success."