Annual Sales Up, Income Down at 1-800-Flowers.com
Carle Place, NY-based 1-800-Flowers.com (Nasdaq: FLWS) posted a record-setting fourth quarter as sales reached $211.1 million, a 13% increase over the $186.1 million posted for the same period last year.
For the three months ended July 2, the gifts, toys, and home decor merchant reported online sales of $124.4 million, an increase of nearly 15%. Telephonic sales increased slightly during the quarter to $60.7 million. The growth was due largely to the acquisition earlier this year of $75 million Fannie May Confections Brands. But costs related to the acquisition also hurt the bottom line: Net income dropped 75%, to $1.01 million from $3.9 million.
For the full year, total sales increased nearly 17%, to $781.7 million. Online revenue grew 19%, to $430.3 million. But net income fell 41%, to $3.18 million from $7.8 million the previous year.
CEO Jim McCann said in a statement: “During the fiscal fourth quarter we achieved several important strategic objectives that position our business for significant future growth and enhanced profitability. With that said, our financial results for the period were below our expectations due to several factors. Revenue growth of more than 13% percent for the quarter, while good, was below the level that we targeted with our increased marketing programs.”
Another Quarter of Growth for Penney
Plano, TX-based J.C. Penney Co. (NYSE: JCP) saw total second-quarter sales rise 6.5%, to $4.2 billion. Net income jumped nearly 37%, to $179 million from $131 million for the second quarter last year. For the three months ended July 29, direct sales increased nearly 3%; Internet sales soared about 25%.