West Marine Boosts Bottom Line

Watsonville, CA—Specialty boat supplies and apparel multichannel marketer West Marine>/b> (Nasdaq: WMAR) is managing to weather the rough economic seas. The marketer reported a 20% rise in net income to $13.7 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $11.4 million to last year. Net sales were relatively flat, however, barely inching up to $188.2 million for the quarter, from $185.1 million for the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales for the latest 13 weeks increased 0.6% from a year ago.