Gander Mountain improves its performance through year

23 Apr '09

4 min read

Gander Mountain Company, the nation's largest retail network of stores for hunting, fishing, camping, and marine products and services and outdoor lifestyle apparel and footwear, announced results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31, 2009.

In addition, a pre-recorded call offering additional comments on the quarter will be available to all investors on the company's Website at www.GanderMtn.com, both as a webcast and in the form of a transcript. An archived webcast and transcript will remain available on the company's Website for approximately 90 days.

Fourth Quarter 2008:
Gander Mountain's fiscal fourth quarter 2008 results included record consolidated sales of $334.1 million compared to consolidated sales of $317.6 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, a 5.2 percent increase.

Retail segment sales for the fourth quarter were $322.0 million, an increase of $10.0 million or 3.2 percent, as compared to the fiscal 2007 fourth quarter. Direct segment sales were $12.1 million for the quarter, compared to $5.5 million for the same quarter last year. The increase in Direct segment sales resulted primarily from the startup of the new Gander Direct internet and catalog operations in the third quarter of fiscal 2008 and the inclusion of Overton's, acquired in December 2007, for the full quarter in fiscal 2008.

Retail segment net income in the fourth quarter was $16.6 million, which includes a $6.5 million non-cash charge for impairment of goodwill in light of current market conditions. Excluding the non-cash impairment charge, retail segment net income in the fourth quarter was $23.1 million. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, retail net income was $7.0 million. The improvement resulted primarily from increased product margins and decreased SG&A costs. Direct segment net loss for the fourth quarter was $3.5 million, compared with a net loss of $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Consolidated net income improved to $13.0 million for the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter, including the $6.5 million non-cash charge for impairment of goodwill, compared to net income of $5.8 million for the same quarter last year. Excluding the non-cash impairment charge, consolidated net income for the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter was $19.6 million.

As reported, comparable store sales during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 were (0.2) percent, an improvement over (6.5) percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2008. The firearms, ammunition, seasonal hunting and footwear categories all experienced strong sales performance during the quarter. Comparable store sales were a positive 2.7 percent during the quarter, excluding the (2.9) percent impact of boats, ATV sales and power sport services, which are categories the company is in the process of exiting.

Consolidated SG&A costs, as a percentage of sales, improved 168 basis points to 20.0 percent of sales in the fourth quarterof fiscal 2008 as compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.

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