US retailer Ross Stores posts sales and earnings growth in Aug-Oct qtr

25 Nov '21

2 min read

Pic: Dreamstime

Ross Stores, a US-based chain of discount department stores, has recorded sales of $4.6 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of FY21 ended on October 30, 2021, which were well over the sales of $3.7 billion in the corresponding quarter of last year and also from the pre-pandemic levels. Net earnings for the quarter nearly tripled to $385.0 million (Q3 FY20: $131.2 million) from last year.

“Third quarter sales and profitability significantly exceeded our expectations as consumers continued to respond favourably to our broad assortment of great bargains. We achieved these results despite waning government stimulus and uncertainty related to the spread of COVID variants,” Barbara Rentler, chief executive officer at Ross Stores, said in a press release.

“Operating margin of 11.4 per cent was better than plan, though down from 2019 as leverage from the robust sales gains was partially offset by ongoing headwinds from higher freight, wage, and COVID-related costs,” Rentler continued.

The apparel retailer’s cost of goods sold during the three-month period accelerated to $3.3 billion ($2.7 billion), while total costs and expenses stood at $4.0 billion ($3.6 billion).

“While we are encouraged by the ongoing strength of consumer demand, there remains significant uncertainty related to the worsening industry-wide supply chain congestion as we enter the important holiday season. As a result, and while we hope to do better, we are projecting fourth quarter comparable store sales gains of 7 per cent to 9 per cent and earnings per share in the range of $0.83 to $0.93,” Rentler further mentioned.

“Moving forward, consumers’ increasing focus on value and convenience along with the large number of recent retail closures and bankruptcies make us confident about our prospects for continued market share gains in the future,” Rentler concluded in the release.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (JL)

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