Circuits are Firing

Circuit City Stores Inc. (Richmond, Va.) announced a 12.8 percent gain in net sales for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, 2006. Same-store sales gained 11.6 percent.

The consumer electronics retailer said sales growth was led by a triple-digit sales increase for advanced technology televisions. Web-originated sales grew 64 percent over the prior year.

For the fiscal year ended February 28, net sales grew 10.8 percent, driven by a comparable-store sales gain of 8.2 percent.

“I am very proud of the significant improvement in both sales and earnings that our team delivered for the fourth quarter and for the fiscal year,” said president and ceo Philip Schoonover. “For the fourth quarter, we continued to see strong sales growth and also delivered a year-over-year increase in gross profit margin as we managed our supply chain more effectively. Our associates executed an effective holiday season plan that resulted in record sales for the month of December and sustained the strong pace through January and February, which led to record sales for the quarter. Increased attention to stores with the greatest opportunity to improve performance, combined with an overall improvement in store profitability, led to fewer store closings in fiscal 2006.”

During the fourth quarter, the domestic segment relocated one superstore and opened three new superstores. In addition, the company closed one superstore, in the Cleveland market, and closed one mall store. During the fiscal year, the domestic segment relocated 10 superstores, opened 18 new superstores and closed three superstores and one mall store. An additional superstore, in the Atlanta market, was closed in February in advance of opening a relocated site early in fiscal 2007.