May Co.

The May Department Stores Co. (St. Louis) reported a 20 percent increase in preliminary net sales for the four-week period ended April 30, 2005. Same-store sales increased 1.5 percent.

The department store retailer, about to become part of Federated Department Stores Inc. (Cincinnati), said April sales comparisons benefited from the movement of a major sales promotion event from the last week of fiscal March 2004 to the first week of fiscal April 2005.

Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2005 were up 13.7 percent. Same-store sales were down 5.1 percent.