ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Monro Muffler Brake Inc. reported double-digit increases in operating and net income for the quarter ended June 27 on 8.7-percent higher sales, prompting management to boost the firm's sales and earnings outlook for the full year.
Operating income for the period increased 14.3 percent to $33.6 million, while net earnings rose 11 percent to a record $18.8 million. Sales grew to $236.5 million, with revenue from recently acquired and new stores offsetting a slight sales drop at existing stores, the company said.
Monro President and CEO John Van Heel attributed the earnings improvement to diligent cost control and the positive contribution from recent acquisitions.
“We were also encouraged to see that following a slow start to the first quarter, comparable store sales improved, turning slightly positive in May and June and increasing approximately 2 percent month-to-date in July on positive traffic trends.
“Overall, we remain confident in our business model and in our ability to increase our market share and deliver strong overall sales and earnings growth, in both strong and weak markets.”
Rochester-based Monro also disclosed it completed its previously announced acquisition of the Car-X brand. The company expects Car-X to be slightly accretive to earnings per share in fiscal 2016. (See related story on page 8.)
Based on current visibility, business and economic trends and the recently completed and pending acquisitions, Monro said it anticipates fiscal 2016 sales to be in the range of $950 million to $970 million vs. the previous guidance range of $935 million to $955 million.
The fiscal 2016 sales guidance reflects a comparable store sales increase of 1 to 3 percent.
The company continues to expect fiscal 2016 diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2 to $2.20, as compared with $1.88 in fiscal 2015.