Fitness financials: Finish Line posts Q4 profit, plus GSI, Best Buy

Finish Line posts Q4 profit

Finish Line (Nasdaq: FINL) said it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter as it lowered inventory levels and improved sales.

It earned $30.6 million, or $0.55 per share, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $1.4 million, or $0.03 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.60 per share in this year’s fourth quarter, compared with $0.02 per share a year earlier.

Revenue grew nearly 9 percent to $374.5 million. Sales at stores open at least a year climbed 10 percent in the quarter.

For the full year, its profit grew to $35.7 million, or $0.64 per share, versus $3.8 million, or $0.07 per share. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.57 per share in the most recent year and $0.12 per share in the prior year.

Revenue declined nearly 2 percent for the year to $1.17 billion.

GSI expands credit facility

GSI Commerce (Nasdaq: GSIC), a provider of e-commerce services, said it expanded its credit facility by $60 million to $150 million.

The deal included “renewed and increased commitments from its existing bank group as well as the addition of new bank group members,” it said.

The existing banks are PNC, Bank of America, TD Bank, Sovereign Bank, HSBC, and Morgan Stanley. The new lenders are Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and UBS, the King of Prussia, Pa.

GSI said it could use the money for letters of credit, working capital and general corporate purposes, including possible acquisitions.

Best Buy’s Q4 profit up 37 percent

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) posted a strong fourth-quarter profit on a steep sales increase boosted by flat-panel TVs, notebook computers and wireless gadgets. The company is also now selling fitness equipment in select stores.

For the quarter ended Feb. 27, Best Buy’s profit rose 37 percent: $779 million, or $1.82 per share, versus $570 million, or $1.35 per diluted share, for the prior-year period. Excluding an impairment charge in last year’s quarter, profit rose 13 percent.

Revenue was up 12 percent to $16.6 billion, compared with revenue of $14.7 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. The company said the increase reflected a comparable store sales gain of 7.0 percent, the addition of net new stores in the past 12 months and the favorable impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.

For the year, profit rose 35 percent to $1.32 billion, or $3.10 per share. Revenue rose 10 percent to $49.69 billion from $45.01 billion last year.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects a profit of $3.45 to $3.60 per share in the fiscal year ending in February 2011. It also expects revenue of $52 billion to $53 billion, and same-store sales to rise 1 percent to 3 percent during the year.

Also, its board of directors has authorized payment of a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.14 per common share. It is payable on May 6 to shareholders of record as of April 15.



–Compiled by Wendy Geister

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