Brookstone, Inc., Nashua, NH, had fourth-quarter 1999 sales of $160.2 million, up 17.2% from $136.7 million in fourth-quarter 1998. Net income rose to $22.4 million, from $18.7 million. Same store sales for the comparable period increased 7.1%. Direct marketing sales increased 59.8% to $25.2 million, with Internet sales increasing 980.1% to $3.9 million versus $400,000 last year.
For fiscal 1999, total sales increased 17.6% to $319.6 million compared to $271.9 million last year. Same store sales for the comparable period increased 5.8%. Direct marketing sales increased 72.7% to $50.2 million, with Internet sales increasing 643.7% to $4.2 million versus $600,000 last year. Net income increased 42.5% to $13.3 million, compared to net income of $9.3 million.
Brookstone attributes its performance to the success of its Brookstone branded proprietary product program, which contributed approximately 60% of sales and carried higher than average product margins, and to operational efficiencies.
“In addition to the significant expansion available to our core Brookstone business, the [recently acquired catalog] Gardeners Eden brand offers us tremendous opportunities that we will begin to pursue this year,” said Brookstone president and CEO Michael Anthony in a statement.
“We are intently focused on capturing Gardeners Eden’s growth potential through mail order, on the Internet and in the retail channel. Lastly, we continue to aggressively develop our Brookstone branded Internet presence.”
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