Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack reported a net loss of $13.6 million on sales of $593 million for the second quarter ended July 31, 2004. That compares to a net loss of $36.4 million on sales of $556 million for the same period a year ago.
The net loss (from continuing operations before the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principles used) is not a clear representation of the company´s operating results, according to Pep Boys. The company says it relies more on adjusted net earnings from
continuing operations, which totaled $17.9 million for the quarter. That total excluded after-tax expenses of $3.3 million "unrelated to
the current quarter´s operations."
For the first six months of the fiscal year, Pep Boys posted sales of $1.16 billion, 8.7% higher compared to the $1.07 billion recorded during the first half of its 2003 fiscal year.
Pep Boys also announced the following organizational changes:
* President George Babich has assumed direct responsibility for the
operations side of the business.
* Harry Yanowitz is the new CFO. He previously was responsible for strategy and business development as senior vice president.
* Babich, Yanowitz and Hal Smith -- the executive vice president of merchandising and marketing -- will constitute the newly created Office of the Chief Executive. The new executive body will report directly to CEO Lawrence Stevenson.
"I am pleased with the progress that we have made over the past four quarters on the retail side of our business," says Stevenson. "Much of the credit for this turnaround goes to Hal and his merchandising and marketing team.
"On the other hand, we still need to do a lot with the service side of our business. Our new structure allows me to have George focus his tremendous knowledge and energy on building the national leading brand for automotive maintenance and repair. With all of ´Operations,´ including the critical H.R. function, reporting up through George, we can in a coordinated fashion grow this business profitably over the next 12-24 months."
