Pep Boys posts first quarter losses

May 13, 2005

Pep Boys -- Manny, Moe & Jack posted sales of $564.2 million during the first quarter versus $566.1 million during the same period last year. Pep Boys' earnings dropped from $15 million to a net loss of $2.38 million.

Pep Boys Chairman and CEO Larry Stevenson says the near term results of the Philadelphia, Pa.-based chain's turnaround "will continue to be uneven. While Pep Boys has a very exciting future ahead, achieving fundamental and sustainable performance improvements will take time.

"On the retail side, we continue to refine our product mix, pricing and promotional programs to achieve the most appropriate balance between retail sales growth and profitability.

"As we continue to work against our Service Center improvement initiatives, we expect our financial results to begin to reflect the benefits of these initiatives during the second half of the year."

Pep Boys re-opened more than 70 stores in Los Angeles, Calif., its largest market, during the first quarter, notes Stevenson.

"Our second-largest market, Philadelphia, is scheduled to re-grand open in June, with Chicago to follow in July."