Ace Hardware sees 4Q record revenues, profit

OAK BROOK - Ace Hardware Corp. today said its fourth 2016 revenues and profit hit a record as store sales continued to be strong.

The hardware store consortium reported fourth quarter revenues of $1.2 billion, an increase of $67.6 million or 5.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015. Net income was $21.5 million for the fourth quarter 2016, an increase of $9.4 million or 77.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015.

Consolidated fiscal 2016 revenues were $5.1 billion, an increase of $80.5 million or 1.6 percent compared to the prior year. Fiscal 2016 net income was $161.2 million, an increase of $5.0 million or 3.2 percent compared to the prior year.

"I am proud to report that 2016 was the fourth consecutive year of record financial performance for the Company," said John Venhuizen, President and CEO.

The 4.4 percent increase in retail same-store-sales during the fourth quarter of 2016 reported by the approximately 3,000 Ace retailers who share daily retail sales data was the result of increased customer count and average transaction size. Same-store-sales at these stores were up 2.5 percent for the full year.

"To give you an idea of the success of our retail strategy, we have seen increases in same-store-sales for seven consecutive years, increases in new store growth for five consecutive years and increases in customer transactions for four consecutive years." he added.