Advance Auto reports sales and profit slump in very first quarter

Advance Auto Parts reported Wednesday that sales during the company’s very first quarter slumped three percent to about $Two.89 billion.

Sales at stores open at least one year dropped by about Two.7 percent, the company said, when compared to the same period last year.

Advance also reported that net income for the sixteen weeks ended April twenty two dropped to about $108.0 million, or $1.46 per diluted share, from about $158.8 million, or $Two.16 per diluted share, during the same period last year.

The company, a leading provider in North America of aftermarket automotive parts, attributed the decline in sales and earnings to factors that included revenues lost during this year’s very first quarter because of the Fresh Year’s Day holiday and higher request at the end of the fourth quarter because of winter weather in December that “pulled sales forward into the fourth quarter.”

When competitor AutoZone released its earnings report Tuesday, that company attributed a drop in sales at stores open at least one year to factors that included what AutoZone’s chairman, president and CEO described as “the well-publicized timing delays in IRS tax refunds.”

Tom Greco, Advance’s president and CEO, said in a news release that “overall industry macro headwinds” were among the factors that affected the company’s very first quarter. He did not specifically mention the influence of delayed tax refunds.

Advance, founded in Roanoke in one thousand nine hundred thirty two by Arthur Taubman, still lists the city as its headquarters even however most of the company’s key executives work in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In January 2014, Advance acquired former competitor General Parts International, based in Raleigh. Advance has said the integration of GPI and its brands, including Worldpac and Carquest, has been challenging at times.

Advance’s customers include professional mechanics as well as do-it-yourself clients. The company has worked to increase its share of the commercial market as the DIY market has waned, partly because of the enhanced complexity of modern automobiles.

As of April 22, Advance operated Five,059 stores and one hundred thirty Worldpac branches and employed about 74,000 people in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Cherry Islands.

The company also serves about 1,250 independently wielded Carquest stores.

Advance said it employs about 1,200 people in the Roanoke region, including employees at company offices, a distribution center and stores.

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