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Ace Hardware Corp. has reported record second-quarter 2019 revenues of $1.7 billion, an increase of 6.3 percent from the second quarter of 2018.
Net income was $53.8 million for this period, a decrease of $1 million from the second quarter of 2018.
Ace Hardware president and CEO John Venhuizen says new stores, last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting and e-commerce growth helped fuel the quarter.
“Significant growth from new stores, including 44 in the second quarter, solid same-store-sales growth and a 58 percent surge in revenue from acehardware.com fueled our 6.3 percent revenue increase,” says Venhuizen. “Start-up expenses for our nine new Westlake Ace stores in California, increased LIFO expense and transition expenses out of two former Emery distribution centers on the east coast caused our net income to dip slightly for the quarter.”
The company says same-store sales grew by 1.7 percent this quarter, in part due to a 1.8 percent rise in average ticket size, partially offset by a 0.1 percent decrease of same-store transactions. The data was compiled from 3,200 Ace retailers who share daily figures with the company.
Total wholesale revenues for the period were $1.5 billion, a 4 percent increase from the same period in 2018. Sales increases were seen in all departments, with notable gains in grilling, power tools and electrical products.
Ace Hardware is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world with more than 5,200 locally owned and operated stores worldwide. Read an exclusive Q&A with president and CEO John Venhuizen from Hardware Retailing‘s March profile of the company.
