Weis Markets: Strong sales increases in pharmacy, HBC and fresh help boost 4Q sales

SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets posted a fourth-quarter boost in sales and comparable store sales.



For the 13-week period ended Dec. 27, 2014, sales increased 4% to $713.8 million, while comparable store sales increased 3.5%.



The company's earnings per share totaled 51 cents compared with 59 cents for the same period in 2013. The company's fourth-quarter net income declined 11.6% to $13.9 million.



The company attributed its sales increases to the continuing success of its pricing programs, which were fully implemented in the first quarter. Its results also benefited from strong sales increases in pharmacy, HBC and its fresh departments.



"One year ago, we spoke of our plans to recalibrate our go to market strategies and focus on increasing sales and market share," said Weis Markets' president and CEO Jonathan Weis. "Over the past year, we steadily invested in our pricing programs and successfully executed our strategy, which has produced consistent sales increases in key center store and fresh departments. These investments helped us increase our market share and our customer count. We also improved our in-store customer experience and increased our customer service focus. As a result of our investments and customer service programs, we are well-positioned to build on our success in 2015."