JC Penney Co, the third-largest US department-store company, has reported fourth quarter profit increased 65 percent on holiday sales of clothing and a tax gain.
Income from continuing operations continued to benefit from substantial improvement in core operating results coupled with the effects of the company's recently completed capital structure repositioning program.
The net income in the fourth quarter, including discontinued operations, increased to $2.34 per share.
Myron E Ullman, III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "Our performance in 2005 demonstrates the progress we are making in executing JCPenney's Long Range Plan objective to achieve leadership in the retail sector."
"In 2005, we continued to produce sustained growth in quarterly and annual sales and operating profit. In addition, our growth initiatives and our capital structure repositioning program combined to generate superior EPS growth. Based on these results, our board of directors has demonstrated their confidence in the company's longer term prospects by authorizing a new $750 million common stock repurchase program and approving a plan to increase the dividend by 44 percent," he said.
Ullman added, "Over the past year, we have made substantial improvements in our merchandise assortments and taken actions to make JCPenney an easy and exciting place to shop. We will celebrate this with the launch next month of the largest branding campaign in the company's history.”
marketing@alchempro.com
