Following is the transcript of the Family Dollar Stores Inc (NYSE:FDO) first quarter 2015 earnings call made on Thursday, January 8, 2015, 10:00 AM ET. The company reported financial results for the first quarter ending November 29, 2014. The company will also discuss business initiatives for the fiscal year 2015.
Family Dollar Stores Inc (NYSE:FDO) is a Fortune 300, publicly held company, and is the second largest retailer of its type in the United States. Currently having 8,100 stores in both rural and urban settings across the United States, it has been providing value and convenience to customers in neighborhood locations. It is the neighborhood dollar discount store which provides a diversity of everyday products the family needs at the lowest prices.
Host:
Kiley Rawlins –Vice President (VP) of Investor Relations and Communication, Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Company Representatives:
Howard Levine – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Mary Winston – Chief Financial Officer, Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Analysts:
Daniel Binder – Jefferies Group LLC
John Heinbockel – Guggenheim Securities
Edward Kelly – Credit Suisse Group
Matt Nemer – Wells Fargo Securities
Michael Lasser – UBS Investment Bank
Stephen Grambling – Goldman Sachs
Paul Trussell – Deutsche Bank
Anthony Chukumba – BB&T Capital Markets
Charles Grom – Sterne Agee
Meredith Adler – Barclays
Operator
Good morning. My name is Joshua, and I will be your conference facilitator today. I would like to welcome everyone to the Family Dollar First Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the company’s prepared remarks, there will be a brief question-and-answer period. The question-and-answer queue will not be available until after the company has concluded their prepared remarks. So please wait until after the speakers have finished their remarks before attempting to enter the queue.
I would now like to introduce Ms. Kiley Rawlins, Vice President of Investor Relations and Communications. Ms. Rawlins, you may now begin your conference.
Kiley Rawlins, VP of Investor Relations and Communications, Family Dollar Stores Inc.
Thank you, Joshua. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Hopefully, you have had a chance to review the press release we issued this morning.
Before we begin our discussion, you should know that our comments today will include forward-looking statements regarding various operating initiatives, sales and profitability metrics, and capital expenditures, as well as our operational plans for future periods.
While these statements address plans or events which we expect will or may occur in the future, a number of factors as set forth in our SEC filings and press releases could cause actual results to differ from our expectations. We refer you to and specifically incorporate the cautionary and risk statements contained in today’s press release and in our SEC filings.
You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of today January 8, 2015. We have no obligation to update or revise our forward-looking statements except as required by law and you should not expect us to do so.
In addition, today we will reference non-GAAP financial measures, which are intended to help investors understand Family Dollar’s ongoing business performance. These measures include operating profit, net income and earnings per diluted share, each excluding merger related fees in fiscal 2015.A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures is included in our earnings release issued today and is available on our website.
Our call today will begin with a business review from Howard Levine, Chairman and CEO; then Mary Winston, CFO, will review our financial results for the first quarter. Following our prepared comments, you will have an opportunity to ask questions about our first quarter business results and our operating plans for 2015.
Before I turn the call over to Howard, I would like to reiterate that the purpose of this call is to review our first quarter results. We do not plan to discuss the pending transaction with Dollar Tree or Dollar General’s tender offer. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this regard.
Now, I would like to turn the call over to Howard Levine. Howard?
