Fred's Reports Q4 EPS of $0.22 vs. $0.21

Fred's, Inc. FRED today reported financial results for the fourth quarter ended January 29, 2011. For the fourth quarter of 2010, Fred's net income increased 49% to $8.6 million or $0.22 per diluted share compared with net income of $5.8 million or $0.15 per diluted share in the year-earlier period. Fred's total sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 increased 3% to $485.6 million from $473.1 million for the same period last year. Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 2.3% compared with a decline of 0.9% for the fourth quarter last year. Fred's total sales for 2010 increased 3% to $1.842 billion from $1.788 billion for the same period last year. Comparable store sales for 2010 increased 2.2% on top of an increase of 0.4% in 2009.