TJX Sales Increase 6 Percent

The TJX Companies, Inc., an off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the U.S. and worldwide, is raising its annual outlook based on an increase in sales and profits in the first quarter.

The Company, with its world-wide headquarters in Framingham, announced sales and earnings results for the first quarter yesterday on May 19.

Net sales for the first quarter of Fiscal 2016 increased 6 percent to $6.9 billion, and consolidated comparable store sales increased 5 percent.

The company credited bargain-hungry shoppers for the increase.

Net income for the first quarter was $475 million, and diluted earnings per share were $.69, an 8 percent increase over the prior year.

“We are extremely pleased with our continued momentum and first quarter performance. Our 5 percent consolidated comparable store sales growth and 8 percent increase in earnings per share were both well above our plan,“ said Carol Meyrowitz, Chief Executive Officer of The TJX Companies, Inc, in a press release.

“Our outstanding values and exciting mix of apparel and home fashions continue to resonate with shoppers across all of our geographies. It was great to see that, similar to last quarter, comp sales were almost entirely driven by customer traffic and we had a significant increase in units sold,” said Meyrowitz. ”At the same time, we also saw a strong increase in our merchandise margins. We were very pleased that we achieved these strong results despite significant foreign currency headwinds and while simultaneously investing in our business to support our growth goals. Our underlying business remains strong, our values are better than ever, and we have many exciting initiatives planned for the remainder of the year to continue driving sales and customer traffic.”

The CEO said “We are thrilled to see our retail brands becoming more powerful and recognizable with consumers. We are raising our full year earnings per share and comp sales guidance based on the strength of our first quarter results. The second quarter is off to a very strong start and we are confident in our ability to achieve our plans for 2015. We remain convinced that we have the right strategy in place to achieve our long-term growth goals as TJX continues on the path to becoming a $40 billion-plus global, value retailer.”