TJX 4Q Profit Falls

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) -- Discount apparel store operator TJX Cos. on Wednesday said fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 29 percent, weighed by a charge from closing 34 A.J. Wright Stores.

Earnings totaled $205.5 million, or 43 cents per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 27, down from $288.7 million, or 60 cents per share, during the same period a year before.

Results from the latest quarter include a charge of a penny per share from a computer security breach and an 8 cents per share charge related to closing 34 A.J. Wright Stores. Excluding those charges, earnings were 52 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected net income of 50 cents per share.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $5.1 billion from $4.68 billion. Analysts predicted revenue of $5.09 billion.

Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, grew 5 percent companywide, and 2 percent at the company's T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores combined. Same-store sales are considered a key measure of a retailer's health.

For the year, net income grew 7 percent to $738 million, or $1.55 per share, from $690.4 million, or $1.41 per share, the year before. Revenue grew 9 percent to $17.4 billion, from $15.96 billion.

Same-store sales grew 4 percent for the year. At T.J. Maxx stores and Marshalls stores combined, same-store sales grew 2 percent.

Separately, TJX said the security breach into its computer systems was more extensive than previously reported.

TJX had thought the intrusion into its customer data files took place between May 2006 and January 2007, but has since learned its computer system also was hacked into in July 2005 and other periods during that year.

Credit and debit card data from transactions at its U.S. and Puerto Rican stores and credit card-only transactions at Canadian stores from January 2003 through June 2004 were stolen, the compoany said.

Shares of TJX fell 60 cents to $28.02 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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