BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. -- Ingles Markets here announced its 10th consecutive increase in net sales and its eighth consecutive increase in net income in the fourth quarter ended Sept. 24.
Net sales increased 8.4% from $295.3 million for the year-ago period to $320.2 million this year. Net income rose from $3.6 million to $4.3 million, an 18% increase.
For the year, net sales increased 8% to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion last year. Net income for the year rose 70.1% from $11.7 million to $19.9 million. This includes $3.3 million in noncash credit income due to a change in accounting standards.
Robert P. Ingle, chairman and chief executive office, called fiscal 1994 "the best year ever," attributing the company's successes to a continued low-price strategy on dry grocery; aggressive merchandising and pricing in perishables departments, and increased grocery variety.
Ingles is in the process of expanding, remodeling or replacing 19 stores, 16 of which will be completed in fiscal 1995, according to Jack R. Ferguson, Ingles' vice president of finance and chief financial officer. The company also plans to open seven new stores in fiscal 1995, he said.
"They've been very successful in containing their costs and they've been very successful in adding items with more margins," said Marshall Johnson, president of McDaniel Lewis & Co., Greensboro, N.C. "Management is upgrading their products at the same time they're upgrading their stores."
Johnson said another factor in Ingles' favor is the company's ownership of many of the properties on which it builds -- 68 of the 70 shopping centers operated by the company contain Ingles stores.
