99 Cents Only Rolls Out New Systems

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

LOS ANGELES — 99 Cents Only Stores here said it plans to focus over the next two years on improving profitability and strengthening systems to position the company to accelerate its expansion.

To achieve its goals, the company said it is implementing "an entire new platform" of store-level systems, Eric Schiffer, chief executive officer, told investors during a conference call Wednesday, starting with a store ordering and replenishment system that began its rollout last summer.

The system requires manager input to accept or decline its reordering suggestions, "but this is the first step toward going to semi-automated replenishment," Schiffer said. The company is also reengineering its categorory management process to enhance product selection and eliminate redundancies, he added.

For the fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept. 25, net income rose 34.7% to$12.9 million, while sales rose 2.7% to $333.6 million and comparable-store sales increased 0.6%. For the first half, net income was up 55.7% to $29.8 million, while sales rose 3.5% to $680 million.