Electronics Boutique Reports Q1 Results

Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. today reported first-quarter net income jumped 60 percent to $2.9 million from $1.8 million a year ago.

Sales at the PC and video game retailer increased 15 percent to $123.6 million during the first quarter of its 2000 fiscal year, ended May 1. Sales during the year-ago quarter were $107.3 million. Expansion to 550 stores, from 465 one year ago, drove revenue growth, according to Electronics Boutique.

On a comparable-store basis, sales at locations open at least one year increased 2 percent during the first quarter. "Comparable store sales were positively impacted in the first quarter by strong demand in Nintendo Game Boy software and hardware, PC entertainment software, and toy categories, which offset a relatively weak selection of new release titles for Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64," said President and Chief Executive Joseph Firestone in a prepared statement.

Electronics Boutique's gross margin on sales increased to 26.3 percent during the first fiscal quarter, compared with 25.5 percent one year ago.

Internet sales at the company's EBWorld site more than quadrupled from the year-ago quarter, to $1.5 million, the company reported.