Dollar General Outlines Accelerated Growth Plan

Dollar General is gearing up to further expand in the marketplace, and the company has outlined several strategic initiatives to drive sales growth and expand its store footprint.

In an investors conference call Dollar General Corp. is holding today, the company stated that it would outline a plan that sets a goal of 11% to 17% total annual shareholder return defined as earnings per share growth plus dividend yield.

The company also stated that it would open about 900 new stores and relocate or remodel 875 stores during fiscal 2016.

The main areas of discussion for the investor's meeting were set as:

• Initiatives to drive profitable sales growth.
• Capturing growth opportunities.
• Enhance the company's position as a low-cost operator.
• Investing in people as a competitive advantage.

“Dollar General has a powerful strategic plan that enables us to drive both the top line and bottom line to deliver strong financial returns as outlined in our growth model over the long-term," said Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s CEO. "With strong cash flow and an efficient capital structure, we believe that we have a compelling opportunity to invest for growth while also returning cash to shareholders through consistent share repurchases and anticipated quarterly dividends.”

In its recently reported full fiscal year, Dollar General posted net income of $1.17 billion, or $3.95 per diluted share, versus $1.07 billion, or $3.49 per diluted share, in the year prior. Comps gained 2.8%. Net sales were $20.37 billion, Dollar General stated, compared to $18.91 billion in the year earlier. Operating profit was $1.94 billion versus $1.77 billion in fiscal 2014.

In addition to the stores opening this year, Dollar General stated that it forecasts opening about 1,000 new stores and relocation or remodeling about 900 stores in fiscal 2017. Dollar General currently operates 12,483 stores in 43 states.