F.W. WOOLWORTH'S <Z> 1986 PROFITS RISE 21 PCT
The specialty retailing area continues
to pay off for F.W. Woolworth Co, once known only as a five and
dime store chain, which said its 1986 income rose 21 pct.
    It was the fourth consecutive year of profit increases for
the New York-based retailer which was founded over 100 years
ago.
    Woolworth's 1986 income rose to 214 mln dlrs or 3.25 dlrs
per share compared with 1985's profit of 177 mln or 2.75 dlrs
per share. Revenues for the year rose to 6.50 billion compared
with the prior year's 5.96 billion.
    For the fourth quarter, the company reported profits rose
10 pct to 117 mln dlrs or 1.78 dlrs per share compared with
1985 fourth quarter results of 106 mln or 1.64 dlrs per share.
Revenues rose to 2.02 billion from 1.85 billion dlrs.
    Roy Garofalo, Woolworth vice president, told Reuters that
income generated by the company's specialty store operations
accounted for 52 pct of the parent company's 1986 profits.
    He said the company now has 4,700 specialty stores
operating under 30 different names. Woolworth plans to open 650
more specialty stores in 1987. At this time last year, it
operated 4,100 specialty stores, Garofalo said.
    Garofalo said the largest specialty chain operated by
Woolworth is Kinney Shoe Stores, followed by the Richman
apparel unit. Among other units are Little Folk Shop, a chain
of discount children's apparel stores; The Rx Place, a discount
drug, health and beauty aid operation; and Face Fantasies,
which sells cosmetics. There are currently about 1,700
Woolworth general merchandise stores operating worldwide, of
which 1,200 are in the United States.
    Harold Sells, chairman and chief executive of Woolworth,
said in a statement, "These results are especially gratifying as
they are an improvement over last year's record earnings."
    Sells that it was the fourth successive year earnings in
each quarter improved over the corresponding year-earlier
period.
    Woolworth's variety store operations were hard hit in the
1970's and early 1980's by the quickly growing discount store
industry. In an attempt to compete in the 1970's, Woolworth
opened a discount general store chain, Woolco, and J. Brannam,
a discount apparel chain. Both were failures in the United
States, although Woolco still operates in Canada.
    In 1985, however, Woolworth changed its strategy and
announced that it would operate specialty stores. At that time,
the company said it would create 14 new groups of such stores.
Specialty stores generally have higher sales per square foot
than general merchandise stores.
   
 Reuter
