The TJX Cos. continued to roll over retail last year, with net profits of $5.5 billion, revenues topping $60 billion and comparable store sales up 5 percent.
While the off-price giant forecast that momentum would slow to comp growth of 2 percent to 3 percent this year, Ernie Herrman, president and chief executive officer, said he was confident TJX would continue to grow its global market share “well into the future.”
The off-pricer buys its inventory from full-price retailers that have too much inventory and directly from vendors, creating an ever-changing treasure hunt experience in the company’s 5,214 stores.
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With consumers generally being cautious in their shopping and tariffs roiling retail supply chains, TJX has found plenty to buy in the market.
Inventories as of the end of the fiscal year on Jan. 31 totaled $7.3 billion — an increase of $900 million from a year earlier — while inventory in stores and distribution centers increased 8 percent on a constant currency basis.
Herrman, who has run the company for a decade, told analysts on a conference call that “availability of quality-branded merchandise in the marketplace continues to be outstanding, and we are in a terrific position to flow a fresh assortment of goods to our stores and online this spring and throughout the year.”
A key engine behind TJX’s growth is its team of more than 1,400 buyers who work with 21,000 vendors each year.
“We are going after brands in a more aggressive manner than we ever had before,” the CEO said. “We mean more to the branded vendor community than ever. Our teams are doing a lot more regular meetings with some of the key brands through various levels of their management. And that’s not been something that we’re initiating all the time. It really comes from a lot of the vendors because they want to do business with us.”
Herrman said TJX’s stores also hit a “wide consumer demographic” and that the company could grow its store count to a total of 7,000 in its current markets.
While investors were nonplussed by the outlook — shares of TJX fell 0.4 percent to $157.01 in midday trading — the company is looking to give back a little more to shareholders in the year ahead.
The off-pricer plans to increase its dividend by 13 percent this year while also buying back $2.5 billion to $2.75 billion of its own shares.
