Revenue during the quarter went up marginally by 1.67 percent to $216.38 million from $212.84 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 84 basis points over the previous year period to 58.09 percent. Total expenses were 94.19 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 95.23 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 103 basis points in operating margin to 5.81 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $12.56 million, compared with $10.16 million in the previous year period.

Melissa Reiff, Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We're pleased that our ongoing discipline on the expense side enabled us to deliver a 38% increase in earnings per share versus the prior year period. Our custom closets business, specifically elfa® and TCS Closets®, drove incremental sales and profit; however, holiday department sales were disappointing during the quarter and, as we expected, Our Annual elfa® Sale was impacted by fewer selling days combined with Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays falling on weekends."

For financial year 2016, Container Store Group, Inc projects revenue to be in the range of $820 million to $830 million. The company forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.20 to $0.30.


Debt comes down marginally
Container Store Group, Inc has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $338.29 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, down 3.91 percent or $13.76 million from $352.05 million on Jan. 02, 2016. Interest coverage ratio improved to 3.05 for the quarter from 2.41 for the same period last year.