WASHINGTON – RadioShack Corp. (RSH), the No. 3 U.S. consumer electronics chain, on Thursday said fourth-quarter sales at stores open at least a year rose 3 percent, and said its president, David Edmondson (search), would become chief executive.
RadioShack, based in Fort Worth, Texas, said Edmondson, who is also chief operating officer, would succeed Leonard Roberts as CEO, effective at the annual shareholders meeting on May 19. Roberts will remain chairman, it said.
The retailer, the nation's top seller of mobile phones and accessories, said total sales in the quarter rose 7 percent to $1.59 billion. According to Reuters Estimates, analysts had forecast $1.56 billion.
The company affirmed its fiscal year 2004 earnings per share guidance of $2.07 to $2.09 and affirmed its outlook for fiscal year 2005 earnings per share growth of 19 percent to 21 percent above 2004's level.
Wireless sales at Radioshack rose 13 percent in the quarter, looking at total unaudited sales by department, while sales in the computer department rose 27 percent due to higher sales of digital imaging, networking and surveillance products, RadioShack said.
The company noted that sales excluding the wireless department rose 3 percent and said this was "a significant sequential improvement from the declines of the first three quarters of 2004 and a positive result of the company's continued efforts to transition its product assortment."
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox