99 Cents Only Stores (NYSE:NDN)

Eric Schiffer, CEO of 99¢ Only Stores®, stated, “We are pleased with our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2010. Our long-term operational improvement initiatives have continued to exceed our expectations, resulting in earnings per share of $0.87 for the fiscal year and $0.24 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Continued improvement in all areas of our cost structure has enabled us to achieve a pre-tax profit margin of 7.3% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 and 6.9% for the full fiscal year ended March 27, 2010. These improvements are significant and were broad-based with increases in our operating income in all regions, including Texas. We believe that these strong results are a validation of the strength of our retail concept. We now believe that we can achieve income before taxes of approximately 7.5% of sales in fiscal 2011.

For fiscal 2011 the Company expects positive same-store sales in the low single digits and plans to open approximately 5% more stores in its existing markets, primarily in the second half of the year. The Company believes that revenue growth in fiscal 2011 will primarily result from new store openings and increases in same-store sales. With continued improvements anticipated from its profit improvement plan, the Company expects to increase its fiscal 2011 income before taxes to approximately 7.5% of sales, compared to 6.9% for fiscal 2010.