PetMed Express D/B/A 1-800-PetMeds Announces Its Third Quarter Financial Results

POMPANO BEACH, Fla., Jan. 24, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PetMed Express, Inc. (Nasdaq:PETS) today announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. Net sales for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 were $45.1 million, compared to $48.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, a decrease of 6.7%. Net sales for the nine months ended December 31, 2010 were $180.7 million, compared to $188.0 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2009, a decrease of 3.9%. Net income was $4.5 million, or $0.20 diluted per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, compared to net income of $5.6 million, or $0.25 diluted per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, a 19% decrease to EPS. Net income was $16.7 million, or $0.74 diluted per share, for the nine months ended December 31, 2010, compared to net income of $19.9 million, or $0.88 diluted per share, for the nine months ended December 31, 2009, a 16% decrease to EPS.

Menderes Akdag, President and CEO, commented: "It has been another challenging quarter, due to reduced advertising as a result of tighter television advertising inventory combined with consumers giving greater consideration to price and a softer demand for some of the product categories we offer. Going forward we intend to implement a more aggressive pricing strategy combined with increased advertising, while continuing to expand our product offerings into pet supplies. During the quarter we bought back approximately 66,000 shares of our common stock for $1.0 million, and so far in January we have bought back approximately 101,000 shares of our common stock for $1.6 million. During the quarter we also paid our quarterly dividend of $0.125 per share, an increase of 25% from the prior year. Our cash flows from operations increased to $31.5 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2010 from $28.9 million for the same period the prior year. "