KENT, WA (BRAIN) — REI increased sales by 7.4 percent to $1.93 billion in 2012 but saw net income drop 3.9 percent to $29 million due to tighter margins, according to the company’s year-end earnings statement.
Gross profit rose 5.2 percent to $803 million from $763 million in 2011. Operating expenses increased by 5.7 percent to $666 million in 2012, but those expenses represented a slightly reduced share of net sales than a year earlier—34.5 percent, compared with 35.2 percent in 2011.
REI added five new stores in 2012, boosting its count to 127.
REI paid out a dividend of $104 million to its 5.1 million active co-op members for the year, company president and CEO Sally Jewel said in a message to members. That dividend represented 10 percent of members’ eligible purchases.
Last week, REI announced the layoff of a “limited number” of the 1,100 employees at its headquarters in Kent, Washington, as well as at stores, but provided little further detail.
“The shifts we made support the needs of our business and growth strategy,” the company said in a statement. “Out of respect for those individuals whose positions were eliminated, we’re not providing specifics on the total number or which areas were impacted.”
