Advance Auto Parts 2008 Annual Report Download - page 9

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 9 of the 2008 Advance Auto Parts annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 106

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106

Overall, I am pleased with our accomplishments in 2008 despite a tough economic environment that
significantly deteriorated throughout the year. We celebrated many strategic and financial
accomplishments in 2008 such as:
• We increased our market share primarily driven by four straight quarters of double-digit
Commercial sales growth
• On a comparable operating basis, we achieved EPS growth of 16%
• Free cash flow increased 19% to $280 million
• Our Company’s footprint was expanded by opening 109 new Advance stores and 18 new Autopart
International stores
• We added trusted brands such as MOOG®, Wagner®and BWD®to our inventory assortment
• We added over $100 million in hard parts inventory upgrades in approximately 1000 stores
• Our first ever Team Member engagement and customer satisfaction surveys were completed
• Team Member retention improved to 61.3% from 41% in 2007
• We revolutionized our Team Member reward and recognition “systems” and focused our Company
on unlocking our full human and financial potential to accelerate growth
• We took the first step towards creating a selling culture in our stores with the launch of customer-
focused programs such as attachment selling
• We launched a new brand promise, “Keep the wheels turning”
7
Continued on next page