Bed, Bath and Beyond 2004 Annual Report Download - page 3

BED BATH & BEYOND ANNUAL REPORT 2004
1
To Our Fellow Shareholders: Continued from front cover
Everything we do, we are able to do because of the people we have the privilege to work with daily. Our people have
again performed in a way that has enabled us to be proud of our accomplishments. On the following pages, we discuss some
of the highlights from our recently completed fiscal 2004. We also will provide you with the information you need in connec-
tion with our upcoming Annual Meeting. Our goal again is to present you this annual information in as straightforward and
cost efficient a manner as possible. So once more we have combined our Annual Report, Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy
Statement into this single booklet.
Fiscal 2004 was our 34th year of operations, and our 13th as a public company. As set forth below, the results of our fiscal
2004 were our best ever. As we did last year, we ask you again to take a look at the chart of selected financial data which
appears on the inside front cover of this booklet, opposite this letter, which details our growth over our 13 years as a public
company. At the end of our first fiscal year as a public company, in February 1993, we had 38 stores. Net earnings were
$15,960,000 on net sales of $216,411,000.
For comparison, here are some of the highlights from fiscal 2004:
• Net earnings for the year ended February 26, 2005 totaled $505 million ($1.65 per share), exceeding fiscal 2003 net earn-
ings of $399.5 million ($1.31 per share) by approximately 26.4%.
• Net sales for fiscal 2004 were $5.148 billion, an increase of approximately 15.0% from the prior year’s sales of $4.478 billion.
• Comparable store sales for fiscal 2004 increased by approximately 4.5%.
• During fiscal 2004, we opened 85 new Bed Bath & Beyond stores. We also opened two Christmas Tree Shops and five
Harmon stores. We ended the year with 660 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, 26 Christmas Tree Shops, and 35 Harmon stores.
• We returned $350 million in value to our shareholders through our share repurchase program completed during our fiscal
fourth quarter.
• Cash and investments grew to approximately $1.2 billion. This is after funding our share repurchase program, our expan-
sion program and our ongoing infrastructure enhancements.
We cannot give enough credit to our people and the culture they have created for the successes of the prior year.
However, consistent with our culture, our focus is not on what has been, but rather on what remains to be done and on what
is possible. Even though we’re pleased with our results, spending too much time looking back does us little good. We are
already looking forward. What we know, and what the numbers to the left should say to you quite clearly, is this Company
has never been in a better position than it is right now.
While maintaining our solid balance sheet, positive cash flow and the generation of strong earnings will continue to be
our primary goals, the position we’re in as a Company is expressed in more than mere numbers. We cannot quantify what it
may mean to our servicemen and women and their families that, through the support of our customers, we have been able to
assist the USO. We may never know whether the health information we provide access to through our affiliation with the
National Women’s Health Resource Center will encourage our customers and their families to adopt a more health-conscious
lifestyle. But it is through these actions that we reaffirm the values that have made our Company so special. It is a pleasure
and a privilege to be in the position we are in and to try and make a positive difference.
Simply put, we would like to thank each of our associates for the outstanding efforts that have yielded the results we’ve
been able to discuss with you through this report. In addition, we thank each of our customers and business partners for their
continuing support and their contributions in moving us forward.
WARREN EISENBERG LEONARD FEINSTEIN STEVEN H. TEMARES
Co-Chairman Co-Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer
and Member of the Board of Directors
June 1, 2005