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Ross Stores, Inc. 2015 Annual Report | 3
To Our Stockholders
Our top priority will always be delivering the best values possible
to our customers every day. After all, it’s all about the bargains!
Our ability to successfully deliver on this mission enabled us to
achieve another year of solid increases in both sales and earnings.
Record Financial Results on Top of Strong Multi-Year Gains
For the fiscal year ended January 30, 2016, sales grew 8% to $11.9 billion, up from $11.0 billion
for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2015. Comparable store sales for 2015 increased 4%.
Net earnings in 2015 grew to $1.021 billion, up from $925 million in the prior year, while
earnings per share increased 14% to $2.51 on top of strong multi-year gains. Fiscal 2015
operating margin rose 10 basis points to a record 13.6%, benefiting from a combination of
higher merchandise gross margin and strong expense control.
Ongoing Store Growth and Expansion into Newer Markets
As planned, the Company opened 84 net new locations during the year, consisting of 64 Ross
Dress for Less and 20 dd’s DISCOUNTS. We ended 2015 with a combined 1,446 stores in 34
states, the District of Columbia and Guam.
Our store growth included continued expansion of Ross Dress for Less in established regions
as well as the newer Midwest markets we entered beginning in 2011. In 2015, we opened our
first store in Wisconsin and by the end of 2015, we operated a total of 99 Ross locations across
Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas, and Wisconsin. dd’s DISCOUNTS also continued its
expansion, focusing primarily on its largest markets of California, Texas, and Florida.
For 2016, we expect to open about 70 new Ross Dress for Less and 20 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores.
As usual, these numbers do not reflect our plans to close or relocate about ten older stores.
Over the long term, we continue to believe that Ross Dress for Less can grow to a chain of at least
2,000 locations across the United States and dd’s DISCOUNTS can eventually expand to about
500 stores. Combined, this reflects the potential domestic capacity of about 2,500 locations,
providing us with significant store growth opportunities.
Sales and Profit Gains Continue at dd’s DISCOUNTS
In 2015, dd’s DISCOUNTS posted another year of solid increases in sales and operating profits. Like
Ross, dd’s DISCOUNTS’ healthy performance reflects its ability to offer customers the compelling
bargains they seek.