Dollar General 2004 Annual Report Download - page 7

In fiscal 2004, Dollar General paid cash dividends to shareholders of $53 million, or $0.16 per share, on an annual basis.
During the year, the Company also repurchased approximately 11 million shares of its outstanding common stock for
$209 million, including the remaining 10.5 million shares authorized under its 12 million share repurchase authorization
that expired on March 13, 2005, and 0.5 million shares purchased under its new authorization to repurchase up to 10
million shares through November 2005.
Dollar General also recognized its role as corporate citizen. In 2004, we increased our corporate giving efforts and our
focus on adult literacy. We also provided financial aid for the victims of the Asian tsunami and donated merchandise to
aid in hurricane disaster relief in Florida. We were inspired by the amazing example set by our customers and employees
who donated more than $2.5 million through our in-store Literacy Foundation cash cube program.
Dollar General employs over 60,000 people worldwide and human capital is and always will be our most important asset.
The women and men who operate our Dollar General stores are the key to our Company’s continued growth and success.
With that in mind, we have increased our efforts to recruit the right people for every position, particularly store manager.
We are focused on improving selling skills and giving managers the operating tools they need. Over 60% of our store
managers have completed an intensive training program at one of our 35 regional training centers. Partly as a result of
these efforts, store manager turnover declined in 2004. Last year, we also demonstrated our commitment to promoting
from within the Company. Approximately 52% of our 200 new district managers in 2004 were promotions from our stores
reflecting our commitment to provide career advancement opportunities for those who perform and want to advance. We
also remain committed to our diversity efforts to better reflect our entire customer base and to better understand every
customer’s needs.
The Dollar General business model succeeds because we provide major national and international brand merchandise, as
well as our own high quality private label products, at everyday low prices. Being in stock on this merchandise is a critical
part of the model, so we devised an auto-replenishment system that was completely implemented by the end of the first
quarter of 2004, nine months ahead of schedule. Our in-stock performance
improved significantly as a result. However, a by-product of the in-stock effort
was a higher year-end inventory level. We will be focused on reducing per-
store inventory levels in 2005 without negatively impacting in-stock levels.
We are committed to sourcing products with our customers in mind, scouring
the world for unique values and reinventing the “treasure hunt” dimension of
our merchandise mix. Our new Asian sourcing office became fully operational
during 2004 and is contributing to our ability to bring new products at great
prices to our customers. In addition, we stepped up our opportunistic purchas-
ing efforts in 2004 to enhance our ability to respond to market opportunities.
As we continue to expand geographically, we are working to become even
better at segmenting our product mix for different needs.
“We…do not ever take our place in the
sector for granted.”
Net Sales
Fiscal years
’00
$4,551
’01
$5,323
’02
$6,100
’03
$6,872
’04
$7,661
Earnings Per Share
Net Sales
Earnings Per Share
’00
$0.20
$0.50
’01
$0.61
$0.66
’02
$0.78
$0.74
’03
$0.89
$0.92
’04
$1.04
$1.04
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Fiscal years
as reported
excluding restatement-
related items
(Dollars in millions)
Dollar General Corporation 5