Investing.com -- Shares in Family Dollar Stores Inc (NYSE:FDO) were relatively unchanged in after-hours trading, after the nation's second-largest variety chain store posted mixed quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
Family Dollar, which announced a highly anticipated merger with rival Dollar Tree last month, posted quarterly earnings of $79.9 million or 0.70 per share for its fiscal third quarter which ended in late-May. By comparison, the Charlotte-based chain store reported earnings of $81.1 million or 0.71 per share during the same quarter in 2014. Excluding $4.7 million in expenses related to the merger, as well as $24.5 million in restructuring charges, the company said attained an EPS of 0.74 during the quarter.
A slight decline in discretionary sales partially offset a 3.8% spike in consumables, the company said in a statement. Discretionary sales are comprised of apparel and accessories, home products and seasonal electronics among others.
Still, the company's revenues in the quarter increased by 2.6% to $2.73 billion on a year-over-year basis, a figure in line with analysts' forecasts. Same-store sales also rose moderately by 0.7%. The company was also subject to an effective tax rate of 37.5%, compared to 33.1% in the same quarter in 2014. The effective tax rate was higher primarily due to changes in foreign transfer pricing legislation, non-deductible costs associated with the Dollar Tree merger, and a decrease in federal jobs tax credits, Family Dollar said in a statement.
Citing the pending merger, Family Dollar declined to offer a forward guidance for the remainder of the year.
Shares in Family Dollar inched down 0.18 or 0.23% to $79.00. Over the last 52 weeks, Family Dollar shares are up by more than 20%.