Dive Brief:
- Reaching record high sales for the quarter, Ace Hardware’s fourth-quarter revenue jumped nearly 10% year over year to $2.5 billion. Its full-year revenue rose 5.8% from a year earlier to $10 billion.
- The company’s Q4 net income declined nearly 18% year over year to $44.2 million, and full-year net income fell 6.6% to $293.4 million.
- While its U.S. same-store retail sales dipped by 0.1% year over year in Q4, its full-year U.S. same-store sales slipped 0.2% from a year prior. The retailer’s long-term debt surged nearly 64% from $246.5 million in 2024 to $403.8 million.
Dive Insight:
Ace Hardware’s full-year revenue growth was fueled by its digital business growing 27% from the year prior.
The company has been working to grow its brick-and-mortar presence. Ace added 106 stores to its footprint this year, ending fiscal 2025 with 5,250 locations across the U.S. It currently has more than 8,800 stores worldwide.
Along with growing its store count, Ace Hardware has been building out its fulfillment operations. Last summer, the retailer opened a 1.5 million-square-foot retail support center in Kansas City, Missouri, from which it can quickly ship products to its stores across the U.S. The facility marked a “significant investment in our long-term growth,” Travis Thomas, Ace’s retail support director, said at the time.
Ace has also been courting brands for its retail media network. Last year, the company introduced RedVest Media, a platform that allows its brand partners to target their advertising across emails, push messaging, connected TV and other channels.
While Ace Hardware has seen its revenue increase, it remains to be seen whether its competitors can say the same. Lowe’s and The Home Depot are due to release their year-end earnings this month.
Still, both companies saw some sales growth in their respective third quarters. Home Depot reported a 2.8% year-over-year bump in net sales, falling short of its expectations due to a lack of storm activity. Meanwhile, Lowe’s saw its net sales rise 3% year over year.
