Tandy Leather Factory (TLF) Total March Sales Rose 1%

Tandy Leather Factory (NASDAQ: TLF) announced that sales for the month of March were $7.1 million, up 1% compared to March 2014 sales of $7.0 million.

Retail Leathercraft's sales rose 7% to $4.5 million compared to March 2014 sales of $4.2 million. The 80 comparable stores' sales were up 5% for the month compared to the same period last year. The two stores opened since March 2014 added March sales of $63,000. Year-to-date sales for Retail Leathercraft are $13.2 million this year, a 10% increase over sales of $12.0 million for the same period of 2014. As of the end of March, the 79 comparable stores' sales were up 8% compared to sales reported for the same period in 2014.

Wholesale Leathercraft posted sales of $2.3 million for March, a decrease of 8% from March 2014 sales of $2.5 million. Within the Wholesale Leathercraft division, the wholesale stores' sales were down 2% for the month while National Account group sales were down 100%, or $158,000, as sales to this customer group ended in April 2014. For the year to date, Wholesale Leathercraft sales are $6.7 million, decreasing 2% from sales of $6.9 million for the same period a year ago. As of the end of March, the wholesale same store sales were up 6% compared to the same period last year while the National Account group's sales are down 100%.

International Leathercraft reported February sales of $324,000, up 2% compared to March 2014 sales of $319,000. For the year to date, International Leathercraft sales were $955,000 compared to $1.0 million in 2014, down 8%. All three stores in the segment have been opened for both periods, so same store sales for the month were the same as the segment's sales.

Chief Executive Officer and President, Jon Thompson, commented, "Our March sales were a little soft, primarily because we are running tight on inventory. Product delivery has been slowed somewhat due to the issues at the West Coast ports. We didn't feel the effects in 2014 because we took delivery of so much product early in the year. We anticipate that our April sales to be affected as well, while the port is returning to normal operations."

Shannon L. Greene, Chief Financial Officer added, "We ended the first quarter with inventory of approximately $29 million, a decrease of $4 million from year end. Even so, our March sales were respectable and in line with our internal targets. Our international stores continue to fight the strong US dollar. As we mentioned last month, their sales are better than they look on paper as some of the stores' gains in local currencies are flat or worse when converted to US dollars."

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