Pier 1 Imports Inc. (PIR)
Q4 2010 Earnings Call Transcript
April 18, 2010 11:00 a.m. ET

Executives

Nancy Benson - Assistant Treasurer and Director, Investor Relations
Alexander W. Smith - President and Chief Executive Officer
Charles H. Turner - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Analysts

Budd Bugatch - Raymond James
Brian Nagel - Oppenheimer & Co.
Unidentified Analyst - Banc of America/Merrill Lynch
David Berman - Berman Capital
Bradley Thomas - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Anthony C. Chukumba - BB&T Capital Markets

Presentation

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Pier 1 Imports Quarterly Conference Call. At the request of Pier 1 Imports today’s conference call is being recorded. All lines will be in a listen-only mode.

I would now like to introduce Mrs. Nancy Benson, Assistant Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations for Pier 1 Imports. Mrs. Benson, you may begin.

Nancy Benson

Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us this morning. Earlier today we issued a press release, which included the detailed financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended February 27, 2010.

In just a few moments, we’ll hear comments from our President and Chief Executive Officer, Alex Smith; and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Cary Turner about those results followed by a brief question-and-answer period.

Before we begin, I need to remind you that certain comments made during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and can be identified by the use of words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, believe and other similar words and phrases.

Our actual results and future financial condition may differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a result of many factors that maybe outside of our control. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our annual report filed on Form 10-K, for a complete discussion of the major risks and uncertainties that may affect our business. The forward-looking statements made today are as of the date of this call, and we do not undertake any obligation to update our forward-looking statements.

The press release issued earlier today also includes a reconciliation of any non-GAAP measures that are being discussed today. If you do not have a copy of today’s press release you may obtain on, along with copies of prior press releases and all SEC filings, by linking through to the investor relations page of our website, pier1.com.

I would now like to turn the call over to Alex.

Alexander W. Smith

Thank you, Nancy. And thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. Amazingly to me it was three years ago today that I spoke to you on my first earnings call. It seems like yesterday. At that time I talked about how we were going to return our company to profitability. I didn’t know then what the economy was going to throw at us, so the recession has, obviously, extended our turnaround timeline. It has cost us a year. But we stayed with our strategy, took advantage where we could and focused not only on the execution of our business priorities but on building the culture we all want for ourselves here at Pier 1 Imports. Consequently we arrive here today stronger, leaner, more effective and more determined to take market share than every before.

Now Cary’s going to talk about our fourth quarter and year-end results. You’ll hear how our business has dramatically improved and will grasp just how much potential lies ahead of us. Cary?

Charles H. Turner