The strong performance comes as David H. Hughes plans to give up his CEO post at the New York Stock Exchange-traded company in May to president Tom Morgan. Hughes will remain as chairman of the company founded in 1928 by his grandfather, Russell Hughes.
David Hughes is credited with growing the company from a local distributor of building supplies with annual sales of $30 million to a 450-branch national organization in 34 states with average annual sales of $3 billion. David Hughes joined the company full time in 1967 after graduating from law school at the University of Florida, and has been CEO since 1974.
The company also reported a robust 4Q which ended Jan. 31. Net income of $7.4 million or 31 cents per share compared with net of $5.2 million or 22 cents a share in the comparable 2001 period.
Net sales for the quarter were $697.6 million versus $666.2 million a year ago. But comparable branch sales were down 1%.
Morgan joined the company two years ago as chief operating officer and president. He is a former executive at Atlanta-based Genuine Parts Co. where he worked for 20 years.
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