Friedman's announces record earnings results for the holiday quarter

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Friedman&#39;s Inc., one of the leading retailers of fine jewelry in the United States, today announced record financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended December 29, 2001.<br> <br> For the first fiscal quarter ended December 29, 2001, net sales increased 5.6%, to $183.1 million from $173.4 million during the comparable period last year. <br> <br> Comparable store sales increased 3.1% during the first fiscal quarter versus an increase of 5.5% for the comparable quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share for the first fiscal quarter increased 5.0% to a record 1.26 per share, on 14,618,000 weighted average shares outstanding compared to $1.20 per share, on 14,473,000 weighted average shares outstanding for the comparable period last year. <br> <br> At December 29, 2001, the Company had 645 stores in operation, an increase of 2.2% from the prior year.<br>