4th-Quarter Profit Rises for House of Fabrics

House of Fabrics said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit climbed 18% from a year earlier on a 3% increase in sales.

The Sherman Oaks-based operator of 628 retail fabric stores said net income in the quarter that ended Jan. 31 totaled $5.6 million, up from $4.73 million a year earlier, while its sales rose to $104.1 million from $100.8 million.

For its full fiscal year, House of Fabrics’ earnings slipped 3% to $11.1 million from $11.4 million in fiscal 1989, and its annual revenue was up 6% to $357.4 million from $338 million.

House of Fabrics also said it reactivated a previously authorized plan to buy up to 500,000, or 7.5%, of its 6.68 million total common shares currently outstanding. The shares would be bought periodically on the open market or through negotiated transactions.

The company also said Dorsey R. Gardner was elected to its board of directors, expanding the board to six members from five. Gardner is president of Boston-based Kelso Management Co., an investment adviser.