Dollar General Promotes John Garratt To CFO; Lowers 2015 Sales Outlook

(RTTNews) - While reporting its financial results for the third quarter today, discount retailer Dollar General Corp. (DG) said it has promoted John Garratt to executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective December 2, 2015.

Garratt has served as Dollar General's interim CFO since June 2015 He previously served as its senior vice president of finance and strategy since joining the company in October 2014.

Garratt will oversee all aspects of the Company's financial and information technology operations. Prior to joining Dollar General in 2014, Garratt held various positions of increasing responsibility in the finance organization of Yum! Brands between May 2004 and October 2014, and held leadership positions in corporate strategy and financial planning. Most recently, he was vice president, finance and division controller for KFC.

In addition, the company appointed Anita Elliott, senior vice president and controller at Dollar General since 2005, as chief accounting officer or CAO. Elliott will report to Garratt in his role as CFO, effective December 2, 2015.

In a separate statement, Dollar General said its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.22 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend will be payable on January 6, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 23, 2015.

For fiscal 2015, Dollar General now forecasts net sales to increase by about eight percent over the 2014 fiscal year, with same-store sales expected to increase 2.5 to 2.8 percent. The company also projects earnings of about $3.87 to $3.92 per share, and adjusted earnings of $3.88 to $3.93 per share.

Earlier, the company forecast earnings of $3.85 to $3.95 per share, on projected total sales growth of 8 to 9 percent and same-store sales growth of 3 to 3.5 percent.

On average, analysts expect the company to report fiscal 2015 earnings of $3.92 per share on annual sales growth of 8.0 percent to $20.42 billion. Analysts estimates typically exclude special items.