O'Reilly Automotive Inc. promoted two executives in a new leadership succession plan published Feb. 7 and added $1 billion to its buyback program.
Effective May 8, Greg Johnson will become CEO and co-president, replacing Greg Henslee, who was nominated as executive vice chairman of the board. Jeff Shaw was also promoted to COO and co-president.
Both Johnson and Shaw have held the co-president posts since February 2017.
In a separate release, O'Reilly's board authorized an additional $1 billion for its share repurchase program, which is effective for a three-year period starting Feb. 7. This increase will raise the aggregate authorization under the current program to $10.75 billion.
The car parts seller reported a 23% increase in net income, to $302.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 from $246 million in the year-ago period. This figure included a $53 million one-off benefit due to the new U.S. tax law.
Diluted EPS was up 36% to $3.52 in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2017, from $2.59 a year earlier.
Sales came in at $2.19 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $2.10 billion for the same period in 2016.
The company said comparable store sales increased 1.3%, noting that results were affected by unfavorable calendar shifts in the fourth quarter and tough comparisons from strong demand a year earlier.
For full year 2017, net income grew to $1.13 billion, compared with $1.04 billion in the prior fiscal year.
Looking ahead, O'Reilly said it expects comparable store sales to increase 2% to 4% for the first quarter ending March 31 and full year 2018, respectively.
