Car-Mart Net Up 8 Percent for 3Q

America’s Car-Mart of Bentonville posted an 8 percent increase in net income during its third quarter ended Jan. 31, 2009, on overall revenue growth of 3.3 percent.

Net income was $3.6 million in the third quarter on total sales of $73.5 million, and same-store sales increased 2.9 percent.

For the nine months ended Jan. 31, revenues increased 11.6 percent to $221.1 million, compared with $198.1 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Income for the first nine months of FY 2009 was $12.8 million compared to $9 million in the prior year period.

Car-Mart CEO Hank Henderson credited a “Zero Down” tax refund purchase program that began in November with deferred down payments as a great success in the quarter.

“[Zero Down] has been extremely successful and is the best tax refund promotion ever in our 27-year history,” Henderson said in the earning release.

Car-Mart reported a slight uptick in accounts more than 30 days past due during the third quarter, up to 4.5 percent from 3.7 percent in the year-ago period. However, Henderson said Car-Mart expects to see that number drop as more customers receive their tax refunds.

“At the end of February, our over 30-day accounts past due were back down to less than 3.5 percent,” Henderson said.