O'Reilly to buy Gateway, announces yera-end results

O'Reilly Automotive Inc. announced Jan. 18 a definitive agreement to buy Gateway Auto Supply of Ft. Worth, Texas, for about $5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in early April

Gateway operates 14 stores in the Dallas and Ft. Worth area with 1999 sales of about $13 million, according to a release from O'Reilly.

"The Gateway team members and stores will be a great addition to our existing O'Reilly store base in the Texas market," said Larry O'Reily, chairman and chief operating officer for O'Reilly.

O'Reilly also announced the acquisition of a 225,000-square-foot distribution center in Seagoville, Texas. The center and 26 acres were bought from Autozone for about $5.4 million in cash. The center is set to be fully operational in October and the O'Reilly release said it will help in the company's Texas expansion plans.

By the end of the year, the Springfield-based O'Reilly plans to operate about 120 stores in north and east Texas. The Gateway acquisition and new store openings will be used to achieve the goal. O'Reilly plans to open at least 100 new stores in 2000, 50 of them in Texas.

O'Reilly also announced year-end financial performance. The company had product sales of $754.1 million in 1999, compared to $616.3 million for 1998, an increase of 22.4 percent.

Product sales for the fourth quarter were reported at $183.2 million, an increase from $160 million for the fourth quarter in 1998, a 14.5 percent increase.

"We are very pleased with the 1999 fourth-quarter and year-end store product sales considering the industry-wide softness due to extremely mild weather during the fourth quarter," said David O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive officer, in a release.

O'Reilly operates 571 stores in nine states.