Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Laura Champine with Morgan Keegan. Please go ahead.
Laura Champine – Morgan, Keegan & Company, Inc.
We all know that business is tough, what’s your sense of when same store sales might turn for you?
Clarence H. Smith
Well as has been pointed out there have been 16 straight months of negative comps. It is certainly a priority, we would hope that would be soon but, it’s something that’s too difficult to predict under the circumstances.
Laura Champine – Morgan, Keegan & Company, Inc.
Dennis, you mentioned in the store opening comments that you plan to add three stores and that two of those are replacement stores and then talked later about store closures. Are those stores closure in addition to the two stores that you are relocating?
Dennis L. Fink
Yes they are.
Laura Champine – Morgan, Keegan & Company, Inc.
Is there any preliminary that you might be able to offer us for where your store count might be at the year end?
Dennis L. Fink
We think that the store count will probably go down in 2008, very modestly. And again, the closings are for the most part, natural closings where the lease term is up or in one possible scenario somebody wants to sub lease the store from us and we might let them.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line Marc Buckley Jones with Behrman Capital. Please go ahead.
Mark Buckley Jones – Behrman Capital
I just wanted to get a little bit more color on the share buyback program. Do you by any chance have a number for the accretion to EPS that would have come about as a result of the buy back?
Dennis L. Fink
Let me get that, it’s very small so far because so much of the buyback was in the fourth quarter. If you have another question go ahead while I look for that number.
Mark Buckley Jones – Behrman Capital
I guess, it’s related to the buyback. You said that you bought back 6% of the shares that were outstanding as of the start of the year. Aare there any fixed targets for how much you want to repurchase? I know you also mentioned that your target was about $13 on which obviously now it is now trading around $10.
Clarence H. Smith
Well, no we said that we would be buying below that book which is $13 and I think the average was $9.
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