Dollar General Restates Its Earnings

Dollar General Corp. lowered earnings for fiscal 1998 through 2000 by 60 cents a share and said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating accounting irregularities at the discount retailer.

The company is cooperating with the SEC inquiry, Chief Financial Officer James Hagan said. Hagan said he couldn’t comment on whether the company’s own review uncovered evidence of fraud.

Dollar General released its revised earnings after more than eight months of review. In April the company said it would restate earnings as it looked into “allegations of fraudulent behavior.” The announcement came two months after Chief Financial Officer Brian Burr quit.

In September, Dollar General fired its former auditor, Deloitte & Touche, over a disagreement on how leases should be treated for accounting purposes.

The company earned a combined $1.21 a share for fiscal 1998, 1999 and 2000 including the expense of settling lawsuits, Dollar General said. That’s lower than the combined $1.81 it previously disclosed for the three years and less than the $1.74 a share it expected to report when it began the re-examination in April.

The restated profit was lower than originally forecast because additional items were found in the accounting review and the company settled more than 20 lawsuits resulting from the earnings restatement, Dollar General said.

Shares of Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General fell 15 cents to $16.09 on the NYSE.

The news was released after the close of regular U.S. trading.