Wickes Hikes Debt Offering, Will Seek Big Acquisition

Wickes Cos. moved Wednesday to fatten its wallet with money to be used for corporate acquisitions by raising the amount of its previously announced debt offering to $1 billion.

Chairman and Chief Executive Sanford C. Sigoloff told shareholders at Wickes’ annual meeting that the offering of subordinated debentures will be made to the public within the next two weeks. Wickes is amending its previous filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a $600-million debt offering.

The Santa Monica company has made a number of regional acquisitions and expects to reach an agreement in principle within a week to acquire 30 stores from Homecrafters in Birmingham, Ala. Sigoloff said that Wickes--which recently made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire National Gypsum--will spend more than $1 billion for a major acquisition before year-end, but he declined to elaborate Wednesday.

Wickes’ sales for the three months ended April 26 totaled $995.1 million, up from $382.1 million in the first quarter a year ago. Income from continuing operations was $15.7 million, compared to a loss of $6.2 million. Net income was $20.5 million, compared to a loss of $5.3 million. First-quarter results this year included the results of the consumer and industrial products group acquired in September from Gulf & Western. Year-ago results do not include those operations and were restated to reflect both completed and pending divestitures.