Advance Auto Parts reported a 1.3% increase in net sales and a 12.1% jump in operating income for 2019.

Full-year net sales came in at $9.7 billion, up from $9.58 billion in 2018. Operating income was $677.2 million, up from $604.3 million in 2018.

Comparable-store sales – excluding Carquest – increased 1.1%.

Advance reported fourth-quarter net sales of $2.1 billion, up 0.4% compared to fourth-quarter 2018. Comparable-store sales were flat, while operating income jumped nearly 50% to $126.1 million.

“Advance once again delivered another quarter of net sales growth along with an acceleration of adjusted operating-income growth amidst a challenging demand environment in Q4,” Advance President and CEO Tom Greco said. “Although sales growth was below our expectations, we grew adjusted operating margin by 106 basis points, which reinforces our team’s commitment to delivering continuous, incremental improvement on the substantial margin-expansion opportunity we have.

“In addition, our entire Advance team, including our network of independent Carquest partners, delivered net sales growth for the second consecutive year, which enabled us to make excellent progress on our long-term objectives. In particular, we ramped up investment in supply chain, e-commerce and technology, which will strengthen our customer value proposition in the future.”

For 2020, Advance offered guidance of net sales between $9.88 billion and $10.1 billion.

“We remain disciplined in our approach to executing on our strategic objectives and meeting our financial priorities in 2020,” said Jeff Shepherd, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We know that we have continued work ahead of us, but have a dedicated team in place to continue the momentum to drive customer and shareholder value. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce our current year outlook, which is inclusive of the 53rd week we have in our fiscal year 2020.”