Family Dollar posts bigger Q2 profit

(Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc <FDO.N> posted a higher quarterly profit, as shoppers flocked to its stores for low-priced holiday items and basic goods such as food.

The retailer, which has more than 6,880 discount stores in 44 U.S. states, rebuffed a buyout offer from Nelson Peltz's Trian Group earlier this month.

Family Dollar earned $123.2 million, or 98 cents per share, in the fiscal second quarter ended on February 26, compared with a profit of $112.2 million, or 81 cents per share, a year earlier.

The results come barely a fortnight after Family Dollar raised its second-quarter earnings forecast after its sales jumped in the quarter. At that time, it had estimated a profit of 97-98 cents a share, versus a prior target of 92-97 cents per share.

The company had said total quarterly sales rose 8.3 percent to about $2.26 billion, with sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, up 5.1 percent.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore and Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)