Family Dollar December same-store sales down 0.7 pct

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discount store chain Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO.N) said on Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year fell 0.7 percent in December and predicted that January same-store sales would be flat.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting the company to post a December same-store sales decrease of 1.9 percent, according to Reuters Estimates.

Family Dollar, which had forecast December same-store sales to be flat or down slightly, said total sales for the five weeks ended January 6 rose 2.5 percent to $816.6 million from $796.7 million a year earlier.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)