During 2006, L.L. Bean sales topped $1.5B for first time

FREEPORT – L.L. Bean’s sales topped $1.5 billion for the first time in 2006 and the board of directors was impressed enough by the company’s performance Friday to reward employees with $25.5 million in cash bonuses.

L.L. Bean’s sales grew by 4.6 percent during the fiscal year ending Feb. 25, closing out a year that saw online sales overtake traditional catalog sales. Overall, online sales grew 13 percent.

The company also opened new stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut and four stores in Japan, in addition to a bike, boat and ski store in Freeport.

“It’s a well-deserved bonus,” Leon Gorman, L.L. Bean’s grandson and the chairman of the board, said in a statement Friday.

The bonuses are each equal to 7.5 percent of the annual salary of eligible workers, said L.L. Bean spokeswoman Carolyn Beem. More than 4,900 workers are eligible for the bonuses, which will be paid March 29. In the past five years, bonuses have ranged from zero to 15 percent, Beem said.

L.L. Bean has big plans for the coming year. In fiscal 2007, L.L. Bean plans to invest $90 million in revamping and expanding operations at its headquarters.

Those plans include a 30,000-square-foot extension to the flagship store for a new hunting and fishing store, as well as a retail complex and parking structure at the site of the old factory store in the lower village.

The company also plans to open three new stores in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts this year and explore expansion in international markets, including Canada.