Today, we reported all-time record quarterly results with adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.43, an increase of 94% compared to last year.
During the fourth quarter, same-store revenue increased $265 million or 5% compared to the prior year, a solid growth and new used and customer financial services revenue was partially offset by decline in customer care which has experienced a slower recovery correlated with lower miles driven.
We expect industry sales to approach $16 million in 2000 -- 2021 with strong retail sales growth compared to last year.
For the quarter, same-store total variable gross profit per vehicle retailed increased $765 or 21% compared to the prior year.
Same-store new vehicle gross profit per vehicle retailed increased $919 or 50% and same-store used vehicle gross profit per vehicle retail increased $127 or 9% compared to the prior year.
We drove significant SG&A leverage in the quarter, adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit was 63.8% for the quarter, representing an 820 basis point improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
We remain committed to operating below 68% SG&A as a percent of gross profit on a long-term basis.
We expect to allocate capital toward the AutoNation USA expansion share repurchase and franchise acquisitions.
Today, we announced our Board authorized an additional $1 billion of share repurchase from October 22 through February 12.
We bought back 6 million shares or 7% of our outstanding shares.
We are also entered the planning phase to open an additional 10 AutoNation USA stores in 2022.
We have set the long-term goal of selling over 1 million combined new and used retail units per year.
As Mike highlighted, today we reported adjusted net income from continuing operations of $213 million or $2.43 per share versus $113 million or $1.25 per share during the fourth quarter of 2019.
This represents an all-time high quarterly earnings per share and a 94% increase year-over-year.
Fourth quarter 2020 adjusted results exclude a non-cash accounting loss of $62 million after tax or $0.70 per share associated with our equity investment in Vroom.
Our cash balance at quarter end was $570 million which combined with our additional borrowing capacity resulted in total liquidity of approximately $2.3 billion at the end of December.
Note, in January of this year, we paid the maturity of our $300 million, 3.35% senior notes from available cash on our balance sheet.
Our covenant leverage of debt-to-EBITDA declined to 1.8 times at the end of the fourth quarter, down from 2.0 times at the end of the third quarter, including cash and used floorplan availability, our net leverage ratio was 1.3 times at year-end.
During the fourth quarter, we sold 3.1 million shares of our equity investment in Vroom for proceeds of $105 million.
Early in 2021, we sold the remaining shares of Vroom for proceeds of $109 million.
So in total, we realized a cash gain of $165 million on our investment.
Our AutoNation USA expansion provides an attractive growth opportunity and we remain on track to open five new AutoNation USA stores in 2021, an additional 10 in 2022 as Mike addressed earlier.
During the fourth quarter, we repurchased 4.7 million shares of common stock for an aggregate price of $302 million.
Year-to-date in 2021 through February 12, we repurchased an additional 1.3 million shares for an aggregate purchase price of $95 million.
Today, as Mike mentioned, we also announced that our Board has increased our share repurchase authorization by an additional $1 billion.
With the increased authorization, the company has approximately $1.1 billion available for additional share repurchase.
And as of February 12, there were approximately 82 million shares outstanding, excluding the dilutive impact of certain stock awards.
We sold our 13 million vehicle in December, the only automotive retail in history to do so.
We have raised over $25 million in the fight against cancer.
In '21 we are celebrating 25 years of leadership, innovation, excellence and recognition as the most admired -- as one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune Magazine.
Congratulations to all 21,000 AutoNation associates for achieving such tremendous success.

Summary:
Today, we reported all-time record quarterly results with adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.43, an increase of 94% compared to last year.
During the fourth quarter, same-store revenue increased $265 million or 5% compared to the prior year, a solid growth and new used and customer financial services revenue was partially offset by decline in customer care which has experienced a slower recovery correlated with lower miles driven.
Same-store new vehicle gross profit per vehicle retailed increased $919 or 50% and same-store used vehicle gross profit per vehicle retail increased $127 or 9% compared to the prior year.
We expect to allocate capital toward the AutoNation USA expansion share repurchase and franchise acquisitions.
Today, we announced our Board authorized an additional $1 billion of share repurchase from October 22 through February 12.
We are also entered the planning phase to open an additional 10 AutoNation USA stores in 2022.
We have set the long-term goal of selling over 1 million combined new and used retail units per year.
As Mike highlighted, today we reported adjusted net income from continuing operations of $213 million or $2.43 per share versus $113 million or $1.25 per share during the fourth quarter of 2019.
Our AutoNation USA expansion provides an attractive growth opportunity and we remain on track to open five new AutoNation USA stores in 2021, an additional 10 in 2022 as Mike addressed earlier.
Today, as Mike mentioned, we also announced that our Board has increased our share repurchase authorization by an additional $1 billion.