May Merger On Track

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 5/16/2005 12:00:00 AM

St. Louis — —

St. Louis — May Department Stores Company said during its first quarter conference call that it is on track to complete its merger with Federated Department Stores in the third quarter.

(A full set of May and Federated quarterly numbers is available on page 19.)

“Both (May and Federated) are taking steps to gain the necessary approvals by the shareholders of each company as well as approval from the Federal Trade Commission,” said Tom Fingleton, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We continue to believe that the merger will be completed in the third quarter. Of course, there are no assurances on this.”

The company also offered an update on its planning and allocation improvement efforts.

“The streamlined version (of the allocation improvement) is not going to require any organizational changes, and we're also deferring any major, major systems projects,” Fingleton said. “But there are a number of the basic principals that we're going to, starting with the Filene's and Robinsons-May divisions.”