Sears Canada's loss widens

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/15/2012 11:49:02 AM

Toronto - Slow weekend business contributed to a second quarter net loss at Sears Canada of C$9.8 million - versus a net loss of C$200,000 in the year-ago period.
Sales for the quarter ended July 28 fell 8.5% to C$1.050 billion, with comps down 7.1%.
President and ceo Calvin McDonald said Sears Canada did experience continued sales increases of regularly priced merchandise on weekdays.
He noted: "Sales following the opening of our new Sears Home location in Ottawa, the largest Sears Home store in the country, exceeded our expectations and the Sears Home format experienced year over year sales increases."
The company tested special promotions to boost business on Saturday and Sunday business, but "our weekend business is still underperforming and we will be executing new approaches as we proceed through the third quarter," said McDonald.
For the first half of the year, net earnings jumped 76% to C$83.2 million, which included was a pre-tax gain of C$164.3 million on the early surrender and return of leases on three properties. Sales dropped 8.2% to C$1.965 billion, with comps down 6.7%.