Sears Holdings narrows loss, beats analysts estimates

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/28/2013 11:10:26 AM

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - Sears Holdings, parent of Sears and Kmart, pared down its fourth quarter net loss to $489 million, or $4.61 per share, from a net loss of $2.4 billion, or $22.63 per share in the year-ago period.
The spin-off of Sears Hometown and Outlet stores, along with the closing of some Sears and Kmart units, resulted in lower revenues. Total sales fell 2% to $12.26 billion. Consolidated comp fell 1.6%.
At Sears U.S. stores, same-store sales rose 0.8%. The company saw positive comps in home, home appliances, and apparel offset by declines in the consumer electronics, sporting goods and lawn & garden categories, as well as at Sears Auto Centers.
Kmart's 3.7% comp decline was largely attributed to slack sales in consumer electronics. Excluding that category, Kmart's fourth quarter comp fell 0.2%.
Eddie Lampert, chairman and and ceo, said there is more work to be done.
"Our focus continues to be on our core customers, our [shopyourway.com] members, and finding ways to provide them value and convenience through integrated retail and our Shop Your Way membership platform," he said. "We have invested significantly in our online ecommerce platforms, our membership rewards program and the technology needed to support these initiatives."

For the full year, net loss was $903 million, or $8.78 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.1 billion, or $29.15 per share in the previous year.

Total sales for the year decreased 4.1% to $39.9 billion, with consolidated comp down 2.5%. Same-store sales at Sears U.S. fell 1.4%, while Kmart's comp fell 3.7%.