by David Moin
From WWD Issue 05/03/2011
Sears Holdings Corp. reported Monday that for the first fiscal quarter ended April 30, domestic comparable-store sales declined 3.6 percent and that a net loss for the first quarter of between $145 million and $195 million, or between $1.35 and $1.81 per diluted share, is expected.
Kmart’s comps sales were down 1.6 percent; Sears’ fell 5.2 percent.
Appliances had the sharpest declines, while apparel experienced slow spring-summer sales due to weather that was worse than last year. However, home, sporting goods, jewelry and footwear categories continued to generate sales growth, Sears said. In the quarter, the company started including sears.com and kmart.com results in its comparable-store figures for the first time. Internet sales on sears.com and kmart.com items shipped directly to customers (as opposed to picked up in store) increased 22.4 percent.
Sears Canada expects to report a comparable-store sales decline of 9.2 percent for the quarter. Sears, which holds it annual meeting today, also said its board approved the repurchase of up to $500 million of the common shares, in addition to the $86 million worth of shares available for repurchase under the existing program.
