Sears Canada Inc. has announced its results for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Total revenues for the 13-week period ended May 2, 2015, were $697.2 million compared to $771.7 million for the 13-week period ended May 3, 2014, a decrease of 9.7%. Same store sales decreased 4.3%.
The balance of the decrease in revenues was primarily attributable to revenues from stores closed as a result of termination and amendment of certain store leases and the sale of joint arrangement interests since the end of the quarter last year, according to the retailer.
The net loss for the quarter was $59.1 million or 58 cents per share, an improvement compared to $75.2 million or 74 cents per share for the quarter last year.
“We began to see signs that our business was performing better this quarter,” said Ron Boire, president and CEO, Sears Canada Inc. “Our net loss decreased by over $16 million and our EBITDA loss decreased by almost $8 million. Same store sales, although still negative, decreased by less than in any quarter last year. Still, we know much work lies ahead of us. Our aim is to have a balanced approach to achieve both top-line revenue improvement and profitability. In striving to accomplish this, we are proceeding with our plans to transform the company, and this primarily involves moving from simply a multi-channel retailer to an effective omnichannel retailer. The transformation involves an integration of products, pricing, marketing, infrastructure and distribution capabilities to allow customers to shop how they want, when they want and where they want. At the same time, we are continuing to improve our product offering, having recently announced new apparel-related relationships with Cherokee, Liz Lange and Wayne Gretzky.”
Sears Canada includes 167 corporate stores, 197 Hometown stores, over 1,300 catalog and online merchandise pick-up locations, 85 Sears Travel offices, a repair and service network and shopping online at Sears.ca.
