Struggling Sears Hints at More Store Closures

Fourth-quarter comps fell 10.3 percent

Sears Holdings said it is looking to optimize its real estate portfolio, a phrase generally taken to mean it is weighing closing more stores.

The company has already said it is planning to close 108 Kmart and 42 Sears stores.

A statement from CEO Eddie Lampert said the closures, as well as other cuts in overhead, will lead to $1 billion in savings in 2017. He said that the company’s fourth-quarter 2016 results have evidenced “significant year-over-year improvement” and that it has “made progress toward profitability.”

Still, those results don’t seem that upbeat: Although the company posted a lower loss in terms of EBITDA, its comps declined 10.3 percent, with sales falling 8 percent at Kmart and 12.3 percent at Sears Domestic.
(Photo courtesy of Sears)

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