“NEW YORK (AP) — It was another ugly quarter for Sears Holdings Corp.
The beleaguered department-store chain reported a steeper-than-expected loss for its first quarter on slumping sales.
It also announced that it is considering selling its protection-agreement business in an ongoing effort to raise cash as it struggles to reverse its fortunes. The unit runs the part of the business that sells customers service contracts that guarantee to fix or replace appliances if they break within a certain timeframe.
The steep loss drove Sears’ shares down more than 12 percent in after-hours trading.
Like many retailers, Sears’ business in the first couple of months of the year was hurt by poor weather and new economic pressures on its customers, including rise in the payroll tax. But the latest results show that Sears’ path toward profitability will be more elusive than the chain may have thought. Critics say that Sears still has not given shoppers a compelling reason to spend money there.
“I do not subscribe to the view that the macro factors are the sole reason for our poor performance,” hedge fund billionaire and Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert, who added the title of Sears CEO in February, told investors in a call following the earnings results Thursday.
Lampert succeeded Louis D’Ambrosio, who had been CEO since February 2011 but left because of family health reasons.
“They have an impact. But even with that impact, we should have been doing a lot better than we are,” Lampert said…..”
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