Sears reports third quarter losses of $558 million

On Thursday, Sears Holdings reported a loss of $558 million in its third quarter. The company generated total revenues of approximately $3.7 billion compared to revenues of $5 billion last year, with store closures contributing to more than half of the decline. Despite losses, share prices went up 5 percent.

Sears Holdings has taken measures to increase liquidity by selling off assets and closing stores. Their revenues were negatively impacted by reductions in the number of pharmacies in Kmart stores as well as reductions in consumer electronics in Kmart and Sears stores. Total comparable store sales declined 15.3 percent during the quarter. Kmart comparable store sales decreased 13 percent, while Sears comparable store sales declined 17 percent.

An optimistic Edward S. Lampert, Chairman and CEO of Holdings, said, “In the third quarter, we continued to narrow our losses and delivered another quarter of Adjusted EBITDA improvement of at least $100 million.”

“With the challenging retail landscape continuing to pressure sales, the improvement in Adjusted EBITDA is reflective of the success of the strategic priorities we outlined earlier this year to streamline our operations, reduce inventory and minimize operating expenses, as well as our commitment to our goal of restoring positive Adjusted EBITDA in 2018,” he added.