Same-store sales down 7.1% in fourth quarter

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings Corp. reported a 7.1 percent decline in same store sales for the three months ended January 31. The company, which plans to officially release its results on February 25, expects sales to total $25.1 billion for the 2015 fiscal year, down from $31.2 billion in fiscal 2014.

Sears said it plans to continue to cut costs.

“We will accelerate the closing of unprofitable stores, including, but not limited to, roughly 50 stores that we recently announced would be closing in the next few months,” the company said in a statement. “We also intend to continue to evaluate and optimize our cost structure, including optimizing store-level marketing expenditures and overall staffing levels, and we will be taking action to reduce our fixed costs, and to improve our inventory management and gross margin realization.”

Sears said it plans to reduce its costs by $550 million to $650 million in the coming fiscal year, depending on sales volume. Year-over-year expense reductions for fiscal 2015 are expected to amount to between $765 million and $790 million.

Holiday sales were disappointing, according to the retailer.

“We entered the holiday selling season with key product offerings and promotions intended to build engagement with our members and provide them with the best experience possible,” Sears’ statement said. “The holiday selling season proved to be challenging, with historically warm weather and intense competition pressuring margins and driving comparable store sales declines, particularly in our apparel and related softlines businesses.”

Even so, fourth quarter comparable store sales marked an improvement from the trend in the first three quarters. Same-store sales for the full year are expected to be down 7.3% in Kmart stores and 11.1% in Sears domestic stores, for a total decline of 9.2%.