JCPenney has announced financial results for its 2019 fourth quarter and for the full year ended 1 February 2020. And tough times seem to be continuing, with the company expecting to close at least 6 store locations in fiscal 2020.
In Q4, its comparable store sales decreased by 7 per cent, while adjusted comparable store sales too slumped by 4.7 per cent.
As far as the result for the whole year was concerned, comparable store sales saw a fall of 7.7 per cent and adjusted comparable store sales also fell by 5.6 per cent.
JCPenney, with approximately 850 stores, is one of the largest apparel and home retailers of USA.
JCPenney sources from 30 Indian factories as far as apparel and home furnishing products are concerned. Its office in Noida has around 80 people.
Notably, in past few days, the company has seen more negative developments as its EVP and Chief Customer Officer Shawn Gensch, resigned just after a stint of 9 months with the company.
Earlier this month, the company also made to the list of S&P Global Market Intelligence’s ‘most vulnerable’ publicly traded retailers.
Speaking about the results, Jill Soltau, CEO of the company, said “In Fiscal 2019, we met or exceeded all 5 financial guidance metrics for the year, and delivered our third consecutive quarter of meaningful gross-margin improvement in the Q4.”
He further added, “As we move into Fiscal 2020, we remain focused on the key tenets of retail as we continue rebuilding the company and implementing our plan for renewal.”
Total net sales for the 2019 fourth quarter decreased by 7.7 per cent to US $ 3.38 billion compared to US $ 3.67 billion for the fourth quarter last year, while comparable store sales decreased by 7.0 per cent for the quarter.
Net income for the fourth quarter was US $ 27 million, compared to net income of US $ 75 million in the same period last year.
For fiscal 2019, total net sales decreased by 8.1 per cent to US $ 10.72 billion compared to US $ 11.66 billion for fiscal 2018.
For the year, the company’s net loss was US $ 268 million, compared to a net loss of US $ 255 million of last year.
