Popular Japanese department storeTakashimaya is one of the retailers dealing with mounting losses due to the ongoing pandemic.
The retailer reported 20,530 million yen or US $ 190 million in losses for the May quarter blaming COVID-19-related costs and falling sales.
This is the first time the company has reported losses ever since it started disclosing quarterly earnings in February 2004. In March-May quarter of 2019, Takashimaya posted a net profit of 10,597 million yen and an operating profit of 7,746 million yen.
The company had temporarily closed 22 stores in Japan from 8 April onwards owing to the state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Sales were down more than 60 per cent in May but there are signs of recovery with sales dipping only 16 per cent in June as people start venturing out again.
The absence of revenue garnered from tourists is also a factor contributing to the reduced domestic spending.
The company has recorded an extraordinary one-off loss of US $ 79.8 million due to pandemic costs, including paid leave for staff during the shutdown.
The sales and quarterly earnings for the company’s stores in Singapore, Vietnam, Mainland China and Thailand are not known.
