Yeah. Major retailers always close stores when sales and profits are great. Funny how they decided to announce this one day after the 20% surge in their stock price based on a miniscule increase in comp store sales. The avalanche of store closing announcements from other retailers to follow.
JC Penney to close 40 stores in 2015
J.C. Penney said Thursday it will close about 40 stores over the next year.
The closures, which represent nearly 4 percent of the 1,060 Penney U.S. stores, will affect about 2,250 employees, according to spokesman Joey Thomas.
Penney’s stock was down 1.8 percent in morning trading Thursday.
Most locations will close on or about April 4, Thomas said.
Read MorePenney soars, but too soon to call victory
“We continually evaluate our store portfolio to determine whether there’s a need to close or relocate underperforming stores,” Thomas said. “Reviews such as these are essential in meeting our long-term goals for future company growth.”
The announcement comes one day after the retailer said that its same-store sales rose 3.7 percent during the crux of the holiday season.
Analysts have been calling for J.C. Penney, along with other retailers that they consider to have too many locations, to downsize their store counts.
By shuttering underperforming stores, retailers are able to cut costs in an environment when more sales are taking place online.
Just Wednesday, struggling teen company Wet Seal said it is closing 338 retail stores effective immediately. Last month, Sears announced that it would accelerate its store closing plan from 130 underperforming stores to 235.
Belus Capital Advisors analyst Brian Sozzi said these announcements would be far from the last.
“You will hear more, big-time store closure announcements within the next month,” he wrote in an email.
Retailers typically announce pending store closings in January. Last year, Penney’s announced 33 closings during the month.
Thomas said that eligible employees who do not remain with the company will receive benefits and, when possible, assistance in finding a job at a nearby store. The retailer will also offer an on-site career training class.
Coke To Fire 1800, Caterpillar Laying Off 200
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2015 11:40 -0500
Stocks are up nearly 2% today alone, with the S&P back to green for 2015. Among the reasons for today’s rally: lower overhead courtesy of KO and CAT, which announced that between the two of them, they would fire some 2,000 workers, which is great news for stocks if not for actual employees as there will be even more dry powder for another record quarter of stock buybacks.
First Coke, via the WSJ:
Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday it will eliminate at least 1,600 to 1,800 jobs globally as part of its earlier announced $3 billion cost-cutting drive.
The Atlanta-based beverage giant said it began notifying some of the affected employees Thursday and that the cuts will be carried out over the coming months.
“We have committed that we will ensure fair, equitable and compassionate treatment of our people throughout the process,’’ it added in a written statement.
Coke said it is still completing changes in some of its businesses, but that ”at this time’’ it has identified 1,600 to 1,800 affected positions. That raises the possibility of additional job cuts at a later date.
And then CAT:
Peoria-based Caterpillar said Wednesday it is laying off 200 workers at its Decatur and East Peoria facilities beginning Jan. 19.
“Products built in these locations are used in the mining industry, which continues to witness weak market conditions,” the company said in a statement.
The company has already laid off hundreds of workers at factories where mining equipment is produced. Caterpillar has said a decline in commodity prices has led mining companies to halt expansions and the building of new mines, leading to reduced demand for equipment.
“While some cost reduction measures have already been implemented, including temporary shutdowns and reductions in the flexible workforce, more permanent measures must be taken in the near term,” the statement read
We’re talking about JC Penney, right? Is this a surprise? I mean, the dinosaur are already extinct, and it seems like this is one of those dinosaurs of retail. Do people even BUY anything from these kinds of stores anymore, or is this a captive audience type angle, these dinosaur retailers only have stores in places like NYC where it is a captive market and people can’t escape the shitty urban environment to open up their buying options?
Was at the local mall last night and saw that the Aeropostale store was having an ‘everything must go’ sale as they were shutting down operations. The mall is anchored at one end by Sears and the other by JC Penney, with Macy’s holding a flank position. Come next Christmas season this place could be a ghost town.
My sister retired from JCP last year after working for them for 30 years. She claims the early retirement benefits they gave her are guaranteed for the rest of her life. I hope, for her sake, she is right, but… my husband retired from the USAF a decade ago and we’ve seen many of his “guaranteed” benefits morph into something other than was promised to him when he retired.
But, then again… perhaps an American Retail Icon like JCP is too big to fail and the company pensions will be supported by the taxpayers!
Maggie…tell your sister not hold her breath. Like most companies I can guarantee that JCP’s pension fund is grossly under-funded . Likewise the pension guarantee fund from Uncle Sam is in the crapper if GM or any other big company goes tits up .
Maggie
Buckhead is 100% correct. When JC Penney goes belly up, her pension and health benefits will be cut in half.
Nothing but “Better Than Expected” stories running on Marketwatch today. Expectations for sales and profits are dropped dramatically by the retailers in conjunction with the Wall Street shysters in November. Now they tout that they beat expectations, without discussing the promotions and hits to profits required to beat the lowered expectations.
This pumps up the stocks. The Executives then cash in their stock options and the Wall Street crowd sells their shares to the gullible public before the AWFUL profits are reported in February.
Ain’t America beautiful?
Macy’s didn’t take long to announce their store closings after weak holiday sales of 2.1%, most of which came from on-line sales.
Macy’s closing 14 stores, expects charges of up to $110M
Hailey Lee | @haileylee139
Macy’s is closing 14 stores and also expects charges of up to $110 million, according to the company on Thursday. Over 1,000 people will lose their jobs.
I shopped our local JC Penney at Xmas last year looking for a beauty bar or some perfume for the Mrs. Closest they had was jewelry. Clothes and jewelry and that’s about it. No wonder they’re in the shitter. I left w/o purchase.
Steve Madden says profit to lag estimates after challenging quarter
By Ciara Linnane
Published: Jan 9, 2015 7:10 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Luxury shoe designer Steve Madden SHOO, +1.79% said Friday it expects 2014 per-share earnings of $1.75 to $1.76, below the current FactSet consensus of $1.84, after a “challenging” quarter that was hurt by the slowdown on West Coast ports and other factors. The company said its newly acquired Dolce Vita division also underperformed as it moved to shed excess inventory, while it also experienced delays in producing goods from Mexico. Fourth-quarter sales totaled $342.6 million, flat versus the year earlier. Same-store sales fell 2.3% in the quarter, and were down 8.1% for the year. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are down 1.7% in the last three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 7%.