• Home
  • Executive
  • Report
  • Christopher & Banks' CEO ousted amidst poor holiday sales

Christopher & Banks' CEO ousted amidst poor holiday sales

By Angela Gonzalez-Rodriguez

loading...

Scroll down to read more

An unexpected downward turn during the holidays has triggered LuAnn Via’s exit from Christopher’s & Banks. The U.S. women’s clothing retailer seemed to have found certain stability under Via’s reining after years of different turnaround attempts.

On the back of the news, the company’s shares plunging 32 percent.

A filling by the company with the regulator states that Via was terminated “without cause.” She will receive a 850,000 dolllars severance package, an amount equal to her annual base salary, and be paid for accrued vacation and other incentives, reveals the ‘Star Tribune’.

She has been reportedly replaced on an interim basis by the same CEO who preceded her, Joel Waller, the former CEO of The Wet Seal and Wilsons Leather who previously served as interim CEO in 2012. He is also an investor in the Macellum Retail Opportunity Fund, which owns 10.3 percent of Christopher & Banks’ shares.

The decision has been made by an almost entirely reshuffled board of directors. The leadership change happened in early summer last year in response to the “support agreement” reached with activist shareholder Jonathan Duskin of Macellum Capital Management.

Local media recall that the possibility of a potential sale is not new as Duskin first began making overtures to the board in 2015, urging the company to explore a possible sale in light of its inability to reverse declining sales.

Christopher & Banks, a chain that currently has about 500 stores aimed at middle-age and baby boomer women, had trouble finding its footing coming out of the Great Recession.

Earlier this week the company lowered its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter, citing lower traffic, softness in the women’s apparel market and weather. The biggest declines came the last two weekends before Christmas, when sales fell about 4.5 million dollars.

Christopher & Banks now expects net sales for the quarter to be between 85 million dollars and 86 million dollars, well behind the previous forecast of 93 million to 97 million dollars range. The retailer also expects a net loss in the fourth quarter of between 16 million and 17 million dollars

Christopher’s & Banks