Sears Holdings Corporation for its third quarter ended October 31, 2015 said that Kmart and Sears domestic comparable store sales declined 7.5 percent and 9.6 percent with more than half of the decline, the company said, coming from declines in apparel and consumer electronics, a lower margin category. However the company also witnessed fifth consecutive quarter of improved adjusted EBITDA.

”We remain focused on restoring Sears Holdings to profitability by concentrating on our best stores, rewarding our best members and pursuing our best categories through innovative solutions to product and service offerings. Through deliberate strategic actions, notably with respect to our promotional design and marketing spend, we have made meaningful progress in our transformation and reported a fifth consecutive quarter of improved year-over-year results. As expected, the results of these actions have led to comparable store sales declines despite an increase in profitability,” said Edward S. Lampert, Holdings' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Fifth consecutive quarter of improved EBITDA

However domestic Adjusted EBITDA of 280 million dollars, excluding Seritage Growth Properties and joint venture rent compared to 296 million dollars in the prior year third quarter, which the company said is the fifth consecutive quarter of improved adjusted EBITDA performance on a year-over-year basis.

Kmart's gross margin rate for the third quarter improved 40 basis points over the prior year third quarter, while Sears domestic's gross margin rate declined 30 basis points from the prior year third quarter.

Net loss attributable to holdings' shareholders was 454 million dollars or 4.26 dollars loss per diluted share compared to a net loss of 548 million dollars or 5.15 dollars loss per diluted share for the prior year third quarter. Sales to Shop Your Way members in Sears full-line and Kmart stores were 75 percent of eligible sales for the third quarter.

Considerable decline in revenues

Revenues decreased approximately 1.5 billion dollars to 5.8 billion dollars compared to revenues of 7.2 billion dollars for the quarter ended November 1, 2014, with a significant portion of the decline related to actions taken by the company to streamline our operations and focus on our transformation into a member-centric retailer. The decrease in revenue included a decrease of 611 million dollars associated with Sears Canada, which was de-consolidated in October 2014, and 358 million dollars as a result of fewer Kmart and Sears full-line stores. In addition, comparable store sales declined 8.6% during the quarter, comprised of decreases of 7.5 percent and 9.6 percent at Kmart and Sears Domestic, respectively, which accounted for 417 million dollars of the revenue decline.