Sears Q4 loss widens, revenues decline

Sears Holdings Corporation’s domestic adjusted EBITDA was 82 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to 125 million dollars in the prior year fourth quarter. Full year domestic adjusted EBITDA was 703 million dollars compared to 647 million dollars in the prior year. Net loss attributable to holdings' shareholders was 580 million dollars or 5.44 dollars loss per diluted share for the fourth quarter.

“While our fourth quarter comparable store sales were improved over the prior three quarters and January 2016 was our best monthly comparable store sales performance of the year, the unseasonably warm weather and the associated competitive promotional environment resulted in higher than expected markdowns and significantly lower gross margin in our key apparel categories,” said Edward S. Lampert, Holdings' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Financial review of Q4 and full year

Revenues decreased 796 million dollars to 7.3 billion dollars for the fourth quarter, compared to revenues of 8.1 billion dollars for the prior year fourth quarter. Comparable store sales declined 7.1percent during the quarter, comprised of decreases of 7.2 percent and 6.9 percent at Kmart and Sears Domestic, respectively, and accounted for 458 million dollars of the year-over-year revenue decline, while 291 million dollars of the revenue decline was due to having fewer Kmart and Sears full-line stores.

For the full year, revenues decreased approximately 6.1 billion dollars to 25.1 billion dollars in 2015 as compared to revenues of 31.2 billion dollars in the prior year. The decrease in revenue included a decrease of 2.1 billion dollars associated with Sears Canada, which was de-consolidated in October 2014, 222 million dollars from the separation of the Lands’ End business, which was completed in the first quarter of 2014, and 1.5 billion dollars less revenue as a result of fewer Kmart and Sears full-line stores. For the full year, domestic comparable store sales declined 9.2 percent, comprised of a decrease of 7.3 percent at Kmart and a decrease of 11.1 percent at Sears Domestic.