JCPenney Reports Quarterly Loss

JCPenney Co. Inc. (Plano, Texas) reports an adjusted net loss of $55 million for the fiscal quarter ended April 28, 2012. Comparable store sales dropped 18.9 percent while total sales were down 20.1 percent, which includes the effects of the company's exit from its outlet business. Internet sales also declined to $271 million, or down 27.9 percent from last year.

“Sales and profitability have been tougher than anticipated during the first 13 weeks, but the transformation is ahead of schedule,” says ceo Ron Johnson. “Our shop strategy has been applauded by vendor and design partners, our merchants have stepped up to the challenge of improving our merchandise and presentation, we have dramatically simplified our business model and reorganized our teams at headquarters and in our stores.

“We fully expect that the bold and strategic changes we are making to our operations will result in improved profitability and sustainable growth over the long term,” he adds.

For the first quarter, the department store retailer says it incurred $76 million in restructuring and management transition charges, including home office and stores ($45 million), leadership transition ($20 million), supply chain ($6 million), and miscellaneous ($5 million).