Sears said it would split off up to 300 of its best stores into a separate company by June, accelerating the dismantling of the struggling retailer by hedge-fund manager Eddie Lampert.
The move comes after Sears posted a $159 million loss over the holidays as sales plunged. Lampert, the CEO, said in a letter accompanying the company’s earnings report Thursday that he is focusing on profits, not sales growth, and is trying to create a new retailer built around customer loyalty regardless of how they shop.
In the process, he has been spinning or selling off prime assets to Sears’s shareholders, including himself, as he effectively owns 49 percent of the company’s stock. Last year, he sold off the preppy brand Lands’ End and shares held by Sears in Sears Canada.
Meanwhile, the core Sears and Kmart operations continue to deteriorate. Comparable-store sales at Kmart fell 2 percent from a year earlier in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, and fell 7 percent at Sears. The company’s cash pile shrank by more than half, to $250 million.
Sears closed about 234 stores, shrinking its store base to 1,725. The company’s revenue at the end of the year, at $31.2 billion, was down from $49.1 billion in 2005, when Sears and Kmart were merged.
Sears plans to raise more than $2 billion by selling off 200 to 300 stores into a so-called real-estate investment trust by May or June. Lampert said in a letter that Sears would hope to continue to occupy those stores but that they could be closed and rented to new tenants.
