Sears Canada Q2 Profits Surge Behind Chain's Real Estate Sales
Despite dwindling revenues, Sears Canada turned a real estate-fueled profit during Q2, the company said Wednesday. Reeling from a string of poor quarterly performances, the retailer bet on real estate—a trend, it would appear—to turn around what it called an "unsustainable" business structure, despite cost reductions over the past two years. Sears Canada sold three Canadian properties in its latest quarter for C$130M in gains—offsetting the 9% drop in revenue—which pushed Q2 profits to C$13.5M (or 13 Canadian cents a share). The gain on the real estate transaction totaled C$67.2M pretax—a nice bump from the C$21.3M (21 Canadian cents a share) it lost the year before. Sears Canada Executive Chairman Brandon G. Stranzi says he's pleased with the positive momentum. "Sears Canada is back on track." Sears also announced further cost cuts of up to $20M and plans to sell more real estate. [WSJ]
