Bon-Ton pleased with holiday performance, maintains full-year outlook

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jan 11, 2017

The Bon-Ton Stores on Wednesday reported a 3.1% decrease in comparable store sales for the holiday season. Total sales for the period fell to $752.1 million from $784.4 million, but the company is maintaining its full-year guidance.

 
President and CEO Kathryn Bufano was pleased with the holiday selling performance and said, "Following challenging sales trends in the first three weeks of November, business improved from Thanksgiving through the end of December. During the holiday season, we continued to deliver double-digit growth in our omnichannel business, including mobile demand. Our best performing categories during the holiday season were men's big and tall, furniture, women's outerwear, and intimate apparel." 
 
Bon-Ton updated its full-year expectations in November due to unseasonably warm weather. The company expects its comparable sales to decrease in range of 2.5% to 3.5%, expects the gross margin rate to range from an 80- to 90-basis-point increase over the fiscal 2015 rate of 34.7%, and SG&A to range between $885 million and $888 million. In addition, the company is expecting a $2.04 to $2.54 loss per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA to be in range of $114 million to $124 million.

Though the company maintains its full-year guidance, it expects to be at the low end of the range.
 
In the third quarter, net loss was $31.6 million compared to $34.0 million in the previous year, and adjusted EBITDA was $10.6 million compared to $5.7 million in the prior year.