Hudson's Bay quarterly sales shoot up 60 percent

Canadian department store operator Hudson's Bay Co reported a 60 percent jump in quarterly sales, helped by its expansion in Europe and the acquisition of online retailer Gilt.

Hudson's Bay, which owns U.S. luxury retail chain Saks Fifth Avenue, bought German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary, Inno, from Metro for about $2.7 billion last year.

Hudson's Bay also plans to open up to 20 stores in the Netherlands. In addition, the first five Saks OFF 5TH stores in Germany are expected to open next summer.

The Canadian retailer, founded in 1670 and the oldest continuously operating company in North America, is expanding in Europe to help mitigate the impact of challenging markets in the United States and Canada.

The company also operates its namesake department stores in Canada and the Lord & Taylor chain in the United States.

Hudson's Bay said it expects sales for the fiscal year 2016 to "trend towards the bottom end" of its forecast of C$14.9 billion to C$15.9 billion due to the "overall retail environment".

The company's consolidated retail sales shot up to C$3.25 billion from C$2.04 billion.

Hudson's Bay reported a net loss of C$142 million ($110.5 million), or 78 Canadian cents per share, for the second quarter ended July 30, compared with a profit of C$59 million, or 28 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

The second quarter of 2015 included a pre-tax gain of C$133 million.

($1 = 1.2847 Canadian dollars)