M - Hudson's Bay Delivers a Mixed Q2 Earnings Report
Over the past year and a half, CEO Helena Foulkes has spearheaded an aggressive downsizing campaign at Hudson's Bay (OTC: HBAYF). This plan is in its final stages, and it has enabled the international department store conglomerate to exit underperforming business lines and reduce its debt load.
That said, Hudson's Bay also faces stiff challenges in its core North American retail business. As a result, comp sales declined modestly last quarter and the company experienced severe gross margin erosion, far exceeding what other department store operators like Macy's (NYSE: M) suffered. And while management expects improvement in the quarters ahead, Hudson's Bay has a long way to go just to become profitable.
Comparable store sales decreased 0.4% for Hudson's Bay's go-forward business in the second quarter. This compared to a 0.3% increase in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. Saks Fifth Avenue posted a meager 0.6% comp sales increase last quarter, partly because it was facing an extremely difficult year-over-year comparison. The Saks Off 5th off-price business performed better, with comp sales up 3.4%. However, these increases were more than offset by a 3.4% comp sales decline for the company's namesake Hudson's Bay chain.