WisBusiness: Kohl’s reports slow January

WisBusiness.com

A slowing economy is hitting Meonomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Corp., which is reporting a fiscal January comparable store sales decline of 8.3 percent.

Many other major retailers say their sales were flat or off, too, though none of their drops were as large as Kohl’s.

Wal-Mart was up by .5 percent in January, Target, down 1.1 percent; J.C. Penney’s, down 1.9 percent; Nordstrom, down 6.6 percent; and Macy’s, off 7.1 percent.

Kohl’s officials said total sales for the fiscal month were $800 million, down 20.4 percent from the same month a year ago. The company’s fourth quarter sales comparable store sales fell 4.0 percent.

For the year, total sales increased 5.6 percent over the same period a year ago while comparable store sales decreased 0.8 percent.

Larry Montgomery, Kohl’s chairman and chief executive officer, said “Customers continue to be selective in their purchases, driven by value and need. Our inventory management strategy was successful and we will end the quarter with inventory below last year on a per store basis.

“Based on January’s sales results, we expect our earnings per share to be at the low end of our guidance of $1.30 to $1.34 per diluted share.”

See release: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=117622