Sears loss widens in Q3

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. reported Thursday that its loss for the quarter ended Oct. 31 widened to $218 million, compared with a loss of $127 million in the year-ago period. The loss was more than analysts expected as margins fell and sales dropped, especially at the company's namesake stores.



"While Kmart improved profitability, our third-quarter results were disappointing, in large part due to lower sales of apparel and appliances at Sears," said interim CEO W. Bruce Johnson.



Total revenues decreased $512 million to $9.7 billion for the quarter, compared with total revenues of $10.2 billion a year earlier. The company attributed the decline partially to a 4.8% decrease in domestic same-store sales.



The domestic same-store sales decrease included declines of 0.7% at Kmart and 8.2% at Sears Domestic.



Sears Holdings, parent company to Sears and Kmart, operates approximately 3,900 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada.