Lands’ End is still feeling the sales impact of closing some 120 of its outposts inside Sears stores over the past year — but its outlook is on the rise.
The Dodgeville, Wis.-based brand’s first-quarter net losses widened to $6.8 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $2.6 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier.
Net revenues for the three months ended May 3 tallied $262.4 million, a 12.5 percent drop from the same period last year. The company said fewer stores in Sears locations had led to a nearly $18 million decrease in net revenue and that the leases on its remaining 39 shops at Sears are set to expire in 2020.
But the company’s shares were trading up 6.9 percent to $12.79 midday Tuesday after stronger showings elsewhere in its business and an improved outlook.
Lands’ End’s same-store sales rose 12 percent during the quarter while e-commerce revenues went up by about 5 percent. And chief executive officer Jerome Griffith pointed to those bright spots and added that the company also used some of its cash to pay off $100 million of its term loan.
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“The beginning of the year’s a little bit slower than the back part of the year [when] it picks up a bit when people get into the buying mode, and we expect to see that again this year,” the ceo told analysts in a conference call Tuesday.
The company is projecting its income for 2019 to be between $10 million and $16 million, increasing its expectations from the fourth quarter report, when it projected a net income of $8 million and $14 million.
The company has also recently teamed up with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. In the fall 2016, Delta announced that Lands’ End would be making uniforms envisioned by designer Zac Posen by for its flight attendants and other staff. Lands’ End said it’s on schedule to launch its American Airlines program in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In the meantime, however, Lands’ End is also dealing with a recently filed lawsuit by Delta employees over the brand’s “Passport Plum” uniforms. The suit, filed in May as a proposed class action in New York federal court in Manhattan, claims the uniforms cause health problems including rashes, nausea and breathing problems, and also stains wearers’ skin because the color runs.
A representative for Lands’ End declined to comment on the pending litigation.