Sears Hometown And Outlet Stores Q2 Profit Declines - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. (SHOS) reported that its second-quarter net income decreased to $3.36 million from $9.13 million, last year. Earnings per share was $0.15, compared to $0.40. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 55.0% to $7.9 million.

Net sales decreased 2.8% to $638.7 million from the second quarter of 2013. The company said the decrease was driven primarily by a 6.3% decrease in comparable store sales. The decreases were partially offset by new stores, higher initial franchise revenues, and higher online commissions earned by SHO on sales of merchandise for home delivery made through sears.com. Adjusted comparable store sales decreased 4.6%.

Bruce Johnson, CEO and President, said, "During the second quarter we observed a highly promotional environment for large appliances. We chose to not fully follow the promotional activities of other retailers. This had an impact on our top line, and we are disappointed with our comparable store sales decline, but our gross margin dollars were similar to the year-earlier quarter. We believe sales were affected by other retailers' highly promotional activity, including free delivery."