Sears Holdings Corp. cut its second-quarter loss by more than half as profit margins perked up at its Kmart chain, the retailer said Thursday.
For the three months that ended in late July, the owner of Sears and Kmart lost $39 million, or 35 cents per share. That's better than last year's loss of $94 million, or 79 cents per share last year. Excluding one-time adjustments the current quarter's loss amounted to 19 cents per share.
Revenue slipped slightly to $10.46 billion.
Analysts expected the company led by billionaire Edward Lampert to lose 18 cents per share with revenue of $10.62 billion.
Those estimates exclude one-time items.
Interim CEO W. Bruce Johnson said the company's long-struggling Kmart brand was able to improve its profit margins during the quarter. Still, an important performance measure that tracks sales in established locations, declined 1.4 percent at the brand. It was Kmart's first decrease in the measure in three quarters and came as the discount chain recorded lower sales of food.
The measure fell 2.8 percent at Sears as shoppers spent less on lawn and garden items, tools and consumer electronics.
Sears operates nearly 4,000 stores and is based in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Its shares closed Wednesday at $67.25.
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