Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Tuesday 24 april 2018
A25

Sears' biggest shareholder offers to buy Kenmore brand

By DAMIAN TROISE and sell. board, Lampert said Sears
ANNE D'INNOCENZIO That sent shares of Sears has been trying to sell the
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears' Holding Corp., which have Kenmore businesses for
biggest shareholder has lost more than 70 percent nearly two years but it has
suggested the company of their value in the past been unable to do so.
sell its well-known Kenmore year, up nearly 5 percent. Kenmore could have sub-
brand and some real es- Lampert, who combined stantial value. Amazon.
tate holdings, offering itself Sears and Kmart in 2005 com began selling Ken-
as a potential buyer. after helping bring Kmart more appliances on its site
The ailing company has out of bankruptcy, has long almost a year ago. ESL has
sold off other major brands pledged to turn the com- not placed a potential val-
as it struggles to stay afloat, pany's fortunes around. ue on Kenmore, but said its
with Kenmore a notable He said the retailer would non-binding proposal gives
remainder of the power- find ways to capitalize on the services and home im-
house retailer that survived its best-known brands like provement units an enter-
two world wars and the Kenmore appliances and prise value of $500 million. In this July 20, 2017, file photo, the Kenmore Elite Smart French
Great Depression. DieHard car batteries, as ESL said it also would be Door Refrigerator appears on display at a Sears store in West
The private equity firm ESL well as its vast holdings of open to making an offer for Jordan, Utah.
Investment, headed by land. Sears' real estate, includ- Associated Press
Sears chairman and CEO But the company has ing the assumption of $1.2
Edward Lampert, said it continued to see shop- billion in debt. "In our view, any deterioration in the val- for generations. Its storied
might buy the assets — pers move on to Target, pursuing these divestures ue of such assets," Lampert catalog featured items
Kenmore, Sears Home Ser- Walmart and Amazon, and now will demonstrate the wrote. Sears, which started from bicycles to sewing
vices' home improvement has closed hundreds of value of Sears' portfolio of in the 1880s as a mail-order machines to houses, and
business and the compa- stores, cut costs and sold assets, will provide an im- catalog business, was a the company's stores were
ny's Parts Direct business — brands to deal with fall- portant source of liquidity back-to-school and appli- a fixture of suburban malls
if the company is willing to ing sales. In his letter to the to Sears and could avoid ance shopping destination from the 1950s to 1970s.q

With lights from Toys R Us dimmed, sales plunge at Hasbro

around the world to put the brands include GI Joe and the current quarter than a
impact of Toys R Us behind Scrabble, lost $112.5 million, year ago.
us," Goldner said in a con- or 90 cents per share in that Adjusted for one-time costs
ference call Monday. period. A year earlier, Paw- and pretax expenses, earn-
Toys R Us, hammered by tucket, Rhode Island-based ings were 10 cents per
shifting consumer trends, Hasbro earned $68.6 mil- share, less than a third of
is shuttering the 700 stores lion, or 54 cents per share. the 31 cents that Wall Street
it has left, depriving Has- There was one less week in had expected.q
bro, Barbie maker Mattel
and other toy companies
of prime display space na-
tionwide.
Mattel, which has been
struggling with falling sales
for years, had said Thursday
In this Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 file photo, the newest Monopoly
token, a cat, rests on the game board at Hasbro Inc. headquar- that its CEO will step down.
ters, in Pawtucket, R.I. The company is set to re-
Associated Press port its quarterly results later
this week.
NEW YORK (AP) — With its into more stores. CEO Brian Hasbro said its revenue in
sales falling due to the liqui- Goldner said major retailers the first three months of
dation of Toys R Us, Hasbro plan to increase their toy the year fell 16 percent to
is looking for new places sections to lure former Toys $716.3 million from a year
to sell Monopoly, My Little R Us shoppers, which could ago. That was well be-
Pony and its other toys. benefit the toy maker. But, low the $824.7 million Wall
Hasbro said Monday it will he added, it could take a Street analysts expected,
rely more on online sales, year before the company according to Zacks Invest-
although it has also been sees sales rise again. ment Research.
working on getting its toys "We're working aggressively The company, whose other