Saks Fifth Ave. Owner Warns On Challenging Retail Environment

(RTTNews) - Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC.TO), the owner of luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue, has lowered its full-year revenue outlook again, due to "challenging retail environment" in the US and Europe.

"Our holiday sales trend improved considerably from what we experienced in the third quarter," said CEO Jerry Storch.

"However, the sales improvement that we experienced was not strong enough to achieve the results we had expected. Also, while we were pleased with our performance at Hudson's Bay in Canada, the retail environment has remained challenging in the U.S. and Europe and the significant promotional activity during the holiday period had a negative impact on our margins," he added.

Storch said that the retail environment is clearly changing and the company continues to work to adapt rapidly.

Hudson's Bay now expects full year 2016 sales of C$14.4 billion to C$14.6 billion, compared to its previous outlook of C$14.5 billion C$14.9 billion. In September, the company had initially provided a revenue outlook of C$14.9 billion to $15.9 billion.

The Canadian company's consolidated comparable sales decreased by 0.7 percent on a constant currency basis in the nine-week holiday selling period ended December 31.