It seems that Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:$SHLD) has been given another lifeline. The Illinois-based company has borrowed even more money from CEO Eddie Lampert’s ESL Investment hedge fund – $200 million to be exact.
Following the news, Sears CFO Rob Riecker said: “This facility is intended to provide the company with the flexibility to generate additional liquidity on an as-needed basis.” He added, “This adjustment to our capital structure demonstrates that Sears Holdings will continue to take actions to generate liquidity and manage our business while meeting all of our financial obligations.”
On Monday, Sears shares rallied by 7%. Over the course of the last year, Sears stock has lost almost 40% of its value.
It’s not the first time Sears has looked elsewhere for money. In an attempt to raise cash following years of declining sales, Sears has shut down hundreds of stores and sold off real estate. To date, Sears has closed more than 300 stores. “This is part of a strategy both to address losses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of other stores because many of them are simply too big for our current needs,” Eddie Lampert said.
When taking the 2017 closures into consideration, Sears’ store count is now less than 1,140. This means that it’s down from the 2,073 stores five years ago.
Looking at Sears’ most recent quarter, one can see that sales fell more than 20% to $4.3 billion, which the company has blamed on closures and declining sales at its open stores.
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