Huge third quarter loss for Hudson’s Bay

Canadian Hudson’s Bay suffered a huge loss in its third quarter of 2017. Its turnover also slumped compared to the year before.

Hurricanes

Hudson’s Bay’s total third quarter turnover reached 3.16 billion Canadian dollars (2.1 billion euro), down 4.2 % compared to 2016 (3.3 billion dollars). There was also a 3.2 % like-for-like turnover drop.

Hudson’s Bay blamed its weak like-for-like performance on the hurricanes’ effect in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. It also welcomed fewer customers and had more marketing deals.

Increase margins

Its profit numbers were also hit hard: its net loss grew from 125 million dollars to 243 million dollars (160 million euro) in 2017, its seventh straight onerous quarter. When the results were published, the share took a 16 % hit on the Canadian stock exchange.

The company hopes it can increase margins thanks to a smaller stock, which would lead to fewer discounts in order to get rid of excess stock. In the next few years, it will also invest more in online sales, as these only grew 2.1 % in the third quarter. It will also cut costs, the effects of which should become clearly visible next year.