No public listing looms for Neiman Marcus, reports Fortune, as the luxury retailer, facing some of the same headwinds as its peers, has decided not to take its shares to the masses. The news comes amid an official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to withdraw the registration for an IPO, 17 months after it first filed the paperwork.
The site noted that Neiman has been plagued by five straight quarters of declining same-store sales, never a healthy trend in retail, and the latest quarter showed a marked slide of 8 percent for the metric.
By taking an IPO off the table, said the financial publication, Neiman is offering what might be taken as an indirect admission that its shares might not garner much positive response or demand from investors. In addition, its disappointing results have come amid new eCommerce efforts and outlet chain expansions, while losses have come to as much as $258 million over the last five fiscal years.
“It is not in its best interests to proceed with the initial public offering contemplated by the Registration Statement at this time,” Neiman said in its filing withdrawing the listing plans with the SEC. The firm had been bought in 2014 by a private equity firm, Ares Management, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, with a purchase price of $6 billion. The last time shares were publicly traded in Neiman was in 2005.
