Sears Given Two Extra Years To Pay Back Lenders

Sears Holdings revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it has been given two extra years to repay lenders, including Eddie, Lampert, its CEO and hedge fund owner.

According to CNBC, the department store chain revealed in the filing that it has consolidated three loans, two of them real estate loans totaling around $320 million, both due in July. The new consolidated loan will be due in July 2020. Sears said it has approximately $779 million due in 2020, which is secured by 69 real estate assets owned by Sears.

Last month, it was revealed that the retailer is expecting to close an additional 72 stores. Those planned closures are in addition to the hundreds of brick-and-mortar locations the retailer has already shuttered. It is also recently announced the creation of a committee to look into the sale of its Kenmore brand, along with other assets.

The retailer faces competition from Amazon, Walmart and other retailers. In the latest quarter, the company’s sales declined once again: Merchandise sales went down more than 30 percent to $2.2 billion. In addition, same-store sales declined by 13.4 percent. Store counts are down as well — the company has about 900 stores as of May 5. At the same time in 2017, the retailer had nearly 1,300 locations.

In January, the retailer announced that it raised another $100 million in financing and will be slashing $200 million in annualized costs through measures other than store closures. Stores will be closing, however, and Sears said it plans to shutter 103 stores in 2018.

The company said in January, “Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base, and will continue to right-size our store footprint in number and size. In the process, as previously announced, we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members.”