Sears Canada to sell centre in Calgary

Sears Canada is selling its national logistics centre in Calgary as it plans to cut overhead costs by a further $100 million to $127 million this year. That follows about $125 million in expense reductions it made last year.

The Toronto-based retail chain will continue to use the Calgary facility under an $ 84- million sale- leaseback agreement expected to close in the first quarter. The 630,000-square-foot centre opened in 2000.

The company opened a 240,000- square- foot southeast Calgary distribution centre in 2014 that employs about 200 people.

Sears didn’t provide details of how it will cut more sales and administrative costs, but it expects to have the “vast majority” of the plan implemented within the first quarter of 2016.

“It’s really just back-office stuff,” said Brandon Stranzl, the company’s executive chairman. “That’s the vast majority of it.”

The company did announce it’s negotiating details of an agreement for Easyfinancial Services Inc. to take over support of financing for Sears Canada customers who purchase large-ticket items.

The announcements were included with its fourth-quarter financial report, which showed an 8.7-per-cent decline in overall revenue — to $887.6 million from $972.5 million — and a 1.6-per-cent decline in sales at stores open for more than a year.

The company reported a $30.9 million net profit, or 30 cents per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 30, mainly because of a $170.7-million gain from the termination of a credit card agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank in November.

The company’s shares closed up almost 9 per cent at $3.42 in Toronto on Friday. A year ago, the stock traded at $9.42.