(Adds details)
March 18 (Reuters) - Canadian department store operator
Sears Canada Inc SCC.TO agreed to sell and lease back a
distribution outlet in Calgary, and said it would cut more costs
this year, as the company struggles with declining sales.
Sears Canada said on Friday it planned to slash costs by an
additional C$100 million-C$127 million ($98 million) in 2016,
with most of the cuts planned within the first quarter.
The company, whose largest shareholder is Sears Holdings
Corp SHLD.O CEO Edward Lampert and his hedge fund, has closed
stores and cut jobs to battle rising competition from U.S.
rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) WMT.N .
Sales at Sears Canada's core retail store network, which
consists of 95 full-line department stores and 41 Sears Home
stores, fell 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30,
from a year earlier.
Revenue fell 8.7 percent to C$887.6 million.
The Toronto-based retailer said the sale-leaseback deal was
for C$84 million.
Sears Canada swung to a quarterly profit, helped by a gain
from the termination of a credit card agreement.
The company's net income was C$30.9 million, compared with a
loss of C$123.6 million.
Sears Canada booked a gain of C$170.7 million from the sale
of JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) & Chase Co's JPM.N Canadian credit card portfolio
associated with the store operator.
Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO agreed in October to buy the
portfolio, a month ahead of the expiry of the servicing
agreement.
($1 = 1.30 Canadian dollars)
($1 = 1.2962 Canadian dollars)