Federated Department Stores, Inc. reported total sales of $2.738 billion for the four weeks ended Nov. 26, 2005, an increase of 89.3% compared to total sales of $1.446 billion in the same period last year. On a same-store basis, Federated's November sales were down 3.4%.
For the year to date, Federated's sales totaled $15.787 billion, up 30.5 percent from total sales of $12.102 billion in the first 43 weeks of 2004. On a same-store basis, Federated's year-to-date sales were up 0.8 percent.
Federated's total sales for September through November include the May Company acquisition, which was completed Aug. 30, 2005. Same-store sales include only Macy's and Bloomingdale's locations open for more than one full fiscal year. Sales from the company's Bridal Group division, which the company intends to divest and is being treated as a discontinued operation, are excluded from Federated total sales for September through November.
Terry J. Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, “Although business was strong over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, we were disappointed with our sales earlier in November. In part, November performance reflects the shift of some promotional events to December. We know from the past few years that customers are waiting until later to shop for the type of merchandise we offer. In spite of the disappointing November, we hope the Thanksgiving weekend trend continues through the remainder of the holiday season. We still expect same-store sales to increase 1-2% in the fourth quarter.”
