Federated Department Stores, Inc. total sales were $1.837 billion for the four weeks ended May 5, 2007, a decrease of 2.1% compared to total sales of $1.875 billion in the same period last year. On a same-store basis, Federated's sales for April were down 2.2%. This compares with the company's guidance for a same-store sales increase of 2.5% to 4% in April.
For the 13-week first quarter and year to date, Federated's sales totaled $5.924 billion, down 0.1 percent from total sales of $5.930 billion in the first 13 weeks of 2006. This is below the company's guidance for first quarter sales to be in the range of $6 billion to $6.1 billion. On a same-store basis, Federated's year-to-date sales were up 0.6 percent.
“April sales were disappointing across the country in both new and legacy Macy's stores,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer. “A major promotional event that was shifted from May last year to April this year did not produce the results we expected.”
Federated expects same-store sales in May to be in the range of flat to down 2 percent, which reflects the promotional event shift from May into April.
