Macy's swings to loss as coronavirus shutters stores

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Macy’s swung to a quarterly loss as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closing of department stores across the country.

The Cincinnati-based retailer reported a first-quarter loss of $905 million to $1.1 billion, according to preliminary results. Net sales fell as much as 45 percent to between $3 billion and $3.03 billion.

“We closed all of our stores -- Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury -- on March 18, which had a significant impact on our first-quarter results,” CEO Jeff Gennette said in a statement. “Looking back, our performance in February was solid and in line with our expectations, but we saw a precipitous decline in sales with the stores closure in March.”

Cash and cash equivalents rose by 107 percent to $1.52 billion at the end of the quarter as total debt rose to $5.66 billion from $4.72 billion. Macy's is in discussions with its banking partners for additional financing that will improve its financial flexibility.

The retailer began reopening stores on May 4, and has approximately

190 Macy's and Bloomingdale's locations operating at full capacity. Another 80 stores are expected to be open for Memorial Day weekend.

Macy's previously announced Chief Financial Officer Paula Price will step down from her role on May 31 and remain with the company as an adviser through November 2020. She will be replaced by Felicia Williams, senior vice president, controller and enterprise risk officer, on an interim basis.

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Macy's shares fell 70 percent this year through Wednesday, underperforming the S&P 500's 8.02 percent decline.