Struggling US department store chain Sears lives to see another day following chairman Eddie Lampert’s winning bid of US$5 billion (£3.87 billion) to buy it out of bankruptcy. 400 Sears stores could now be saved pending the approval of a bankruptcy judge. Sears originally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October when it had 90,000 employees and 886 stores.
“While there’s no doubt that a shrunken Sears will be more viable than the larger entity, which struggled to turn a profit, we remain extremely pessimistic about the chain’s future,” GlobalData Retail managing director Neil Saunders said.
“In our view, Sears exits this process with almost as many problems as it had when it entered bankruptcy protection. In essence, its hand has not changed, and the cards it holds are not winning ones.”
Industry analysts have said that Sears must “revitalise” its ageing stores and focus on appliance and tools in order to survive in the industry.
Lampert currently owns 31 per cent of Sears’ outstanding shares, according to FactSet.
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