Big Lots had a tough third quarter but vows it’s making progress on turning financials around.
For the third quarter, Big Lots recorded a net loss of $103 million, or $3.56 per share, versus $4.3 million, or 14 cents per diluted share, in the year-prior period.
With one-time events excluded, the adjusted net loss was $86.7 million, or $2.99 per share. The 2021 quarter included no adjustments, the company stated.
A Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate called for a loss of $2.94 per diluted share and revenues of $1.21 billion.
Net sales were $1.2 billion versus $1.34 billion for the year-earlier quarter. According to Big Lots, the decline was driven by a comparable sales decrease of 11.7%. Net new stores and relocations contributed approximately 190 basis points of sales growth versus the 2021 period. Operating loss was $103.8 million versus $4.13 million in the year-previous quarter.
In announcing the financial results, Bruce Thorn, president and CEO of Big Lots said, “The third quarter marks another quarter in which we met the challenges of a tough environment head-on and did what we said we would do. Our sales and gross margin were in line with guidance and, importantly, year-over-year inventories continued to come down materially. We saw favorability in SG&A, as we tightly managed costs, and have strengthened our balance sheet and liquidity position. I’d like to thank our team for their hard work through this difficult retail environment.”
Thorn added, “Going forward, we will build on the significant progress we have achieved in strengthening our business model. These efforts will enable us to better adapt to continuously evolving customer needs, build upon our core competencies, and deliver incredible value. Although we are operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment, we remain enthusiastic about our tremendous opportunity to provide even more value for our customers. We will continue to transform our business by offering customers amazing deals and more exciting assortments, which are easier to find and more convenient to shop. We will find more ways to be efficient with a continued focus on growing margin, reducing expenses, and making highly disciplined investment decisions.”
