Bed Bath & Beyond to Close 200 Stores as Sales Plunge 49% in 1Q; Shares Slump

(C) Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) said it would close about 200 stores over the next two years after reporting that sales plunged nearly 50% in the fiscal first quarter.

Shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading.

The retailer detailed plans to close roughly 200 of its stores over the next two years, beginning later in 2020, targeting annual cost savings of between $250 million and $350 million.

Bed Bath & Beyond reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $1.96 a share on revenue of $1.31 billion, missing analysts estimates for a loss of $1.26 a share on revenue of $1.35 billion.

“The impact of the COVID-19 situation was felt across our business during our fiscal first quarter, including loss of sales due to temporary store closures and margin pressure from the substantial channel shift to digital,” the company said.

Gross margin decreased 780 basis points to 26.7%, which he company blamed on “unfavorably impacted by channel and product mix related to the substantial shift in sales to digital channels, including higher fulfillment costs, lower margin, COVID-essential products sold during the quarter, and the deleverage of fixed expenses.”