Retail Ventures Keeps Quiet On Value City

"This is an unusual call in that we can't discuss what's happening with Value City," Retail Ventures CEO Heywood Wilansky said in Wednesday's conference call with financial analysts. Retail Ventures announced in December that it was "exploring strategic alternatives" for the Value City chain. Wilansky said at the time that the strategic alternatives do not include the DSW Inc. or Filene's Basement divisions, both of which are managed separately from Value City Department Stores.

The company reported a net loss of $35.9 million for the quarter ended Feb. 3, or 76 cents per share on a diluted basis, compared to a net loss of $71.1 million, or $1.79 per share on a diluted basis last year. For the full year, Retail Ventures lost a net $150.9 million or $3.35 per share, compared to a net loss of $183.4 million or $4.75 per share on a diluted basis for the previous year.

Sales for the 14 weeks ended Feb. 3 increased 6.5% to $874 million from $820.5 million for the 13 weeks ended Jan. 28, 2006. The company's same store sales decreased 2.8% for the comparative 13-week period. Total sales for the 53-week year ended Feb. 3 increased 5.3% to $3.07 billion from $2.91 billion for the 52 weeks ended Jan. 28, 2006. The company's same store sales increased just less than 1% for the comparative 52-week period.

Retail Ventures operates 113 Value City Department Stores in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern US, 31 Filene's Basement Stores in major metropolitan areas in the Northeast and Midwest and 223 DSW stores in major metropolitan areas throughout the country. DSW also supplies shoes, under supply arrangements, to 330 locations for other non-related retailers in the US.

The company said in its quarterly SEC filing that it believes that the non-cash accounting charge associated with the change in fair value of derivative instruments "is not directly related to its retail operations."