Turnover in Sears’ CFO suite continues

Sears Holdings has a new finance chief — again.



The struggling retailer announced that Rob Riecker, currently controller and head of capital market activities, has been appointed CFO, effective immediately. He replaces Jason Hollar, who resigned “to pursue another career opportunity,” the retailer said. Hollar was appointed to the role in October 2016.



Riecker joined Sears in 2005 as assistant controller and served in various senior positions within the company's Finance organization.



"Rob is a strong leader with significant institutional knowledge through his 11 year tenure with the company. Rob's financial acumen, as well as his long-standing relationships with our vendor and lender partners make him highly qualified for the role,” stated Edward Lampert, chairman and CEO, Sears Holdings.



Hollar is the fifth member of Sears’ senior  management team to depart the company in the last four months, with the most recent being John Moore, who had served as head of Sears retail services. 

The struggling chain on Friday also provided an update on its restructuring program, which now includes plans to close 50 Auto Centers, increased its cost-saving target, and also gave a first quarter update. Since the beginning of the fiscal year, same-store sales at Sears and Kmart declined 11.9% on a combined basis, 10.8% when excluding consumer electronics, compared to the year-ago period.



“The retail environment remained challenging with continued softness in store traffic and elevated price competition,” said Edward S. Lampert, chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings. “Despite the softness in our retail channels, our home services business continued to perform well and we believe it is positioned for continued growth for the balance of the year.”



Lampert added that as a result of the sales of its Craftsman brand and the sale of certain real estate properties, the company expects to report positive net income for the first quarter of 2017.



Sears said it expects to reduce costs by $1.25 billion for the year, up from a previously announced $1 billion. The retailer said it has already delivered on $700 million in cost savings to date. The initiatives being taken to realize $1.25 billion in annualized cost savings in 2017 include the previously announced closing of 108 Kmart and 42 Sears stores. New actions include the closing of 92 underperforming pharmacy operations in certain Kmart stores and 50 Sears Auto Center locations.



“Earlier this year, we initiated a strategic restructuring program and committed to improving our operating performance and financial flexibility in a very challenging retail environment," Lampert said. "While we have made significant progress in reducing our cost base and enhancing our member value proposition, we need to take further action. Accordingly, we will increase our structural cost savings target by $250 million on an annualized basis and accelerate our efforts to maximize value from our real estate portfolio, which we believe will improve our financial flexibility as we pursue our strategic transformation."



Lampert added that Sears will to take all necessary actions to improve its performance and will leverage its lease optionality to reconfigure its stores and reduce capital obligations.



Sears has established a special committee of independent directors to market certain real estate properties. The committee has retained Eastdil Secured, Centerview Partners, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as its advisors. As of Friday, April 21, the committee has received non-overlapping bids in excess of $700 million on over 60 separate real estate properties.