Kohl's swings to Q4 loss, cautious on outlook

Kohl’s slumped on Wednesday after saying it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter as sales fell and the US department store retailer struck a cautious note on the outlook.

The company swung to a net loss of $273m from net income of $299m in the same period a year earlier, as sales declined 7.2% to $5.8bn, with comparable sales down 6.6%.

Chief executive Tom Kingsbury said: "Kohl’s fourth quarter results reflect meaningful proactive measures we took to better position the business for 2023, as well as sales pressure driven by the ongoing persistent inflationary environment."

For full-year 2023, Kohl's expects net sales to fall by between 2% and 4%, including the impact of the 53rd week which is worth around 1% year-over-year.

Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $2.10 to $2.70, excluding any non-recurring charges.

At 1250 GMT, the shares were down 7.3% in pre-market trade at $26.00.