The bonds of department store Saks Global Enterprises sank deeper into distress on Monday after a call with management fell short of reassuring investorsâ concerns about its financial outlook.
Saksâ secured notes due 2029 â which were issued in December to finance the acquisition of rival Neiman Marcus â were down 10 cents on the dollar on Monday following a call that highlighted a decline in liquidity as well as the companyâs plans to raise new debt. The bonds are now quoted around half of their face value.
Saks said on the call it was also mulling a sale of some of its real estate assets to shore up its finances as stock-market volatility and China tariffs threaten to slow luxury spending, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg News, chief executive officer Marc Metrick said the company is looking to raise up to $350 million in new debt. The fresh debt would come through a so-called first-in, last-out loan under its existing $1.8 billion revolving credit facility.
âWeâre in the early days of the process now but weâre not looking at this being a long process,â Metrick said in the interview.
Metrick said Saks had between $360 million to $400 million in liquidity, which he considers an âample amount.â That figure compares to almost $900 million in liquidity projected to be available to Saks at the close of the acquisition, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. A representative for the company declined to comment.
In the call, the company also told creditors that its vendor troubles have eased, and that inventory is up after it instituted a plan in February to gradually pay suppliers past due balances over the course of more than a year.
The companyâs management held the call with creditors after revealing last week that it was considering taking on more debt to boost its coffers.
Neiman Marcus
The company is also focused on integrating Neiman Marcus Group, which it acquired last year, and rolling out plans â still undisclosed â to tap partnerships with new stakeholders including Amazon, Authentic Brands and Salesforce to boost growth.
âWeâre looking at a world that is turbulent with a lot of uncertainty,â Metrick said. âWe have big plans.â
Metrick said Saks is ahead of schedule on cutting overlapping costs as it integrates Neiman Marcus. The company was targeting $100 million in synergies in its fiscal year that started on Feb. 2 and is now sees that figure reaching $150 million, Metrick said.
Luxury Shoppers
The recent market turmoil has caused some volatility in the shopping patterns of Saksâ high-income shoppers, but they havenât pulled back on spending.
âThere have been fits and stops,â Metrick said. âBut itâs not been that long for us to really read into how they are actually going to react and behave.â Around 2 percent of Saksâ shoppers account for around 40 percent of sales, he added.
Many of those shoppers buy high-end luxury products that are imported from Europe, and Saks is expecting price hikes on those products to be in line with recent years. Prices on luxury goods have jumped by around 10 percent to 15 percent annually and the CEO said that Saks expects the impact of tariffs on such products imported from Europe will fall within that range.
More notable price hikes are likely, though, on contemporary apparel, which costs less than high-end luxury items and represents around 20 percent of sales. Many of those items are sourced in China, Metrick said.
By Eliza Ronalds-Hannon, Jeannette Neumann, Reshmi Basu and Jill R. Shah
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