TORONTO -- High-scale retailer Saks Fifth Avenue helped Hudson's Bay Co. (TSX:HBC) cut its losses in the third quarter, as the department store chain nearly doubled its sales across its various banners.
The Toronto-based company, which also owns Hudson's Bay Co., Lord & Taylor and others, lost $13 million, or seven cents per share, in the three months ended Nov. 1.
That's an improvement from a loss of $125 million, or $1.05 per share, a year earlier.
Part of the improvement came from more people shopping on Hudson's Bay websites, particularly in Canada, HBC's chief executive Richard Baker told analysts on a conference call Tuesday.
Digital sales grew 73 per cent, with $228 million coming from its department store brands. Of that, $166 million came from Saks' websites.
"We are pleased with the traction that our digital businesses are achieving," he said, noting that e-commerce growth is particularly sharp in Canada, when compared to the United States.
"We continue to focus on both -- on all of our different businesses and we think we have a lot of opportunity ahead of us."
Overall, retail sales grew to $1.91 billion from $984 million in the comparable period. Same-store sales, which is a common industry barometer that also filters out the Saks acquisition, showed growth of 1.6 per cent.
With better results on the books, Hudson's Bay predicted it will meet its guidance for the year, which estimates sales will come in between $7.8 billion and $8.1 billion.
Normalized earnings, which remove non-recurring items and charges, are expected to come in between $580 million and $620 million.
The company has 328 department stores, including 90 under the Hudson's Bay name, 50 Lord & Taylor and 69 Home Outfitters, as well as 39 Saks Fifth Avenue and 80 Off 5th locations.
