Macy’s Reports $652 Million Loss in First Quarter Due to COVID-19

Macy's has reported a net income loss of $652 million in the first quarter of 2020 in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to WWD.

"The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our first quarter sales and earnings results, but I am proud of the way our team navigated this difficult period and maintained the business while our stores were closed," Jeff Gennette, Macy's chairman and CEO, said. "Our strong digital business sales trend continued throughout May, and it is encouraging to see that as we reopen a store, the digital business in that geography continues to be strong."

Gennette said that 450 stores reopened on June 1 with those locations "performing better than expected." He cautioned that recovery will be "gradual," as sales trends aren't expected to normalize until 2021 or maybe even 2022, per CNBC.

Fox Businessreported that Macy’s shares jumped 15 percent on Monday after word got out of the company secured around $4.5 billion in new financing, which allowed them to address outstanding borrowings from their existing $1.5 billion credit agreement, as well as create a new $3.15 billion asset-based credit agreement. Gennette is confident that this financing will give Macy’s "sufficient flexibility and liquidity to navigate our current environment and fund our business for the foreseeable future."

This new funding instills a glimmer of confidence in Macy’s in the face of Pier 1, Modell's Sporting Goods, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, and JCPenney filing for bankruptcy due to crippling effects of COVID-19 on business.