Bonjour, Quebec! Hudson's Bay Opens First Outlet Store in Province

TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2014 /CNW/ - Hudson's Bay Company is pleased to announce the opening of a new Hudson's Bay Outlet store in Mirabel, QC. The 26,000 sq. ft. store will open its doors on October 30^th, 2014 in the Montreal suburb of Mirabel, located approximately 40 minutes north of the city. The new store marks Hudson's Bay's second outlet location in Canada and the first in Quebec.

The highly-anticipated Hudson's Bay Outlet store features contemporary mid-range labels including Rachel by Rachel Roy, BCBG, Vince Camuto, Calvin Klein, Free People and Bench to name a few. The outlet will also feature select merchandise from The Room, Hudson's Bay's in-store designer boutique. The outlet offers Quebec customers an exciting selection of on-trend apparel, accessories and footwear for women, men and children at everyday savings of up to 80 percent off. 

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ANALYSIS: WILL HBC SELL ITS CANADIAN FLAGSHIPS?

Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) CEO Richard Baker indicates that he may sell some the company's best stores. HBC owns several massive Canadian flagships, with a combined worth into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Similar to how the company recently sold its Toronto flagship, other Hudson's Bay stores could be sold to adjacent mall landlords. Proceeds from these sales could renovate existing Hudson's Bay stores, not to mention fund Saks Fifth Avenue's Canadian entry. We'll provide an analysis of some top locations and what Richard Baker may have planned. 

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HBC Q1 2014/2015 Results

HBC released their results today. 

Highlights of the thirteen-week period ended May 3, 2014  

• Consolidated same store sales, which include Saks, increased 8.6% for the comparable thirteen-week period, or 2.8% on a local currency basis. On a local currency basis, same store sales increased by 2.5% in the DSG, increased by 2.6% at Saks Fifth Avenue and increased by 15.1% at OFF 5TH.  

• Digital commerce sales grew to $207 million, an increase of $186 million compared to the thirteen-week period ended May 4, 2013. The inclusion of Saks in the first quarter of Fiscal 2014 contributed $162 million while Legacy HBC, off of a smaller base, more than doubled, reflecting the Company's continued strategic focus on growing this channel.  

• Gross profit rate, excluding amortization of inventory related purchase price accounting adjustments, was 40.6% of retail sales, or a 30 basis points improvement over the thirteen-week period ended May 4, 2013.  

• Normalized SG&A as a percentage of retail sales was 35.4 % for the thirteen-week period ended May 3, 2014, compared to 37.0% for the thirteen-week period ended May 4, 2013, a 1.6% improvement.  

• Normalized EBITDA was $97 million compared to $29 million for the first quarter of Fiscal 2013 and includes negative impacts of adopting IFRIC 21 of $8 million compared to $2 million for the first quarter of Fiscal 2013 (see New Accounting Policies - Levies section). The increase in Normalized EBITDA of $68 million primarily relates to the inclusion of Saks. As a percentage of retail sales, Normalized EBITDA increased to 5.2% from 3.3% for the first quarter of Fiscal 2013, an increase of 1.9%. 

Quarterly Earnings

The Hudson's Bay Company has released it's quarterly earnings. 

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Q4 Results

The Hudsons Bay Co. has released it's fourth quarter results.

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