Nordstrom Sales Hurt by Hurricanes

SEATTLE, United States — Nordstrom Inc reported on Thursday its quarterly same-store sales fell 0.9 percent from the year-ago period, worse-than-expected, as hurricanes affected traffic in Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas.

The upscale Seattle-based department store operator said net income for the fiscal third quarter was $114 million, or 67 cents per share, compared with a loss of $10 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier. Last year's results were hurt by a goodwill impairment.

Nordstrom reported a 0.9 percent decline in same-store sales for the quarter ended Oct. 28, missing the 0.4 percent decline expected by research firm Consensus Metrix.

Net sales rose about 2 percent to $3.54 billion. Nordstrom said the hurricanes hurt sales by about $20 million and earnings by about 4 cents a share.

Nordstrom said the hurricanes would likely hurt full-year sales by $26 million and earnings by 6 cents a share.

Rivals Macy's Inc and Kohl's Corp also reported that their third-quarter sales were hurt by hurricanes.

Shares of Nordstrom fell marginally after the bell. The shares had closed up 4.5 percent in regular trade after bullish holiday comments from Macy's and Kohl's boosted the retail sector.

Nordstrom did not provide a holiday outlook in its earnings release.

Attempts by some members of Nordstrom's founding family to take the U.S. department store chain private were suspended in October due to difficulties in arranging debt financing for its bid ahead of the key holiday shopping season.

A source close to the family group told Reuters at the time that Nordstrom's holiday sales did not have to be particularly strong for a deal to materialize, and that it was the uncertainty of what the shopping season would look like that weighed on the banks' appetite to finance the bid.

By Richa Naidu; Editors: Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler