Tuesday, Borders Group, Inc. (BGP), a retailer of books, music and movies, reported wider net loss for the first quarter, hurt by weak sales and non-operating charges. However, excluding charges, the Ann Arbor, Michigan headquartered company said, net loss for the quarter narrowed.
Net loss for the three-month period widened to $86.0 million or $1.44 per share from $30.1 million or $0.50 per share in the same period last year. Results for the most recent quarter includes non-operating, after-tax charges related to fair value adjustments, severance, depreciation and amortization totaling $70.1 million or $1.17 per share.
Excluding charges, loss for the quarter narrowed to $15.9 million or $0.27 per share from $30.5 million or $0.51 per share in the corresponding period last year. Two analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to incur a loss of $0.50 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Consolidated sales declined 12% to $641.5 million, from $735.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Total sales at Borders superstores, including Borders.com, were $536.7 million, down 10.7% from $600.7 million a year ago. Comparable store sales decreased by 13.5% at Borders superstores.
Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment sales declined 19.9% to $76.9 million, from $96 million in the prior year period. Comparable store sales declined 5.5%. International segment sales totaled $27.9 million, down 14.9% from $32.8 million in the same period last year.
Excluding non-operating charges, selling, general and administrative expenses or SG&A, as a percent of sales, improved over last year by 3.6% from 28.9% to 25.3% helped by expense reduction initiatives, partially offset by de-leveraging due to negative sales trends. Expense reduction initiatives helped reduce SG&A dollar expenses by $48.1 million compared to the prior year.
First quarter capital expenditures were $2.4 million compared to $27.0 million in the year-ago period. Debt at the end of the first quarter totaled $325.9 million compared to debt at the end of the first quarter a year ago of $591.9 million, a decrease of 44.9%.
The company intends to issue second quarter results August 25
BGP rose $0.26 or 11.26% and closed Tuesday's regular trading at $2.57. After hours, BGP declined $0.19 or 7.39% and traded at $2.38.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.