Thread regarding Sears layoffs

from bad to worse- financial myth busting

so whats left.

Assets

  1. circa 200 unencumbered stores- if sold at same price as seritage these are worth $2 billion

  2. kenmore and diehard - kenmore has double the sales of craftsmen, but half the net profit. No sales outside of sears to warrant a premium like craftsmen- $500 million. diehard- circa 4.5% of US battery linkd to sears and its demise -$50 million

  3. Sears auto- linked to sears demise and tainted by the name- token $100 million

  4. Sears home services- linkd to sears whe sears dies so does it- no value

  5. Innovel solutions- majority of business is sears own.. but say $500 million

  6. 125 stores held in a bankruptcy remote vehicle - net book value in 2015 $700 million

  7. circa $500 million cash from eddie's recent lending efforts

  8. inventory is falling with less stores and has all been tapped out by eddie to secure various loans

  9. leases where market value is above sears rent- hard to quantify given poor location but token $500 million.

Liabilities

  1. $500 million loan due july 2017

  2. assume that pension contribution covered by all the craftsmen proceeds to date.

  3. capital requirement for 2017 to cover losses circa $2 billion same for 2018.

  4. long term debt of $3.4 billion with $1.3 billion due ocotber 2018.

  5. Pension defict of $2.1 billion

so where does that leave us, strip out the bankruptcy remote 125 stores and kd as they are pledged to the pbgc, and will not cover the deficit currently, leaving nothing.

total assets that can be monetized- circa $3.1 billion. Cash needed in 2017 to keep the lights on circa $2.5 billion, and in 2018 circa $3.8 billion (operating cash losses, pension contribution, repayment of $1.3 billion bonds and loan).

Should be obvious that if everthing is monetized and burn't, sears cannot make it past mid 2018 at the latest- certainly no chance of paying off the $1.3 billion loans and bonds due.

Finally, the losses will continue, you cannot cut your way to grwoth and profit. In 6 years they have dumped 2500 stores, yet the losses increase and the same store sales crater- if you have not stemmed the losses now you never wil. As the revenue and inventory drops the ability to repay the crippling debt diminshes. Every closed store costs money to close, every real estate sale adds to the interest pile.

My guess is they will limp on for the rest of this year, but early 2018 they will literally have nothing left. Certainly there is no scenario currently that sees them through 2018 and to be able to pay the $1.3 billion debt due. They cannot close loss making stores fast enough to save themselves.

Good luck all, whether you work there, or are long or short the stock.

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| 1528 views | | 20 replies (last February 7, 2017) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+LIQWUEJ

20 replies (most recent on top)

They aren't hiding assets and no it would not be legal- all assets including the ones in the bankruptcy remote vehicle are accounted for ( you might ask yourself why would you need a bankruptcy remote vehicle) . Yes the value of the inventory does go down as it ages - that's why Eddie will loan $500 million of cash with $1.5 billion of inventory to back it- the inventory is not worth the $ amount on the balance sheet. Finally yes shs is worth nothing - same for the auto bit - innocent who knows- 90% of the business is to Sears - how much are a couple of distribution centres and 1300 old trucks worth - you tell me ...

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Post ID: @1vwm+LIQWUEJ

Question-- How is it that a publicly traded company can hide the value of assets? Is this legal? Also, as the inventory is sold or is aged and vendors are not shipping doesn't the value of what is backing the loans go down? Lastly, with the horrible customer service and complaints that litter SHC Facebook page and BBB web sites among others, how can the values of most of those be worth anything? Just the name Sears to most people today brings with it a bad memory

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Post ID: @1que+LIQWUEJ

if there were billions in asset value that were being missed, fast eddie and his friends would simply pony up the $300 million or so to buy up the rest of the free float, take this thing private them monetize... they haven't because there aren't....

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Post ID: @1gtl+LIQWUEJ

the value of the company. I say the liabilities exceed assets by 3 billion dollars. The unknown is the real estate. Approximately 200 stores. My own valuation its about 800M. This is less per store than the average price of previous sales. Why? Because for the most part they are in poor production malls . Approximately 160 remaining properties are closed , many for years. How much is an abandoned store in a god awful mall with? The other assets have a reasonable approximation on the books. The outside accountants have transparent methodologies to value the inventory. They also assess the value of brand names. The remaining brand names will be written down this coming March. The outside auditors warned last year if sales continue to decline the brand names value decline further. I assess the Kenmore and diehard names are worth 500M tops, not billions suggested.

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Post ID: @1imi+LIQWUEJ

@1rhq I wondered the same when I read he dumped all those shares in early January. Could it be as simple as saying "market forces" drove us to bankruptcy when we were trying to be profitable through our members?

Could it help him in bankruptcy somehow? I don't know Corp finance/bankruptcy but something is there.

Same as the credit cards. Your company is dying & you're pushing credit like there is no tomorrow? I was told Sears gets $13 per app & $$$ back from Citibank when people use the card but there is still something fishy that's bigger than that.

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Post ID: @1zqm+LIQWUEJ

Eddie is certainly not stupid, I doubt he cares too much about his ego at this point. He is playing the long game and he is making moves every day, it is great that folk on these boards take time to share their opinions to keep him on his toes. The latest move that I don't get is why he driving the stock price down of late? He is clearly influencing its decline but why?

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Post ID: @1rhq+LIQWUEJ

Thanks for your insight OP

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Post ID: @1jim+LIQWUEJ

You can know the assets to a point. Companies like Moodies that value the risk and others have to know somewhat the value of what is left to be able to do their valuation and predictions. SHC is a public company and if there are things that could make a difference in the valuation one way or another they must disclose. Now I understand there are ways to hide these things in the filings leagaliese, but just let everything go south, like now and see how the lawyers for the shareholders and the governement likes that.

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Post ID: @jwn+LIQWUEJ

whats left- what annual sales figure did you have for diehard?

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Post ID: @tdm+LIQWUEJ

Uln- property by property analysis and 5x ebitda for home services and sales comps for kenmore and diehard

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Post ID: @ewv+LIQWUEJ

Yet again, somebody had to start this. The fact is that the only thing we can peg are the liabilities, including the pension. Because they are owed to others, they are public record. The assets, nobody can really value for sure. Eddie and Sears corporate do everything they can to hide their true value. Many also have a large redevelopment potential which wouldn't be figured in the current book value anyway. I know everyone on both sides has strong feelings and wants to believe they are right. But, we will never know until a bankruptcy or reorganization happens and a court makes them open their books. The fact is that while we know about the 125 in the sub and that there are 200 unencumbered, could anyone on this board give a detailed list of exactly which ones are on any list ? Probably not, because as I stated, they do everything to hide most of the details. Eddie is a horrible CEO to be sure, but he is not stupid. He is quietly doing everything he can to wring every cent of value out of the company for himself. For over a decade he has watched two formerly great retail chains deteriorate while using financial tricks to enrich himself. Yet people still think that everything they say in their press releases is on the up and up. Every year, they have a prerecorded statement saying that they are disappointed with the results and are working to restore profitability while they continue their transformation and focus on Shop Your Way. Sound familiar ? How could anyone on any side believe any figures that they put out ? How long they stay open is anyone's guess as we don't know how long they want to keep up this charade. I will say this though to the OP, while some of these threads have been rather cantankerous, it is good that they are being discussed as it might make the business reporters who visit this board do more research on the matter. Eddie and Co. are like c---roaches scurrying around in the dark and people need to start shining the lights on them.

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Post ID: @sgm+LIQWUEJ

czk- would you like to elaborate on how you got to those numbers- I can show you how i got to mine through 10k/sec filings, audit figures and rating agency numbers- you?

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Post ID: @uln+LIQWUEJ

I'm thinking August because of the real estate being safe.

Agree with EGO playing a role though. If Eddie somehow comes out of this a bankrupt and broken man, I won't be sad. He may hold on too long and will have done it to himself. He has callously caused a lot of suffering to others without concern so what goes around, may come around.

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Post ID: @wun+LIQWUEJ

What's left real estate:10 Billion brands and home services 2.5 billion inventory and other assets 3 billion ===17.5 billion assets - 9.8 billion liabilities== 7.7 billion net worth

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Post ID: @czk+LIQWUEJ

whats you are missing is eddie's ego- same as with all these billionaires- pride and ego cloud their judgement.

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Post ID: @kyb+LIQWUEJ

When Eddies take is just a little more than the assets it will end. Unless the vendors pull the plug first.

I can't understand how anyone is still selling to SHC with the debt and bleak outlook. What is the insurance on shipping to SHC? And what business would take the risk? I do know that most vendors have stopped shipping and they are just cleaning out the DC's and then they will close.

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Post ID: @ckf+LIQWUEJ

op here- i think it depends if eddie burns absolutley everything before throwing in the towel- if he does then I'd say sometime 1st quarter 2018. Maybe he gets to july of this year when seritage is past the claw back and gives up. Whats clear is he does not have enough for 2 more years.

I wish you all the very best regardless of what happens.

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Post ID: @nlj+LIQWUEJ

So, why don't they just close now? Eddie can't be that delusional that he honestly thinks it can all turn around. There is a piece missing to this puzzle and I have no idea what it is.

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Post ID: @xlz+LIQWUEJ

OP, you think they'll close after the 4th Q 2017? I don't know if it's better or worse for us employees to get through another holiday season.

I am interested in how people feel about this.

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Post ID: @uaq+LIQWUEJ

SHLD is over 130% debt to asset worth ratio and have yet to figure out how to make even a single dime of profit. Its cost them $1.15 to sell $1.00 worth of goods last quarter. That's all you have to know.

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Post ID: @fcn+LIQWUEJ

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