Future of Sears Canada looks grim, posts $144-million loss
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Sears Canada shutters its final stores Sunday after months-long liquidation
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
January 14, 2018
Updated:
January 14, 2018 9:59 PM EST
All the doors are closed, now with signs selling the remaining fixtures, furniture and equipment at the Sears store at the Cataraqui Centre in Kingston, Ont. on Jan. 9, 2018. Sears Canada announced back in October 2017 that it would be liquidating the merchandise in all its store across Canada before closing them.Julia McKay / The Kingston Whig-Standard / Postmedia Network
The few remaining Sears Canada stores closed their doors for good on Sunday.
The longtime staple of Canada’s retail landscape declared bankruptcy last year and announced in the fall that it would liquidate its remaining stores, leaving 15,000 people out of work.
Sales began in October, and only a fraction of the retailer’s locations across Canada remained open to the bitter end.
The chain’s closure sparked a number of controversies.
Sears Canada planned to dole out millions of dollars in retention bonuses to head office staff, while grappling with a more than $260-million shortfall in its pension plan.
The company originally wanted to pay a total $7.6 million to 43 top employees, but revised that to a total of $6.5 million to 36 employees after a backlash.
An Ontario judge approved the reduction, but some employees argued it was still too much money given the company was also facing a 19 per cent pension plan funding shortfall, meaning employees would likely see a similar cut to their benefits.
And a plan by executive chairman Brandon Stranzl that would see the company continue to operate was rebuffed in favour of liquidation, prompting further questions about whose interests were being prioritized.
Sears Canada’s closure follows in the footsteps of other big-box retailers in Canada, including Target and Zellers.
Sears Canada shutters its final stores Sunday after months-long liquidation | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
January 14, 2018
Updated:
January 14, 2018 9:59 PM EST
All the doors are closed, now with signs selling the remaining fixtures, furniture and equipment at the Sears store at the Cataraqui Centre in Kingston, Ont. on Jan. 9, 2018. Sears Canada announced back in October 2017 that it would be liquidating the merchandise in all its store across Canada before closing them.Julia McKay / The Kingston Whig-Standard / Postmedia Network
The few remaining Sears Canada stores closed their doors for good on Sunday.
The longtime staple of Canada’s retail landscape declared bankruptcy last year and announced in the fall that it would liquidate its remaining stores, leaving 15,000 people out of work.
Sales began in October, and only a fraction of the retailer’s locations across Canada remained open to the bitter end.
The chain’s closure sparked a number of controversies.
Sears Canada planned to dole out millions of dollars in retention bonuses to head office staff, while grappling with a more than $260-million shortfall in its pension plan.
The company originally wanted to pay a total $7.6 million to 43 top employees, but revised that to a total of $6.5 million to 36 employees after a backlash.
An Ontario judge approved the reduction, but some employees argued it was still too much money given the company was also facing a 19 per cent pension plan funding shortfall, meaning employees would likely see a similar cut to their benefits.
And a plan by executive chairman Brandon Stranzl that would see the company continue to operate was rebuffed in favour of liquidation, prompting further questions about whose interests were being prioritized.
Sears Canada’s closure follows in the footsteps of other big-box retailers in Canada, including Target and Zellers.
Sears Canada shutters its final stores Sunday after months-long liquidation | Toronto Sun
$611M in Sears Canada dividend payments under review by court monitor
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
January 17, 2018
Updated:
January 17, 2018 3:52 PM EST
(File Photo)Julia McKay / The Kingston Whig-Standard / Postmedia Network
TORONTO — Hundreds of millions of dollars of dividends doled out to Sears Canada shareholders are coming under scrutiny by the former retailer’s court-appointed monitor, according to a new report in the company’s insolvency proceedings.
The report also highlights the tens of millions of dollars the failed chain, which faces a more than $260-million pension deficit and has laid off roughly 15,000 employees, has paid for legal representation in the process.
FTI Consulting Canada Inc. will review some transactions, payments and dividends the retail chain entered into, made or declared before they filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, according to the latest report it submitted to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Monday.
Sears Canada shutters its final stores
Of particular interest to the monitor are a $102 million dividend payment on Dec. 31, 2012 and a $509 million dividend payment on Dec. 6, 2013.
The monitor is reviewing documents and gathering additional information, “including engaging with certain independent directors and senior Sears Canada management personnel, who had direct involvement” in at least some of the transactions.
FTI said it will report back to the court if it identifies more transactions it wishes to review.
The dividend payouts came as the company, which closed its last remaining stores this past weekend, struggled financially and grappled with a pension plan shortfall.
When Sears Canada sought approval to liquidate last year, its pension plan was more than $260 million short.
As of Dec. 31, 2015, the pension was 19% short of what it needed to meet its commitments, according to a Sears Canada Retiree Association website.
The report also shows how costly the insolvency process has been for Sears Canada, which up until Jan. 6 of this year has paid nearly $52.9 million in various fees.
That includes more than $28 million total to its law firm and financial advisor.
$611M in Sears Canada dividend payments under review by court monitor | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
January 17, 2018
Updated:
January 17, 2018 3:52 PM EST
(File Photo)Julia McKay / The Kingston Whig-Standard / Postmedia Network
TORONTO — Hundreds of millions of dollars of dividends doled out to Sears Canada shareholders are coming under scrutiny by the former retailer’s court-appointed monitor, according to a new report in the company’s insolvency proceedings.
The report also highlights the tens of millions of dollars the failed chain, which faces a more than $260-million pension deficit and has laid off roughly 15,000 employees, has paid for legal representation in the process.
FTI Consulting Canada Inc. will review some transactions, payments and dividends the retail chain entered into, made or declared before they filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, according to the latest report it submitted to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Monday.
Sears Canada shutters its final stores
Of particular interest to the monitor are a $102 million dividend payment on Dec. 31, 2012 and a $509 million dividend payment on Dec. 6, 2013.
The monitor is reviewing documents and gathering additional information, “including engaging with certain independent directors and senior Sears Canada management personnel, who had direct involvement” in at least some of the transactions.
FTI said it will report back to the court if it identifies more transactions it wishes to review.
The dividend payouts came as the company, which closed its last remaining stores this past weekend, struggled financially and grappled with a pension plan shortfall.
When Sears Canada sought approval to liquidate last year, its pension plan was more than $260 million short.
As of Dec. 31, 2015, the pension was 19% short of what it needed to meet its commitments, according to a Sears Canada Retiree Association website.
The report also shows how costly the insolvency process has been for Sears Canada, which up until Jan. 6 of this year has paid nearly $52.9 million in various fees.
That includes more than $28 million total to its law firm and financial advisor.
$611M in Sears Canada dividend payments under review by court monitor | Toronto Sun
More Empty Rhetoric
Those of us capable of casting a critical eye on the Prime Minister are well aware of his capacity for rhetorical flourish. Unfortunately, that flourish is often an end in itself. Concrete action and legislative initiatives rarely follow. And frequently that rhetorical capacity escapes him when he has no answer to the question. There were several examples of this last week in Davos. Today's post deals with one of them.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=im24_h5G1_M
Those of us capable of casting a critical eye on the Prime Minister are well aware of his capacity for rhetorical flourish. Unfortunately, that flourish is often an end in itself. Concrete action and legislative initiatives rarely follow. And frequently that rhetorical capacity escapes him when he has no answer to the question. There were several examples of this last week in Davos. Today's post deals with one of them.
At a press conference in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Trudeau suggested that laid-off Sears workers, many of whom had counted on their company pensions for their retirement, fall back on employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.
Asked by Globe and Mail bureau chief Bob Fife what his government would do about the fact Sears left its pensions underfunded while doling out millions in bonuses to execs, Trudeau gave a vague response.
"Canada continues to support people going through difficult times," Trudeau said. "Obviously pensioners who face uncertainty need to be supported, need to be reassured. That's why Canada has measures like the Canada Pension Plan, like employment insurance benefits — a broad range of ways we can support people who are facing unexpected downturns or layoffs."
The Prime Minister says that the Sears situation doesn't have any easy answers. How about a legislative fix to provide pension protection during bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Trudeau, so that this sad situation doesn't happen again and again and again?
Slide up to the 10:50 mark to hear thisAsked by Globe and Mail bureau chief Bob Fife what his government would do about the fact Sears left its pensions underfunded while doling out millions in bonuses to execs, Trudeau gave a vague response.
"Canada continues to support people going through difficult times," Trudeau said. "Obviously pensioners who face uncertainty need to be supported, need to be reassured. That's why Canada has measures like the Canada Pension Plan, like employment insurance benefits — a broad range of ways we can support people who are facing unexpected downturns or layoffs."
The Prime Minister says that the Sears situation doesn't have any easy answers. How about a legislative fix to provide pension protection during bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Trudeau, so that this sad situation doesn't happen again and again and again?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=im24_h5G1_M
Trudeau has no real interest in dealing with this issue... No photo-op attached so he won't bother
Keep them for a decade or two, then flog them. By then, everyone else will have chucked out theirs and yours will be a valuable collector's item.
you used to be able to buy a v8 engine from sears for something like $900. it was simple to pull the old block out and put the new one in. It was done all the time. Cars today you would never be able to swap an engine. Far too complex.
Sears tools used to be warrantied for life.
Sears tools used to be warrantied for life.
More bullshit. Today's modular engines are no harder than a Sears Target engine.
Stores and warehouses. They weren't foreclosed.
Buildings like this local massive gem were paid off 80 years ago.
Craftsman tools were great three plus decades ago but they went down, down, down in relative quality. I don't know why, either but I had some pack it in after only a year or two and they lost me for good ... a lot of others too, by the looks of it.
Those were nice. I meant electric tools.I still have a couple ... a Craftsman belt sander that's about twenty years old and a really robust 25 yr old hand circular saw that's tougher than anything I see in the stores, now. Everything else crapped out. I've he had some DeWalt stuff that I've kicked the living crap out of and they go in spite of me, though.
I had mitre saw that shattered in the cold. Shitty plastic housing and handle.
If they made them as beefy as they used too they wouldn't have been affordable. Heavy cast pot metal parts made them bulky and energy intensive to make and distribute.
If they made them as beefy as they used too they wouldn't have been affordable. Heavy cast pot metal parts made them bulky and energy intensive to make and distribute.
40 years ago or so the Province of B.C. was issuing B.C. bonds to every person at which time they were worth about $5 each if I recall correctly. A smart person would have redeemed them the day they got them but sadly most didn't and after about 10 years they were worth nothing. However charities were accepting them at the time. I'm not sure if they issued tax receipts. I can't even remember what I did with mine. I guess anything is worth a try.
My Craftsman mitre saw died young, too. I never went back to them after that last disappointment.