Federated Department Stores said yesterday that slow store sales have forced it to reduce its second-quarter earnings by more than one-third.
The Cincinnati-based retailer also cut its earnings projection for the year and will take markdowns on current inventories to improve the outlook for the second half of the year.
Federated expects inventories at the end of July to be at appropriate levels to allow for new merchandise for the fall. The retailer, best known for its Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, has annual sales of $18.4 billion.
Federated also operates direct mail entities that include Bloomingdale's By Mail and the Fingerhut catalog.
