Venture pre-tax profits up - May Department Stores Co. Venture Stores Inc

Discount Store News, March 4, 1991

Venture Pre-Tax Profits Up

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Venture, in its last quarter as a subsidiary of May Department Stores Co., reported a pre-tax profit of $6.4 million on sales of $338 million for the period ended Nov. 3, 1990.

In the year-earlier period, sales totaled $313.9 million, and May recorded a $29.4 million pre-tax loss. The loss resulted from a $35.4 million writeoff related to the planned spinoff of Venture to May stockholders, which took place Nov. 3, 1990.

For the nine months, sales totaled $941.2 million, with a pre-tax profit of $12.8 million.

Venture started independent life as a "significantly leveraged" chain, Venture said in its 10-Q report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and "fixed charges, particularly for rent, have increased significantly."

Because Venture had to borrow about $300 million as the price of gaining independence, its ratio of debt to equity spurted to 57.7% from 8% in the third quarter of 1989.