For its second fiscal quarter ended July 30, 2016, apparel retailer JC Penney reduced its net loss by a steep 52 per cent year over year to $56 million or $0.18 loss per share. Excluding the previously announced write-off of unamortised debt issuance costs of $34 million, adjusted earnings per share improved 88 per cent over the earlier fiscal’s same quarter to a loss of $0.05 per share. The retailer said its comparable sales increased 2.2 per cent from a fiscal ago quarter for the reporting period, delivering a two-year stack of 6.3 per cent. For the second quarter of fiscal 2017, gross margin was 37.1 per cent of sales, a 10 basis point improvement compared to the same period last fiscal. EBITDA improved $85 million from the comparable quarter of fiscal 2016 to $229 million in the quarter under review, an expansion of 59 per cent. Excluding restructuring charges and the proportional share of net income from the home office land joint venture, adjusted EBITDA improved 69 per cent year on year to $233 million.
