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Fred's to Close an Additional 129 Stores and Hold Inventory Clearance Sales Across All Stores
Globe Newswire 12-Jul-2019 9:00 AM
Encourages Customers to Take Advantage of Unique Value-Priced Shopping Opportunities
Pharmacies to Remain Open
MEMPHIS, Tenn., July 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fred's, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED) today announced that it will close an additional 129 retail stores and hold inventory clearance sales across all stores in an effort to refocus its product mix, simplify its store portfolio and repay debt.
Following the planned 129 closures, Fred's will have approximately 80 retail stores remaining, centered primarily around the Company's distribution center in Dublin, GA. Lists of stores that will be closed and that will remain open are included below. Fred's may evaluate re-launching certain closed stores in the future under a new operating model, with an updated assortment. The Company expects the proceeds from the inventory clearance sales will be used to repay outstanding indebtedness under its revolving credit agreement.
All pharmacies (including the 69 within the 129 stores referenced above) will remain open and the Company will continue to fulfill prescriptions at its pharmacy locations, as it continues to pursue the sale of its remaining pharmacy locations and opportunities to monetize pieces of its real estate portfolio. The Company currently operates 166 pharmacies.
Joseph Anto, Fred's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "While it is never easy to make decisions that impact our valued employees and customers, this initiative represents another necessary step in our continued efforts to stabilize our business by simplifying our store portfolio and product assortment."
Mr. Anto continued, "We are pleased to present our loyal customers the unique and compelling opportunity to purchase heavily discounted items for a limited time. We encourage shoppers to take advantage of these unmatched deals, and stock up on items that may be permanently removed from Fred's shelves, come August."
Fred's has partnered with Malfitano Advisors, LLC and SB360 Capital Partners to help manage the clearance sale process.
About Fred's, Inc. Since 1947, Fred's, Inc. has been an integral part of the communities it serves throughout the southeastern United States. Fred's mission is to make it easy AND exciting to save money. Its unique discount value store format offers customers a full range of value-priced everyday items, along with terrific deals on closeout merchandise throughout the store. For more information about the Company, visit Fred's website at www.fredsinc.com.
Forward Looking Statements Comments in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. A reader can identify forward-looking statements because they are not limited to historical facts or they use such words as "outlook," "guidance," "may," "should," "could," "believe," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "objective," "forecast," "goal," "intend," "committed," "continue," or "will likely result" and similar expressions that concern the Company's strategy, plans, intentions or beliefs about future occurrences or results. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, expectations, projections, goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating results, the Company's plans, objectives, business outlook, priorities, expectations and intentions, expectations for sales growth, comparable sales, earnings and performance, shareholder value, capital expenditures, cash flows, demand for products, share repurchases, strategic initiatives, including those relating to store closures and acquisitions and dispositions by the Company and the expected impact of such transactions on our strategic and operational plans and financial results, and any statement of an assumption underlying any of the foregoing and other statements that are not historical facts. Although we believe that the expectations, opinions, projections and comments reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and we can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. A wide variety of potential risks, uncertainties and other factors could materially affect our ability to achieve the results either expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements including, but not limited to risks and uncertainties associated with: (i) the competitive nature of the industries in which we operate; (ii) our turnaround plan and the implementation of our strategic initiatives, and their impact on our sales, costs and operations; (iii) our store closures and the related sales of inventory and real estate issues; (iv) our divestitures; (v) utilizing our existing and new stores and the extent of our pharmacy department presence in new and existing stores; (vi) conditions affecting the retail sector as a whole; (vii) our reliance on a single supplier of pharmaceutical products; (viii) our pharmaceutical drug pricing; (ix) reimbursement rates and the terms of our agreements with pharmacy benefit management companies; (x) consolidation in the healthcare industry; (xi) our private brands; (xii) the seasonality of our business and the impact of adverse weather conditions; (xiii) operational, supply chain and distribution difficulties; (xiv) merchandise supply and pricing; (xv) consumer demand and product mix; (xvi) delayed openings and operating new stores and distribution facilities; (xvii) our employees; (xviii) risks relating to payment processing; (xix) our computer systems, and the processes supported by our information technology infrastructure; (xx) our ability to protect the personal information of our customers and employees; (xxi) cyber-attacks; (xxii) changes in governmental regulations; (xxiii) the outcome of legal proceedings, including claims of product liability; (xxiv) insurance costs; (xxv) tax assessments and unclaimed property audits; (xxvi) current economic conditions; (xxvii) our indebtedness and our ability to satisfy our debt obligations and obtain forbearance or waivers for any defaults; (xxviii) the terms of our existing and future indebtedness, including the covenants set forth in the documents governing such indebtedness; (xxix) any acquisitions we may pursue and the ability to effectively integrate businesses that we acquire; (xxx) our ability to remediate the material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting and otherwise maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting; (xxxi) our largest stockholder holding a significant percentage of our outstanding equity; (xxxii) our ability to pay dividends and/or repurchase shares of our Class A voting common stock; (xxxiii) our ability to attract and retain talented executives; (xxxiv) any strategic alternatives that we decide to pursue, if any; (xxxv) our ability to continue as a going concern; (xxxvi) our ability to meet all applicable Nasdaq requirements; and (xxxvii) the factors listed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and any subsequent quarterly filings on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to release revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unforeseen events, except as required to be reported under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
