Tailored Brands unravel with 250 store closures and $1bn losses
Tailored Brands, formerly known as Men’s Warehouse, has been forced to wield the axe at 250 stores as it seeks to plug an outflow of cash from the business which saw it rack up a $1bn net loss last year.
The catastrophic figures stem primarily from $1.2bn in impairment charges arising from a write down of the valuation of Jos. A. Bank, former rivals in the suit business, who were bought out by Men’s Warehouse back in 2014.
Doug Ewert, Tailored Brands chief executive officer stated, "While our fourth quarter and full year results were consistent with our revised guidance, we remain very disappointed by the weak Jos. A. Bank results. Our transition away from unsustainable promotions has proven significantly more difficult and expensive than we expected.
"We do, however, remain confident that Jos. A. Bank offers a longer-term opportunity to profitably grow market share in the menswear business. Additionally, our Men's Wearhouse, Moores, and K&G brands continue to perform well, with profitability in line or ahead of our expectations.
"Over the past several months we completed a comprehensive operational review of the Tailored Brands businesses and are in the process of taking actions we believe will right-size our store base, optimize our cost structure, return Jos. A. Bank to profitability and improve other operating aspects of Tailored Brands.”
Tailored Brands is the largest suit retailer in North America.