Sears closes 150 stores and sells Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker

The U.S. retail group Sears closes 150 locations and sells its tool brand Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker. Both measures are to contribute to increasing its financial flexibility and improve long-term operating performance. They are a part of the strategic plans to transform Sears from a store-based, asset-intensive business model into a membership-focused, asset-light business model. In particular, this means Shop Your Way, a social shopping platform offering members rewards for shopping at Sears and Kmart as well as with other retail partners across categories important to them.
The 150 retail locations to be sold - 108 Kmart and 42 Sears stores - are reported to be unprofitable. While these stores collectively generated about USD 1.2 bn in sales over the past twelve months, they generated an Adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately USD 60 mio over that same period, according to a press report.
The tools group Stanley Black & Decker is purchasing the Craftsman business for a cumulative USD 775 mio. The transaction provides Stanley Black& Decker with the rights to develop, manufacture and sell Craftsman-branded products in non-Sears Holdings retail, industrial and online sales channels across the U.S. and in other countries. As part of the agreement, Sears Holdings will continue to offer Craftsman-branded products, sourced from existing suppliers, through its current retail channels via a perpetual license, which will be royalty-free for the first 15. Today only approximately ten per cent of Craftsman-branded products are sold outside of Sears Holdings and the agreement will enable Stanley Black& Decker to significantly increase Craftsman sales in these untapped channels.
In this context, Stanley Black & Decker President and CEO James M. Loree announces "we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S. This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 per cent in the past three years".