A shopper carries a Macy’s bag on Market Street on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 in San Francisco, California, USA.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Macy’s on Monday released preliminary third-quarter results and announced that it would postpone the release of its full results while an investigation into accounting issues is completed.
The company was scheduled to report quarterly results before the opening bell on Tuesday.
Macy’s said in a statement Monday that third-quarter sales fell 2.4% to $4.74 billion. Comparable sales for company-owned and licensed stores and online marketplaces decreased 1.3%.
Macy’s has not released third-quarter profit statistics. The company said it plans to release complete results and fourth-quarter and full-year guidance by Dec. 11.
Macy’s said it discovered “an issue related to shipping costs in one of its accrual accounts” while preparing its quarterly results. As a result of the company’s own investigation, one employee in charge of “small package delivery cost accounting” estimated delivery costs of approximately $132 million to $154 million from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of this fiscal year. It turned out that there had been a typo that concealed the information. The company said its shipping costs during that period were approximately $4.36 billion.
The retailer added that the action did not affect its cash management or payments to vendors, and said the employee no longer works for the company.
“At Macy’s, we promote a culture of ethical behavior. We are working diligently to complete the investigation as quickly as possible and ensure this matter is handled appropriately, but our colleagues within the company We are focused on serving our customers and executing our strategy for a successful holiday season,” CEO Tony Spring said in a statement.
Macy’s stock fell about 2% in premarket trading Monday.
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