TJX selling sinking Bob’s Stores division

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – TJX Cos., the owner of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains, announced last week that it had agreed to sell its Bob’s Stores division after the chain had posted four consecutive years of losses.
Bloomberg News reported that TJX will sell Bob’s Stores to buyout firms Versa Capital Management and Crystal Capital. The company reported that the sale will generate about $23 million in cash but did not disclose the terms of the transaction.
Bob’s Stores had sales of $310 million last year and 34 locations in the Northeast U.S. TJX bought the chain out of bankruptcy in 2003 for $59 million. At the time, TJX planned to boost the number of Bob’s stores to 400 from 31 and sales to more than $2 billion from $291 million.
The retailer said it will have a loss of about $15 million, or 3 cents a share, from the sale. TJX said full-year profit, excluding one-time costs, may rise to as high as $2.35 a share, up from its Aug. 12 forecast of no more than $2.31, because it will not record Bob’s losses in the earnings. &#8226