Macy's cuts adjusted profit forecast, shares fall 7%

M

(Reuters) - Macy's on Wednesday cut its annual profit forecast, as it struggles with increased promotions during the holiday shopping season amid weak demand at its eponymous stores, sending the shares of the department store chain down 7% before the bell.

The company is in the middle of a turnaround effort under CEO Tony Spring and has had to rely on its luxury outlets Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury to lift sales, even as shoppers defer purchases at its nameplate stores.

It expects annual adjusted profit per share $2.25 to $2.50, compared with prior expectation of $2.34 to $2.69, which was adjusted to account for an accounting error.

Macy's had last month said a single employee "intentionally" made wrong accounting entries to hide about $132 million to $154 million of delivery expenses between the fourth quarter of 2021 through third quarter of 2024.

It had recorded about $4.36 billion as delivery expenses in this period. Before disclosing the error, the company in August had forecast profit of $2.55 to $2.90

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)