Montgomery Ward Fiscal Year Losses Narrow

Montgomery Ward Holding Corp., the privately owned department-store retailer expected to emerge from bankruptcy protection later this year, said its loss narrowed in fiscal 1999 as it cut costs. The loss from continuing operations narrowed to $942 million for the year ended Jan. 2, from $1.17 billion the year before, according to a regulatory filing. The results include pretax reorganization costs, such as for store closings, of $218 million in the most recent year and $553 million the year before. The Chicago-based retailer, which recently renamed its stores Wards, has been under bankruptcy protection from creditors since July 1997, when it filed for Chapter 11 after years of anemic earnings and slumping sales. The chain has since closed more than 100 poorly performing stores and repositioned itself between discount retailers and lower-priced department stores. Sales last year fell 20% to $3.63 billion from $4.53 billion.