Even Dollar General is now being slammed by retail theft

Published

9 months ago

September 1, 2023

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Even dollar stores are getting slammed by the retail theft crisis.

Dollar Generals shares tanked Thursday after the discounter provided a bleak outlook for the rest of the year because of rising thefts and weak consumer demand at its 19,000 stores nationwide.

The Tennessee-based company warned Wall Street that profits may plunge by as much as 34% compared to its previous forecast for an 8% decline to flat growth as cut its full-year profit and sales targets for the second time this year.

“Our revised guide is really a function of the slower transactions that we’re seeing, and higher expected shrink,” Dollar General CFO Kelly Dilts said on a call with analysts after the company reported quarterly earnings that fell short of Wall Street estimates.

The reference to “shrink” — an industry term for stolen or damaged goods — follows a troubling trend cited by other major retailers who have blamed the scourge of organized retail theft for impacting their bottom line.

Target has said it expects to lose $500 million because of theft at its stores.

Dollar Tree said in May that it would need to raise prices in some regions because of persistent shoplifting.

Dollar General’s gross profit as a percentage of net sales fell 126 basis points in the quarter as retail shrink worsened. It flagged $100 million in additional shrink headwinds since its last earnings call in June.

CEO Jeff Owen did not elaborate on the extent of the theft, instead pointing to still-stubborn inflation for shoppers feeling “financially constrained.

Dollar Generals core customers are feeling the acute pressure of the cost-of-living-crisis, echoed Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData, in a report Thursday.

Dollar General lowered its same store sales guidance to a decline of about 1% and 1% increase compared to its previous forecast of a 1% to 2% increase.

The companys comparable sales dropped by 1% in the second quarter ended Aug. 4 and the company expects a pileup of inventory to be a drag on its earnings for the rest of the year as it slashes prices on items that havent been selling.

The quarter “marks the fourth consecutive guide down for Dollar General, which admittedly creates further uncertainty if we are hitting the bottom yet,” said Raymond James analyst Bobby Griffin.

The stock nosedived down more than 12% Thursday to close at $138.59.

It has tracked a nearly three-and-a-half-year low, slumping as much as 18.2% to hit $128.96 — making it one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 index this year.

As inflation continued to batter shoppers this year, more customers flocked to Dollar General and its rival Dollar Tree among other big discounters.

But food and other essential items are less profitable for those stores as profit margins on food are anemic.

While we are not satisfied with our overall financial results, we made significant progress in the second quarter improving execution in our supply chain and our stores, as well as reducing our inventory growth rate and further strengthening our price position, Owen said in a statement.

With Post wires

Entertainment

Cannes Film Festival 2024: The Apprentice to the new Mad Max – five films to look out for as stars hit the red carpet

Published

1 hour ago

May 14, 2024

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Cannes Film Festival 2024: The Apprentice to the new Mad Max - five films to look out for as stars hit the red carpet

This year’s Cannes Film Festival is getting under way with, as always, a French movie opening proceedings and celebrities lining the red carpet.

Lea Seydoux is among the stars in The Second Act, which tells the story of actors working on a doomed movie production – a delightfully wicked way to kick off the world’s most famous film festival.

Away from opening night, here are five more films playing at Cannes that are worth keeping an eye on.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

A post-apocalyptic action adventure, this is a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road – which won six Oscars and is largely regarded as one of the best action films ever. Furiosa is by the same director, George Miller, and early reviews suggest it’s somewhat different to its predecessor but equally brilliant. With stars including Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hardy, it should be a great way to kick off summer blockbuster season – in cinemas from 24 May, so audiences who aren’t on the French Riviera don’t have long to wait too long.

Megalopolis

Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola‘s self-financed passion project is playing in competition at the festival. The filmmaker is reported to have spent several decades and more than a million dollars of his own money making the sci-fi, which is described as a Roman epic fable set in an imagined modern America. The ensemble cast includes Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne and Dustin Hoffman – and as Coppola’s first film to be released since 2011, expectations are high for this one.

The Apprentice

As Donald Trump continues to grab headlines in the US, this film looks at the former president’s life before politics, his career in real estate in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, but little else is known about the drama ahead of its world premiere at Cannes. Promoters say it tackles themes of power, corruption and deception – so now it’s a watch and wait to see if the billionaire has anything to say about his life becoming fodder for the big screen.

Horizon: An American Saga

Another passion project making its way to the south of France is the first half of this two-parter Western co-written, starring and directed by Kevin Costner. The actor first pitched a version of this movie back in 1988 so it’s been brewing since long before the Western drama series Yellowstone that he’s been busy with during recent years. Audiences will be going in knowing they won’t get the whole story, and with a 181 minute running time it’s quite the commitment – but perhaps not as big as Costner’s himself; he’s personally financed the films, which currently have a budget of almost $100m.

Kinds Of Kindness

Mere months after Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things won four Oscars, the director has got the gang back together for a new film premiering at Cannes, also starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley. Described as a “triptych fable”, the film tells three stories that are loosely connected. Known for his strange tales and specific vison, while Lanthimos’s movies aren’t for everyone they certainly can’t be accused of being dull. However, with little to be gleaned from the teaser trailer that’s been released so far, it will be all eyes on Cannes to see what audiences make of this one.

Sports

Phillies’ Harper (migraine) out Tuesday vs. Mets

Published

1 hour ago

May 14, 2024

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Phillies' Harper (migraine) out Tuesday vs. Mets

Field Level Media

May 14, 2024, 01:41 PM ET

Philadelphia Phillies star first baseman Bryce Harper was a late scratch ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s game against the host New York Mets due to a migraine.

Bryson Stott was moved up to third in the lineup, and Alec Bohm was listed as fourth and scheduled to play at first base in place of Harper, 31.

Whit Merrifield was inserted into the lineup and slated to take over at third base for Bohm.

Harper, a two-time National League MVP, is hitting .259 with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 38 games this season.

World

France prison convoy attack: Inmate on the run after guards killed in ambush

Published

1 hour ago

May 14, 2024

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France prison convoy attack: Inmate on the run after guards killed in ambush

Hundreds of police are hunting armed men who attacked a prison van in France – with a convict reportedly nicknamed “The Fly” escaping.

Two male prison officers were shot dead and three others seriously injured during the ambush on a motorway in Incarville, northwest France, at around 9am.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, France’s justice minister, said one of the officers leaves behind a wife who was five months pregnant, while the other was a 21-year-old father-of-two.

He said two of those injured are in a critical condition after Tuesday’s ambush.

The officers were transporting convict Mohamed Amra, 30, when they came under heavy fire, said the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Footage shows a black car driving into the front of a white van, and later two armed men patrolling near a tollbooth on the A154 motorway.

Several men used two vehicles to target the van – with one later found burnt-out, a police source told French news agency AFP.

Amra had been serving an 18-month sentence for “aggravated thefts” in the suburbs of Evreux, northwest France, according to BFM TV.

The French broadcaster said his nickname is “The Fly”.

Police sources also said Amra was involved in drug dealing, suspected of ordering a murder in Marseille, and had ties to the city’s powerful “Blacks” gang.

He had reportedly appeared before a judge in Rouen on Tuesday morning, accused of attempted homicide.

The attack on the van took place while he was being transported back to prison in Evreux, according to reports in France.

Who is ‘The Fly’?

A prison source told Le Parisien that the escaped inmate had tried to saw the bars off his cell two days ago.

He had reportedly been placed in solitary confinement and his surveillance level raised after the escape attempt.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Amra was a “particularly monitored detainee” while in prison.

Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, said “several hundred police officers” had been deployed to “find these criminals”.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “This morning’s attack, which cost the lives of prison officers, is a shock to us all.

“The Nation stands alongside the families, the injured and their colleagues.

“Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime so that justice can be done in the name of the French people. We will be intractable.”

“Everything, I mean everything, will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime,” added justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.

“These are people for whom life weighs nothing. They will be arrested, they will be judged, and they will be punished according to the crime they committed.”