The misplaced apostrophe in the company’s name is a result of a typographical error in the company’s first mailer in 1963 that the new company couldn’t afford to reprint with the correction.
Sears stock has tanked Monday morning, down about 19%, as investors believe that as more parts of the company disappear the less it is worth. There is a certain logic to that.
Holders of Sears stock received just over 0.3 shares of stock in Lands’ End for every share of Sears stock. Holders of preferred stock that had not yet vested on March 24, the record date, received cash. About 32 million shares of Lands’ End stock have been distributed.
A subsidiary of Sears owned by chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert will receive $500 million following the spin-off, and the subsidiary will retain ownership of 48.4% of Lands’ End stock, a percentage equal to its ownership of stock in Sears.
Sears acquired Lands’ End in 2002 for about $1.9 billion, and it was not a solid marriage from the beginning. Lands’ End customers tended to be wealthier than Sears customers, and Sears patrons did not like the preppy-casual look that typified Lands’ End and its mail-order rivals like J. Crew, Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean.
The quality of the goods that carried the Lands’ End brand after the Sears acquisition also deteriorated. Lands’ End now operates 14 retail locations and rings up about $1.6 billion in annual sales.
What is left at Sears? There are the Auto Centers, for which the company is looking at “strategic alternatives’ already, some well-known brands like Craftsman and Kenmore, and a lot of underperforming real estate. In other words, not much.
Shares of Lands’ End traded around $29.13 at noon on Monday, and shares of Sears were down more than 19%, at $40.61 in a 52-week range of $32.85 to $67.50.
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