Jay Stein says that everyone at his company is on the same page as it tries to turn around weak sales trends, and it may soon have a new leader.
“I think we are truly functioning for the first time in a long time, long time, long time, as a great team,” Stein Mart Inc.’s chairman and interim chief executive officer said Tuesday at the company’s annual meeting.
Stein has been functioning as CEO since previous chief executive David Stovall retired in September, and Stein has said that he and Stovall didn’t agree on strategy.
After searching for months for a permanent CEO, Stein indicated Tuesday that the company might be close to hiring one.
“It is truly time to have a CEO that we can count on,” Stein said after the meeting at the Museum of Science & History on the Southbank.
“We’ve identified a person that we like a great deal, but we have by no means finalized an agreement with her,” he said.
The company has taken a long time to search for a new CEO as it tried to find the right fit to run the Jacksonville-based fashion retailer.
“I’m clearly qualified to run this company in the short term. We’re looking for someone to take us to the next three steps,” said Stein, who took the company his grandfather founded in Mississippi a century ago and turned it into a national chain starting in the late 1970s.
Stein, the company’s largest shareholder, stepped down as CEO in 2001 but remained chairman before taking on the additional duties as temporary CEO last fall.
He declined to say when the company might finalize an agreement with the unidentified CEO candidate, but he is hopeful it will happen.
“I think this is the person that all of the shareholders can sleep very soundly with,” he said.
During the meeting, Stein and Chief Operating Officer Hunt Hawkins told shareholders some of the steps Stein Mart is taking to turn sales around.
After he took over from Stovall, Stein said the company had been relying too much on coupons to draw in shoppers and is now trying to focus on its longtime strategy of offering everyday low prices.
Besides the pricing strategy, the company also is taking on other initiatives, such as a new private label credit card, which Stein Mart began offering this month, Stein said.
Hawkins said other initiatives include a new merchandising information system that was installed this month.
Stein Mart, which operates 263 stores in 29 states, upgraded 40 stores in 2011 and plans to upgrade 50 more this year, he said.
While it has spent money on capital improvements, Hawkins said the company remains financially sound.
“Our balance sheet remains strong with $94 million in cash at yearend and no debt,” he said.
Hawkins also pointed out Stein Mart’s adjusted operating earnings fell 32 percent last year to $32.6 million and comparable-store sales fell 1.1 percent.
“Our 2011 results really are a key reminder that our success is dependent on our ability to increase sales,” he said.
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