Evan Clark
7 min read
Marc Metrick sees bright skies ahead for Saks Global.
Of course, he would. As chief executive officer of the still-new combination of Saks and Neiman Marcus with plans to “reset” luxury retailing, he has a big stake in that future.
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But since Saks bought Neiman’s in a $2.7 billion deal two days before Christmas, the narrative around the company has been less about reinvention than it has been about finances — from when it will pay vendors and how quickly it can cut costs to the rapid decline in its bond price and the race to shore up its liquidity.
Now, with financial results for 2024 in the books and some new financing coming into place, Metrick is hoping to put some of the balance sheet minutia aside and be more of the visionary CEO.
“Today is the turning point,” Metrick told WWD in an exclusive interview on Friday following a conference call with bondholders covering year-end results. “We cleared the air and we’ve cleared the path for growth. Saks is on very good footing, well underway on repairing and strengthening our brand partnerships, rebuilding trust with our brands. The balance sheet is now something that people should not worry about. There’s $700 million of liquidity.”
Just how much brands and bondholders and other investors will worry about the balance sheet now remains to be seen. The story at Saks has changed before, with dreams of a transformed luxury landscape chased by financial strain.
But investors seemed to take heart. According to FINRA, Saks’ bonds were going for more than 47 cents on the dollar on Friday. That’s still low, but up significantly from under 39 cents earlier in the week.
And certainly some of the burden has been relieved.
Saks has a $120 million bond interest payment due next month, another $120 million payment due in December and promises to make $275 million in back payments to vendors to stack up against that $700 million.
Half of the liquidity comes from $350 million in financing Saks secured late Thursday. The package included a $300 million FILO facility that was carved out of Saks’ asset backed lending facility as well as a $50 million secured term loan, both from SLR Credit Solutions.
“Saks is in it and we’re going to do something great,” Metrick said. “The most important thing to me is reestablishing the credibility that we have with our partners and [realizing] synergies well ahead of plan.”
