W. Bruce Johnson

Lampert offers "no excuses" for Sears poor performance

By Jessica WohlHOFFMAN ESTATES, Illinois (Reuters) - Edward Lampert said on Tuesday there were "no excuses" for the poor first quarter of Sears Holdings Corp <SHLD.

O> and it must do better.Chairman Lampert took the blame for the first-quarter weakness during the annual shareholder meeting -- on the same day the retailer's stock fell almost 10 percent -- even as other companies have said their results would have been better were it not for bad weather, high unemployment and the housing slump."In many of our businesses, even in a tougher environment, we ought to be doing a lot better," Lampert, the company's controlling shareholder, told investors.The meeting came just a day after Sears said it would post a hefty first-quarter loss after a sales slump at home and in Canada, and Sears shares plummeted the most in one day since last May, when the company posted a 38-percent drop in quarterly profit.The company's sales have fallen every year since it was formed by the 2005 merger of Sears a...

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