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MD & A |
MD &
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MD & A One |
Management's Analysis of Consolidated
Operations
Sears, Roebuck and Co. and its consolidated subsidiaries ("the Company") is a multiline retailer providing a wide array of merchandise and services in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Operating results for the Company are reported for four domestic segments and one international segment. The domestic segments include the Company's operations in the United States and Puerto Rico. The Company's segments are defined as follows: Retail - consisting of: > Full-line Stores - 858 Full-line stores, averaging 88,000 selling square feet, located primarily in the best malls in the nation and offering:
> Specialty Stores - More than 2,100 specialty stores, located primarily in freestanding, off-the-mall locations or high-traffic neighborhood shopping centers.
Services -
consisting of: > Direct Response, consisting of direct-response marketing, which markets insurance (credit protection, life and health), clubs and services memberships, merchandise through specialty catalogs, and impulse and continuity merchandise. Credit - which manages the Company's portfolio of credit card receivables arising from purchases of merchandise and services from domestic operations. The domestic credit card receivables portfolio consists primarily of Sears Card and Sears Premier Card account balances. Corporate - includes activities that are of an overall holding company nature, primarily consisting of administrative activities and the Sears Online investment initiatives related to selling merchandise via the Company Web sites, the costs of which are not allocated to the Company's businesses. International - consisting of retail, services, credit and corporate operations similar to the Company's domestic operations. International operations are conducted in Canada through Sears, Canada Inc. ("Sears Canada"), a majority owned subsidiary. International operations were also conducted through Sears, Roebuck de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. ("Sears Mexico"), a 75.5% owned subsidiary until March 1997, when the Company sold 60% of the outstanding shares of Sears Mexico. Throughout management's analysis of consolidated operations and financial condition, certain prior year information has been reclassified to conform with the current year presentation. All references to earnings per share relate to diluted earnings per common share.
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Annual Report 1999 |
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© 1999 Sears, Roebuck and Co. -
www.sears.com |