J.C. Penney saw sales increase during the retailer's fourth fiscal quarter from November to January a record for the company since 2011 USA Today reported Tuesday.The quarter includes the holiday shopping season
"For comparable sales to be up two percent just underscores how challenged J.C. Penney is," Mary Ross Gilbert, an analyst at Imperial Capital LLC told Bloomberg Businessweek. "In this competitive environment, it shows how tough it is to regain lost share." Gilbert told Bloomberg Businessweek.
The company endured a lot during 2013, and has returned to a point where it is making strides.
"While 2013 brought a lot of change and challenges to J.C. Penney, the steady improvements in our business show that the company's turnaround is on track," Mike Ullman, J.C. Penney CEO said in a statement USA Today reported.
Investor Bill Ackman resigned from the J.C. Penney board in August Forbes reported. According to CNN Money, Ackman was involved in a conflict after he expressed his concern about where the company was going and how management was performing CNN Money reported. Ackman then sold all of his shares in the company back to the retailer CNN Money reported.
J.C. Penney filed the deal with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission along with statements from Pershing in August Reuters reported. Ackman resigned from J.C. Penney's board earlier after conflicts arose about the leadership of the retailer Reuters reported. Ackman was also not pleased with Ullman and wanted to replace him, but couldn't because the company was in support of him Reuters reported. Therefore Ackman stepped down, and Ullman took over as CEO Reuters reported.
Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management started to purchase the retailer in Oct. 2010 at a time when shares were $25 each CNN Money reported.
Pershing then sold all of its 39 million shares to Citigroup, which had shares of $12.90 each giving Ackman about $500 million in losses CNN Money reported.
