Bed Bath & Beyond quarterly loss widens on merchandising issues

(Reuters) -Bed Bath & Beyond Inc on Thursday reported a bigger quarterly loss as the embattled home goods chain struggled to stock its shelves with in-demand styles and people cut back on spending amid decades-high inflation.

Once known to be a “category killer” in home goods, Bed Bath’s stock and fortunes have slumped after its move to sell more store-branded products flopped and led to a reshuffle of its management team earlier this year.

The big-box chain now aims to attract more consumers by selling more national brands and dishing out coupons, but has a mountain to climb, with people spending less on home goods and an interim chief executive and finance chief in place.

Bed Bath said on Thursday its current liquidity is $850 million, following agreements for more than $500 million in new financing to buy more time to steady the ship. The company burned through $325 million in the reported quarter.

Analysts at UBS have estimated Bed Bath will burn through $1.5 billion in cash over the next eight quarters.

The company’s net loss was $366.2 million, or $4.59 per share, for the second quarter, compared with a loss of $73.2 million, or 72 cents per share, a year earlier.

Bed Bath’s shares fell 1.4% to $6.37 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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