Department store David Jones has placed its shares under a trading halt, pending the release of an announcement to be made by the company.
The halt comes following reports in the media that earnings from one of David Jones' key businesses, its credit card division which is run with American Express, may have experienced a drop in profitability.
All will be revealed tomorrow [Wednesday March 21] when the company releases a profit result and strategy update for the first half of the financial year and, unless the ASX decides otherwise, the securities will remain in trading halt session state until this time.
As previously reported in ragtrader.com.au, David Jones has recently experienced a raft of changes, including the appointment of a new CFO, external recruit Brad Soller, as well as a new group executive of retail services, Antony Karp.
David Jones' former group executive of information technology, Karen McLachlan also departed the company in February this year, along with Reg Clairs, one of David Jones' non-executive directors.
Last month, the retailer also signed a multi-million dollar deal with IBM in a bid to create a new multi-channel retail systems platform and announced it would introduce nearly 50 fresh fashion brands this year.
However, David Jones has suffered a dip in sales for the second quarter of the 2012 financial year, despite its apparel sections showing 'positive growth'.
For the period October 30 to January 28, the retail giant reported a total sales venue of $598.5 million – representing a total sales decline of 3.1 per cent, compared to the same period in 2011.