The troubled Spiegel Group announced this morning that its chief financial officer James R. Cannataro has resigned.
Cannataro, who joined Spiegel in 1984, has accepted a position in another industry, the company said. Spiegel is now looking for a successor.
It was not clear that Cannataro’s departure was related, but the company revealed yesterday that it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for its late filing of financial reports.
In addition, Spiegel’s auditor, KPMG LLP, warned Spiegel’s board that the retail/catalog firm was not in compliance with some debt agreements, and that there were doubts about the company’s ability to continue.
Spiegel also announced yesterday that it was laying off 300 call-center employees. Some were seasonal, but some reflected a 27% dip in overall catalog sales,” spokeperson Debbie Koopman told Catalog Age’s Paul Miller.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Spiegel has stopped seeking a buyer for its credit card business because of a downturn in the market.
Spiegel’s belated 2001 annual report, which was filed Tuesday, reported a $188.9 million net loss from its retail and private credit card businesses, according to the Sun-Times.
Last month, Spiegel reported a 17% sales decline for December 2002 compared with the prior year. This included a 41% decline for the Spiegel catalog group and a 25% falloff for Newport News.
Spiegel’s CEO, Martin Zaepfel, said in a statement that Cannataro was “instrumental in guiding Eddie Bauer during its rapid growth in the nineties.” Cannataro was chief financial officer for Eddie Bauer before becoming CFO of the entire Spiegel Group in July 2001.
