BestORG
sees Q2 loss similar to Q1 loss . RICHMONDLOC
, VaLOC
. 1996-08-22 Best
Products CoORG
Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel
LevyPER
said Thursday he expected the company 's second-quarter results to be similar to the $ 34.6 million loss posted
in
the first quarter . He also told ReutersORG
before the retailer 's annual meeting that the second quarter could be better than the first quarter ended May 4
.
" We could do even better , " he said . The second-quarter results are expected to be released in
September . LevyPER
said seeking bankruptcy protection was not under consideration . BestORG
emerged from Chapter
11MISC
bankruptcy protection in June 1994 after 3-1/2 years . " Bankruptcy is always possible , particularly when
you
lose what we are going to lose in the first half of this year , " LevyPER
said . " But this is not something we are striving to do . " The Richmond-basedMISC
retailer lost $ 95.7 million in the fiscal year ended February 3 . That was the second-largest loss in the
company
's history . LevyPER
said that BestORG
planned to open two new stores this fall . The company announced in March that it was closing seven stores and
backing out of nine new lease agreements . At the time , BestORG
said it did not plan to open any new stores this fall . It currently operates 169 stores in 23 states . For last
year 's second quarter , which ended July 29 , 1995 , BestORG
posted a loss of $ 7.1 million , or $ 0.23 per share , on sales of $ 311.9 million .