"It is our expectation that the economic environment will remain extremely challenging through 2009, if not beyond, and we have planned accordingly," Sadove says in the statement. "We continue to focus on what we can control, and I am pleased with how our organization has risen to the challenge. I am confident we have taken and will continue to take the decisive actions needed in response to the environment and to better position the company for the future when economic conditions improve."

The company's comparable store sales declined 15.3% in Q4, compared to a 9%-gain in comp-store sales in the same period a year earlier. Sadove says in a statement that this decline cut across "all geographies, merchandise categories and channels of distribution. Soft performance in the company's New York City flagship store, which began in the third quarter, persisted into the fourth. Women's apparel continued to be the most challenging merchandise category." He adds that while the retailer's "aggressive" discounting cut into its margins, it also helped produce "meaningful progress" in reducing inventories.

Saks plans between $50 million and $60 million of cost reductions this fiscal year, and has lowered its planned capital expenditures to approximately $60 million, down from the $129 million the company spent in fiscal 2008. The '09 capital expenditures primarily will stem from completing the women's designer floor in the flagship store at 611 Fifth Ave. and renovation projects under way at other locations.