Basis of Presentation (Notes)

6 Months Ended

Aug. 03, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization, Consolidation, Basis of Presentation, Business Description and Accounting Policies

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of Stage Stores, Inc. and its subsidiary (“we,” “us” or “our”) have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information and do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Those adjustments that are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim periods have been made. Results of operations for such interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for a full year due to seasonality and other factors. The condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto filed with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended February 2, 2019 (“Form 10-K”).    

We are a retailer of trend-right, moderately priced, name-brand apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear and home goods. As of August 3, 2019, we operated in 42 states through 645 BEALLS, GOODY’S, PALAIS ROYAL, PEEBLES and STAGE specialty department stores and 141 GORDMANS off-price stores, as well as an e-commerce website (www.stage.com). Our department stores are predominantly located in small towns and rural communities. Our off-price stores are predominantly located in smaller and mid-sized markets in the Midwest.

References to a particular year are to our fiscal year, which is the 52- or 53-week period ending on the Saturday closest to January 31st of the following calendar year.  For example, a reference to “2019” is a reference to the fiscal year ending February 1, 2020, and “2018” is a reference to the fiscal year ended February 2, 2019. Fiscal years 2019 and 2018 are comprised of 52 weeks. References to the “three months ended August 3, 2019” and “three months ended August 4, 2018” are for the respective 13-week fiscal quarters. References to quarters relate to our fiscal quarters. References to the “six months ended August 3, 2019” and “six months ended August 4, 2018” are for the respective 26-week fiscal periods.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements. In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), and subsequently issued related ASUs, which were incorporated into Topic 842. Under the new standard, lessees are required to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, measured on a discounted basis, at the later of the lease commencement date and the date of adoption. The guidance also requires qualitative and quantitative disclosures about the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. We adopted the new standard on February 3, 2019, the first day of fiscal 2019.

Transition elections:

• We elected to apply the effective date transition method as of the February 3, 2019 adoption date. Comparative periods prior to the adoption of the new standard have not been restated and are reported under the legacy guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 840, Leases.

• We elected the package of practical expedients in the transition guidance, which permits us not to reassess under the new standard our prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs.

• We elected not to use the practical expedient of using hindsight to determine the lease term and in assessing impairment of the right-of-use assets.

Accounting policy elections:

• We elected the short-term lease exemption for leases that have a lease term of twelve months or less. For leases that qualify for the short-term exemption, we will not recognize a right-of-use asset or liability and will recognize those lease expenses on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

• We elected to not separate lease and non-lease components for all of our current lease classes.

The adoption of the standard resulted in the recognition of operating lease assets and liabilities of $344.2 million and $375.8 million, respectively, as of February 3, 2019. Included in the measurement of the operating lease assets and liabilities is the reclassification of balances historically recorded as deferred rent and deferred rent tenant allowances. We also recognized a cumulative effect charge of $5.2 million, net of tax, to the opening accumulated deficit balance. This adjustment reflects $5.8 million in depreciation of leasehold improvements associated with conforming the asset useful life to the remaining lease life as of the transition date. It also reflects $0.6 million associated with the derecognition of lease obligations that had been classified as finance obligations under the former failed sale-leaseback guidance applied to build-to-suit arrangements. Under the new standard, these leases are classified as operating leases. The adoption of the standard did not have a material impact on our results of operations or cash flows. In addition, our bank covenants under our Credit Facility were not affected by the adoption of the standard. See Note 5 for further disclosures regarding leases.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted.    In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement, which eliminates, adds and modifies certain disclosure requirements for fair value measurements. The new standard will be effective for us in the first quarter of fiscal 2020, with early adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on our disclosures.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other-Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force), which aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. The guidance also requires disclosure of the nature of hosting arrangements that are service contracts. The new standard will be effective for us in the first quarter of fiscal 2020, with early adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on our financial statements and disclosures.