Circuit City had a crap first quarter, losing $54.6m, against net income of $6.4m same time last year. Net sales fell 4.3 per cent, driven by a comparable store sales decline of 5.6 per cent. Gross profit margins fell 1.9 per cent on lower merchandise margins and lower take-up of extended warranties.

The electronics retailing giant - America's biggest behind Best Buy - thinks things will get even crappier: it has withdrawn financial guidance for 2008, seeking a breathing space to restructure at a time of "economic uncertainty in the near term".

In March, Circuit City earned much opprobrium when it decided to 3,400 "overpaid" store workers and replace them with people on lower wages. At the same time, the company shunted off IT operations to IBM to kill another 80 jobs. Since then the firm has pink-slipped another 200 people in the corporate office.

The re-org should generate savings of $150m in 2008 and $200m annually thereafter, the company said today. ®

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