New York, January 26, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") downgraded Bed Bath &
Beyond Inc.'s ("Bed Bath") corporate family rating ("CFR") to B1
from Ba3, its probability of default rating to B1-PD from
Ba3-PD and its senior unsecured notes rating to B2 from B1.
The speculative grade liquidity rating remains at SGL-1.
The outlook is stable.
"The downgrade reflects the increased risks associated with the execution
of Bed Bath's strategic turnaround given the supply chain and operational
challenges the company faces have more than offset its successful efforts
to roll out its private brand portfolio, increase its digital sales
penetration, divest non-core banners and rationalize its
store base. Bed Bath's leverage is expected to increase to
around 4.2x at the end of fiscal 2021 as weaker sales and higher
supply chain costs reduce profitability. The SGL-1 reflects
its very good liquidity as cash balances remain high and its $1
billion revolver is undrawn" said Senior Vice President, Christina
Boni.
Downgrades:
..Issuer: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
.... Corporate Family Rating, Downgraded
to B1 from Ba3
.... Probability of Default Rating,
Downgraded to B1-PD from Ba3-PD
.... Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Downgraded to B2 (LGD4) from B1 (LGD5)
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
....Outlook, Remains Stable
RATINGS RATIONALE
Bed Bath's B1 corporate family rating reflects its scale as the largest
dedicated retailer of domestic merchandise and home furnishing with a
national footprint. It also reflects its very good liquidity and
low level of funded debt both of which provide it with the financial flexibility
to support its efforts to improve profitability. Nonetheless,
the company remains challenged to maintain its market position particularly
in the face of increased supply chain pressures that have resulted in
higher costs and lower inventory availability. As demand shifted
to the home segment during the pandemic, Bed Bath has been successful
in growing its e-commerce business significantly to approximately
35% of its overall sales. Despite these efforts, the
company remains vulnerable to intense competition from e-commerce
as well as other value players and traditional discounters. Bed
Bath is focused on improving assortments and layout, expanding private
label, and enhancing its omni-channel capabilities and upgrading
its systems as its works to reduce costs. The company introduced
8 new owned brands in fiscal 2021, which supports continued margin
expansion efforts. Additionally, Bed Bath has worked to rationalize
its banners as well as its store base with a total of 200 closed expected
by the end of fiscal 2021.
Bed Bath's SGL-1 reflects its very good liquidity as Moody's
projects the company to have approximately $600 million of cash
at the end of the year and no revolver borrowings. The acceleration
of share repurchases with $625 million planned in fiscal 2021 has
been primarily funded through excess cash generated from its sale of non-core
assets. Bed Bath has also continued to make strategic capital expenditures
and is expected to spend $350 million in fiscal 2021. Bed
Bath's nearest note maturity is $285 million in 2024 with its undrawn
$1 billion ABL expiring in August 2026.
The stable outlook reflects the expectation that Bed Bath's very
good liquidity provides it with the time to execute on its turnaround
efforts and that capital allocation will be conservative until the business
is stabilized.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
Ratings could be downgraded to the extent that the transformation does
not result in operational improvement, market share erosion is sustained,
liquidity deteriorates for any reason or financial strategy becomes more
aggressive. Quantitatively, ratings could be downgraded if
debt/EBITDA is sustained above 4.5x and EBIT/Interest is sustained
below 1.25x.
An upgrade would require that the company maintains very good liquidity
and makes significant progress in its operational initiatives which results
in positive free cash flow and market share stabilization while debt/EBITDA
is sustained below 3.5x and EBIT/Interest is sustained above 1.5x.
Headquartered in Union, NJ, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
is a omni-channel retailer selling a wide assortment of domestics
merchandise and home furnishings which operates under the names Bed Bath
& Beyond, Harmon, Harmon Face Values or Face Values,
buybuyBABY, and Decorist. LTM revenues for the period ending
November 27, 2021 were approximately $8.4 billion.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Retail published in
November 2021 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1296095.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
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Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
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The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
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The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
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Christina Boni
Senior Vice President
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Margaret Taylor
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
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JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
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