Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corporation, a specialty retailer serving homeowners with repair, maintenance and improvement needs, announced that its spin-off from Sears Holdings Corporation was completed at 11:59 p.m. EST on December 30, 2011. Trading of Orchard’s Class A Common Stock will begin today on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “OSH”. Orchard also has Series A Preferred Stock that will be quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol “OSHSP”.
Mark Baker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Orchard commented on the spin-off, “We look forward to Orchard being an independent publicly traded company. During the past year, our team has made significant progress toward developing a differentiated home improvement retail experience. We’re implementing new customer service initiatives and merchandising strategies, and have begun transitioning our stores to a new updated and customer-friendly format that more effectively showcases our merchandise and service offerings. We believe these actions will enable us to leverage the 80-year history of the Orchard brand in order to drive long-term growth and build value for our shareholders.”
Baker continued, “We are thankful for the dedication and hard work of Orchard’s operating team, associates and store employees. We have a remarkable company culture and a talented group of people who are committed to building on Orchard’s long history of superior customer service, selection and convenience.”
In early trading, OSH has settled in near $36 after initial swings between $22.03 and $60. OSHSP is at $.47, trading in a much tighter range of $.45 to $.50. We previously spoke of the difficulty of valuing the preferred stock it appears that the market has so far accorded little value to it. OSH, on the other hand is initially trading above our expectations, though much lower than the value implied by Morningstar’s note.
Disclosure: The author owns shares in SHLD, OSH and OSHSP
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