Floundering department store chain J.C. Penney Company Inc. (NYSE:JCP) said Thursday after markets closed in New York that it lost $239 million, or $1.31 a share, on revenue of $2.64 billion in its first quarter ending May 4, a 16.4 percent decline from the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a loss of 89 cents per share on revenue of $2.74 billion, showing just how bad the situation is for the Plano, Texas-based chain, which has been desperately trying to reinvent itself to recover market share in recent years.

“We are looking forward, not back,” said CEO Myron Ullman in announcing the results.

This is the first quarterly report since the firing of CEO Ron Johnson – the Apple Store architect who was hired to give some of that buzz to JCP but ended up alienating the company’s core clientele of coupon-clipping, sales-scouring soccer moms. Sales fell 25 percent last year.

Penney stock closed at $18.79, down 18 cents, before the report.

RELATED STORIES