J.C. Penney Chief Financial Officer Ken Hannah insisted on Wednesday that neither he nor Chief Executive Ron Johnson has any plans to resign despite growing pressure on the company over its troubled turnaround record.
"I'm not resigning. Ron is not resigning," Hannah said during a presentation at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference, which was monitored via webcast. He added the turnaround would take "a lot more patience" from investors.
Following these comments, J.C. Penney stock initially erased earlier losses to trade about 4 percent higher on Wednesday. (Click here to track the company's shares.) Shares later turned negative again.
In the first full year of the turnaround program, sales dropped sharply as consumers failed to warm up to Johnson's initial plan to adopt everyday-low prices and shops within stores.
Last week, the company laid off about 2,200 employees in its stores and district offices.
Earlier, 19,000 employees were laid off after the company began its transformation with Johnson at the helm.
During the presentation, Hannah noted that the company's online sales performance has been "unacceptable."
J.C. Penney will take a "measured" approach to rolling out new boutiques in its stores, tied to how quickly it can get its core customers back, he added.
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