Party City Had Little to Celebrate Lately as Sales Falter
- It’s haunted by a weak Halloween and heavy competition
- Bonds fall into distress under weight of $2.9 billion debt
Photographer: Tony Edwards/iStockphoto via Getty Images
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These should be celebratory times for Party City. The run-up to the trifecta of holidays -- Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s -- is the most important period for the retailer of all things festive.
But recent events have let the air out of the company’s balloon. The latest include a quarterly loss that punctured Party City Holdco Inc.’s stock and sent its bonds to deeply distressed levels. Then came downgrades from credit raters, who said online shopping, tariffs and high helium prices will make it tough to manage about $2.9 billion of debt and lease commitments.