Indigo reported after markets closed Tuesday that it has narrowed its second-quarter loss to $8.5 million, boosted by higher revenues and improved margins. Sales at its two American Girl doll speciality boutiques that opened in the second quarter also boosted revenue, while sales at a third store location launched recently in Ottawa has exceeded targets, said Reisman. The Toronto-based company isn't forecasting any bestselling book titles that will boost sales dramatically during the Christmas holiday period, but said its lineup of toys, like those from the popular Disney movie Frozen, have helped increase revenues. Reisman didn't divulge where it may be looking to expand, saying only that the country's largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer is encouraged by results from the second quarter, which recorded double-digit growth across its lifestyle, paper, toys and electronics divisions, as well as its core trade book business. It once operated 95 superstores under the banner Chapters and Indigo, and 131 small format stores under Coles, Indigospirit, SmithBooks and The Book Company. The company now has four fewer superstores and two fewer smaller format stores in its latest quarter, compared to a year ago. "We are actively looking in a couple of markets," chief executive Heather Reisman told analysts during a conference call Wednesday. (TSX:IDG) says the company is scouting new locations. "But I also suspect they're probably improving the security as they go, and in order to improve that security, they're maybe taking it slowly.TORONTO - Despite closing three of its largest Toronto stores the year, the CEO of Indigo Books and Music Inc. "I suspect it's taking a long time for them to recover their systems," said Wisniewski. Though debit and credit cards are now accepted at stores, the overall impact on Indigo's sales will be felt more deeply the longer the other problems persist. The incident has placed many of Indigo's sales in jeopardy as customers must purchase items in brick-and-mortar stores and were only able to make purchases in cash for much of the outage. "But the communication to the public about what has happened and whether their information may be at risk is very poor, and generally doesn't reflect well on brands when they're not forthcoming about what's going on," Wisniewski added. While the company hasn't confirmed that a ransomware attack was responsible for the outage, several experts have told CBC News that it has the characteristics of one. It's not uncommon for systems to take several weeks to recover from a ransomware attack, said Chester Wisniewski, a cybersecurity expert and field CTO for applied research at security firm Sophos. "Our investigation is under way but not yet complete," it added Friday. The company has said it immediately engaged third-party experts to investigate and resolve the matter, but has still not explained the nature of the incident or what caused it. 8, Indigo was only able to process purchases made in-store with cash, but some of its services, including credit and debit payments and some return capabilities, have since been restored. A screencap shows the homepage of Indigo's temporary website on Friday.
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