Saks Wanted to Clear the Air With Brands. The Plan Backfired.

If Saks Global intended to extend an olive branch by promising to make whole 2,000-odd brands on long-delayed payments, the strategy appears to have backfired.

In a Feb. 14 letter sent to vendors working with Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman department stores, chief executive Marc Metrick acknowledged Saks’ history of late payments for merchandise, laid out a plan to resolve missed or partial payments by the middle of next year and promised to pay invoices for new…