Clothing retailer Gap has reported losses of nearly $1bn due to store closures in the US and internationally during the coronavirus pandemic.

The business reported that it was $932m (£740m) in the red for the three-month period to May 2020, compared with a $227m profit for the same period in 2019.

The announcement came as the embattled retailer wrote off the value of goods it holds by more than a quarter of a billion dollars, according to the BBC.

Net sales for the period also fell 43%, which led chief executive Sonia Syngal to blame the “material declines” on store closures as a result of the virus, but she noted that online demand for the brand was improving.

The San Francisco-based retailer, which operates nearly 2,800 stores in North America, said it had reopened around half of its US store estate.

However, Gap is being sued by America’s largest shopping centre operator for refusing to pay rent on stores forced to close during the pandemic.

The operator in question, Simon Property Group, said the retailer owed three months of rent, worth $65.9m (£52m), according to a lawsuit filed this week.

Gap’s chief financial officer Katrina O’Connell said: “We’re just knee-deep in landlords today. It’s very hard to say how long it will take, but I do know that one of our primary objectives is to use this opportunity to partner with our landlords to come up with a better profitability for the company.”