Novelty gift and Halloween retailer SSH Holdings Inc. d/b/a Spencer Spirit has recently underperformed our expectations as a result of headwinds from continued poor mall traffic and increased online competition, as well as weakness in sales volumes at Spirit Halloween stores from the unfavorable day-of-week (weekend to weekday) shift of Halloween. We are lowering the corporate credit rating to 'B-' from 'B' and revising our outlook to negative from stable. The negative outlook reflects our view that there is a one-third chance that we could lower the rating if operating performance slumps further over the next 12 months from declining mall traffic, increasing competitive pressures, and cautious consumer spending on highly-discretionary items, resulting in weakened profitability and liquidity. On May
