Borders Group, Inc. announced first quarter results yesterday, noting that total consolidated Q1 sales had dropped to $641.5 million--a 12.1 percent decrease compared to last year.

At the same time, the company reduced its debt by nearly 45 percent at the end of the quarter, leaving the bookseller's total debt at $325.9 million. Comparable store sales at Borders superstores sales dropped 13.5 percent and 5.5 percent at Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores.

Ron Marshall, the Borders Group CEO, had this statement: "We continued to strengthen the financial structure of the company by making further improvements to cash flow, debt and adjusted EBITDA ... Make no mistake about it, we have much more work to do and will continue to maintain our financial discipline. At the same time, we know that we cannot save our way to prosperity. Our long-term success will come from doing a much better job of driving sales and that's where our focus is right now."