Sentence Correction

Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel,
the seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month liquidation sale in all of its stores.

(A) its many problems had been the recent
(B) its many problems has been the recently
(C) its many problems is the recently
(D) their many problems is the recent
(E) their many problems had been the recent

OA - A

Now here's my confusion, if we consider two events, A) The sales Slump and B) The Retailer SAID , so two events happened in the past 1'st the sales slump happened and then the retailer said, which would mean that we need to use past perfect making A the correct answer, HOWEVER, why are we not considering the third event, which is a three month liquidation sale, which will start in the future, and if that is the case should we not use present perfect tense?