BEAUMONT,
Texas -- The retailer Conn's Inc. said Thursday that its first-quarter profit climbed 8.7 percent, thanks to stronger sales of its electronics and mattresses.
The company also reaffirmed its full-year guidance.
For the three months ended April 30, the retailer earned $11.5 million, or 51 cents per share, up from $10.6 million, or 47 cents per share, a year ago.
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TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that this year it will create more than 22,000 jobs in the U.S. in a variety of management and line positions as it expands stores and opens new ones.
On Thursday, the day before the annual meeting, the Bentonville, Ark., the retailing giant said in a statement that as part of the plan it would create more than 1,000 jobs in each of several states: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.
Last October, Wal-Mart /quotes/comstock/13*!wmt/quotes/nls/wmt (
WMT 48.32, +0.07, +0.15%) said it would open or expand 142 to 157 stores during fiscal 2010.
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Due to customer growth, Aldi looks set to open an Atlanta-area distribution centre in America. The facility will hopefully use a space of 482,000 sq ft, and will also add 299,000 sq ft in the future. Commencement of the plan depends on local government approval.
Another eighty stores are planned for America this year. The chain seeks to continue expanding through Florida and Tampa, with another ten stores opening in Florida alone. Aldi's stores are mainly in the eastern half of the country, where the chain opened its first store in Massachusetts this year. Aldi hopes to expand into Texas in 2010.
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MATTHEWS, N.C. - Discount retailer Family Dollar Stores Inc. said Thursday its same-store sales rose 6.2 percent during its fiscal third-quarter, and said based on the results it would meet or beat the high end of its earnings outlook.
The Matthews, N.C., company said net sales for the period ended May 30 rose 8.2 percent to $1.84 billion from $1.7 billion last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected third-quarter revenue of $1.86 billion.
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(RTTNews) - Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA:
News ) reported Wednesday an increase in third-quarter profit, helped by a 7.3% growth in same store sales.
For the third quarter, net income increased 27% to $6.2 million from $4.9 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Net income per Class A common stock rose to $0.47 from $0.37, while net income per Class B common stock increased to $0.37 from $0.30 in the same period last year.
Sales for the quarter increased 7.3% to $293.5 million from $273.4 million. Same store sales also grew 7.3%, due to higher sales from Franklin and Galloway stores, which were opened in fiscal 2008. In the third quarter of fiscal 2008, same store sales increased 0.4%.
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Arts and crafts retailer
Michaels Stores Inc. improved its performance for the first quarter of 2009, posting net income of $4 million, a big jump up from the company’s $20 million net loss in showed for the first quarter of 2008.
During that period in 2008, the Irving-based company faced non-deductible severance costs that negatively impacted its 2008 effective tax expense rate.
For the first quarter of 2009, total sales at Michaels Inc. reached $852 million, up from $847 million a year earlier.
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Dollar General Corp. earnings soared in its first quarter compared to the same period a year ago.
The Goodlettsville-based discount retailer, which has been privately held for two years, reported net income of $83 million in the quarter ended May 1, compared to $5.9 million in the year-ago period.
Revenue came in at $2.78 billion in the 2009 first quarter, up 15.7 percent from the previous year’s quarterly peformance of $2.4 billion. Same-store sales increased 13.3 percent for the quarter, with increased customer traffic and a higher average transaction per customer.
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There's some good news for shoppers; retail spaces left vacant by Gottschalks will be filled by some fashion favorites!
Retail giant Macy's, made the winning bid on Gottschalks locations in River Park and the Visalia Mall in an auction on Thursday as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
Forever 21 also made a bid, landing Gottschalk's locations in the Hanford Mall as well as Fashion Fair Mall.
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Giant Food, the region's dominant grocer, said Thursday it had the highest sales growth in many years as it started to see the results of store renovations, lower prices and more people eating at home. The Landover-based grocer reported a first quarter sales increase of 3.6 percent, despite lower pharmacy sales.
The results were included in a first quarter earnings report issued by Giant's parent company, Dutch grocer Ahold. Ahold said in the release that Giant's sales in combination with the sales of its sister company, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop, helped the company gain market share in what has become an increasingly competitive grocery market.
Operating income at the two grocers was $242 million, an increase of $40 million from a year ago.
May 28 (Reuters) - Discount-store operator Fred's Inc (
FRED.O) posted an 18 percent rise in quarterly profit as lower expenses offset a slight dip in sales, and forecast a bigger second-quarter profit.
Fred's, which sells household cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, paper products and beverages among other items, earned $8.6 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $7.3 million or 18 cents a share, a year earlier.
Sales for the quarter ended May 2 were $458.4 million.
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Hudson-based
Jo-Ann Stores Inc., the nation's largest fabrics and crafts retailer, reported that profits for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 soared 187 percent to $8.6 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, compared to $3.0 million, or 12 cents per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2009.
That $8.6 million includes a $700,000 after-tax gain, or 3 cents per share, from the company's purchase of senior subordinated notes. Without that gain, profit for the quarter would have been $7.9 million, or 30 cents per diluted share.
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Consumer confidence jumped in May to its highest level since September. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 54.9, up from 40.8 in April.
The index is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households.
“Looking ahead, consumers are considerably less pessimistic than they were earlier this year, and expectations are that business conditions, the labor market and incomes will improve in the coming months,” said Lynn Franco, director of the
Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “While confidence is still weak by historical standards, as far as consumers are concerned, the worst is now behind us."
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Discount retail chain Ross Stores, Inc. (
ROST) said Thursday that its first quarter profit rose substantially year-over-year, as cost-conscious consumers hunted for bargains amid the economic recession.
The Pleasanton, California-based company reported first quarter net income of $91.4 million, or 72 cents per
share, compared with $79.5 million, or 60 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Overall revenue jumped 9% to $1.69 billion from $1.56 billion in the same period last year.
On average, Wall Street analysts expected matching profits of 72 cents per share, on lower revenue of $1.66 billion.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Department store operator Stein Mart Inc. said Thursday that its profit more than doubled in the first quarter as it significantly reduced expenses.
Earnings soared to $16.1 million, or 38 cents per share, for the three months ended May 2 compared with $7 million, or 17 cents per share, a year ago.
The company slashed its selling, general and administrative expenses to $79.9 million from $91.5 million.
Sales dropped 9 percent to $319.6 million from $352.1 million in the prior year.
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Pet supplies retailer PetSmart Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter profit rose 12 percent on higher merchandise and service sales.
The company earned $46.3 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with profit of $41.2 million, or 32 cents per share, during the same period a year prior. Revenue increased 9 percent to $1.33 billion from $1.21 billion. The fiscal 2009 first-quarter ended May 3 and the full year ends in January.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected profit of 30 cents per share on revenue of $1.35 billion.
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Discount clothing and home goods retailer The TJX Companies, Inc. (
TJX) said Tuesday that its first quarter profit climed 8% from last year’s levels, as consumers in the current economic recession frequented its discount stores looking for bargains.
The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company reported first quarter net income of $209.2 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with $193.8 million, or 43 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Overall sales for the company, which operates TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods stores, rose 1% in the period to $4.35 billion.
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CHICAGO -
Lowe’s Cos. Inc. said shoppers buying paints, plants and replacement parts in the first quarter helped the home-improvement chain beat Wall Street forecasts and prompted it to boost its full-year outlook.
The results sent the company’s shares higher Monday as the company said business was “less bad” in all regions of the country and that economic conditions may – slowly – be improving.
“In recent weeks we have seen consumer confidence improve, housing turnover show signs of a bottom in certain markets, and home prices slow their decline,” Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Niblock said in a statement.
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The Home Depot Inc. did better than expected in the first quarter, posting net income growth of 44.4 percent.
The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer had net income of $514 million and earnings of 30 cents a share, compared with net income of $356 million and earnings of 21 cents a share in the same period of 2008.
Analysts were projecting earnings of 28 cents a share for the first quarter of 2009.
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Dollar stores are becoming increasingly popular with middle- and upper-class consumers as the recession drags on, according to new analysis from The Nielsen Company. Nielsen research shows that dollar stores are outpacing other CPG retail channels among shoppers of all income levels.
According to the analysis, 18% of high income shoppers spent more at dollar stores during the second half of 2008 than they did during the second half of 2007. This growth surpassed the 6% of middle-income shoppers who increased their dollar store spending and even the 8% of low-income shoppers who spent more at dollar stores during the second half of 2008,
writes Retailer Daily.
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Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. on Monday reported a 10 percent gain in profit for the fiscal third quarter and raised its adjusted guidance for the year.
The grocery store operator said after the market closed that it earned $16.6 million, or 30 cents per share, for the quarter ended April 1. That's up from $15 million, or 28 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Total sales grew slightly to $1.73 billion for the quarter from $1.72 billion.
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Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. said Thursday its same-store sales and total sales were stronger than expected in the first quarter as customer traffic increased.
Dollar Tree said same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least one year, grew 9.2 percent in the fiscal first quarter. Its total sales rose 14 percent, to $1.2 billion from $1.05 billion. In February, the company said same-store sales would grow in the low- to mid-single digits, and total sales would be between $1.13 billion to $1.16 billion.
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New customer additions and recent acquisition fuel growth helped Nash Finch post a 13.5 percent first-quarter sales gain of $1.14 billion, from $1 billion in the prior-year quarter during the 12-week period ended March 28, 2009. Excluding the impact of the sales increase of $112 million attributable to the acquisition of three military distribution centers at the end of January, total company sales increased 2.4 percent relative to last year. The Minneapolis distributor said the first quarter of 2009 was negatively affected by the shift of Easter to the second quarter in 2009 from the first quarter in 2008, which created a sales variance in the first quarter of about $8.4 million, or 0.8 percent. Excluding the impact of the acquired distribution centers and the Easter shift, comparable sales increased 3.2 percent.
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Edward Jones apparently didn't get the memo that there's a recession going on and that the financial markets have tanked.
The St. Louis-based investment brokerage has big retail expansion plans for the Valley, plus further growth at its campus in Tempe. The slump hasn't derailed those efforts.
"We have identified this as a great opportunity to serve more clients," said Andrea Feeney, a department leader at the Tempe campus who is working on the Valley expansion.
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Consumer electronics chain Radioshack has reported better-than-expected figures for its first quarter, the first welcome indicators for the consumer electronics industry in recent months. For the quarter, net profit was up 11.1% to $43.1m (34 cents a share), from $38.8m (30 cents) last year. Sales were up 5.6% year-on-year to $1bn, while same-store sales rose 5% (up 6.2% on a calendar-adjusted basis).
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WASHINGTON – Demand for big-ticket manufactured goods and new home sales both were better than expected in March, raising hopes that the long slides in manufacturing and housing are slowly coming to an end.
The Commerce Department said Friday that orders for durable goods dropped 0.8 percent last month, about half the 1.5 percent decline that economists expected. A rise in orders for commercial and military aircraft helped cushion weakness elsewhere.
The small drop followed a 2.1 percent increase in orders in February. That was the first gain after six straight monthly declines.
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The Valley's new home market showed more promise last month as both sales and construction permits increased, according to the latest Phoenix Housing Market Letter by analyst RL Brown.
New home sales totaled 912 last month, up from 713 in February but still down from 1,890 in March 2008. Sales had fallen slightly from January to February.
Most of the sales were of inventory or speculative homes - those built without having a contracted buyer - helping to diminish the amount of inventory homes on the market, Brown said. Sales were up despite "really stiff" competition from bank-owned homes, he said.
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Foreclosures dropped sharply last month across the Valley as lenders backed off in anticipation of new federal loan modification and refinancing programs, according to the latest existing home sales report from Arizona State University's Realty Studies Department.
Foreclosures represented 31 percent of existing home transactions last month, down from 51 percent in February. Foreclosures will remain a primary concern in the coming months with the end of many lender hiatus programs and the weak job market, said Jay Butler, ASU realty studies director.
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The West Valley got a huge bite of spring training action this year, attracting 805,110 baseball fans, a jump from 505,134 in 2008.
More than half of the Cactus League's 1.57 million visitors attended games west of Interstate 17.
The economic punch that carries is not broken down by cities, but the league estimates the statewide economic impact at $359 million.
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In March, there were 200 more new-homes sales across the Valley than the month before. That may not sound like much, but it's significant in the current slowdown.
Last month, 912 new homes sold across
metropolitan Phoenix, a 28 percent increase from February, according to RL Brown's latest "Phoenix Housing Market Letter."
Even better for the market is that many of the recently sold new homes were built last year or the year before, either speculatively or for buyers who pulled out of deals. Depleting the inventory of built-but-unsold homes will help the area market rebound.
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Spring brings little sprouts of recovery for the Valley’s housing market. Arizona was one of the first states to feel the housing market crash and now appears to be one of the first heading toward recovery.
The
front page of Friday’s USA Today shows Arizona’s housing slump will begin to turn this year. New research from the University of Utah shows the glut of homes for sale here will sell off enough to bring back the demand for new home construction.
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