Finance & Capital Management

Seattle – The board of directors of Nordstrom Inc. has authorized a repurchase program of up to $1 billion of the company’s outstanding common stock, through March 1, 2016. Nordstrom intends to fund the repurchase program from existing cash on hand.

Hudson's Bay Company has appointed Andrea Wong as a director of the company. Including Wong, who is considered an independent director, the board is now made up of 10 directors.

New York -- Costco Wholesale Corp. and L Brands Inc. were among the retailers that posted stronger-than-expected sales in August, fueled in many cases by back-to-school promotions.

Costco led the pack, reporting a 7% gain in August total same-store sales, ahead of views for a 4.9% gain. U.S. same-store sales, excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, rose 7% as well. Top-performing categories at Costco included housewares, small appliances, apparel, fresh foods and food sundries.

A strong performance at Stein Mart’s Texas locations in August helped to offset sales at the retailer’s more challenged Gulf state locations.

Total sales for month were $86.5 million, a 3.8% increase over total sales of $83.3 million for August last year. Comparable store sales for the month increased 2.5% from comparable store sales for August last year.

Rite Aid reported a 3.2% lift in sales for the 26 weeks ended Aug. 30, ringing in $12.9 billion.
 
Same-store sales for the period increased 3.6% over the prior-year period. Front-end same store sales increased 0.6%, while pharmacy same store sales increased 5.1%. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 3% over the prior-year period.
 
Prescription sales represented 68.6% of total drug store sales for the 26-week period, and third-party prescription sales represented 97.5% of pharmacy sales.
 

Atlanta – Havertys Furniture Company Inc. reports its total written business for the third quarter to date of 2014 is up approximately 3.1% from the same period last year and written same-store sales are up approximately 3.5%. This increase was driven by a record setting Labor Day holiday weekend for which total written business was up approximately 7.4% from the same four-day period the prior year.

Walgreens reported August sales of $6.4 billion, an increase of 3.6% from the same month in fiscal 2013. Total sales for fiscal 2014 were $76.4 billion, an increase of 5.8% from fiscal 2013.
 
Total front-end sales increased 2.1% in August compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable-store front-end sales increased 1.4%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1.7% while basket size increased 3.1%.
 

Minneapolis – Women’s specialty retailer Christopher & Banks Corp. swung to a profit of $3.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to a net loss of $285,000 in the prior year period. Higher pretax income and income operating, as well as a tax benefit, helped push Christopher & Banks into the black.