Finance & Capital Management

Sam’s Club was Walmart’s best performing division during the third quarter and holiday plans outlined by president and CEO Rosalind Brewer suggest that could be the case in the fourth quarter as well.

Same store sales at Sam’s increased 1.1% and total sales increased 2.1% to $12.4 billion a while with traffic was up among both business and individual members. Operating profit increased 9.2% to $474 million.

Laval, Quebec City -- Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announced t it has signed, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Circle K Stores Inc., an agreement with Albuquerque Convenience and Retail to acquire 23 stores in New Mexico. Albuquerque Convenience and Retail is subsidiary of Phillips 66 Company.

Lowe’s has elected former WellPoint executive Angela Braly to the company's board of directors. Braly’s term will expire at Lowe's 2014 annual meeting of shareholders. Her addition brings the total of members to 12, of whom 11 are independent.

New York — Prada has renewed the lease for its New York City flagship store at 724 Fifth Avenue, according to SL Green Realty Corp. and Jeff Sutton, a partnership that owns the building.

The early lease renewal — the existing lease will not expire until 2017 — will keep one of the world’s iconic fashion and accessory houses at the prime Manhattan location through 2028. Prada occupies 15,540 sq. ft. on four levels, plus another 5,200 sq. ft. of office space on the fifth floor of the building.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday posted a 2.8% increase in its third-quarter profit. But the chain cut its annual outlook for the second time in three months as its core shoppers continue to feel economic pressures.

"The retail environment, both in stores and online, remains competitive," In a pre-recorded conference call, Mike Duke, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, said the retail environment, both online and in stores, remains competitive.

Nordstrom’s third quarter results were consistent with its full-year outlook. Strong direct sales growth and improving trends in the Rack mitigated softer sales trends in full-line stores.

The company’s Anniversary Sale, which is historically its largest sale event of the year, fell in the second quarter this year, rather than in the second and third quarters as it did last year. The estimated impact of this event shift increased earnings per diluted share in the second quarter but reduced them in this quarter by approximately $0.06.

City of Commerce, Calif. – 99 Cents Only Stores opens two new stores in California on Nov. 21. The stores will be located in the towns of Menifee and Corona.

The Menifee store will measure 18,000 sq. ft., while the Corona store will measure 19,400 sq. ft. 99 Cents Only Stores currently operates 335 extreme value retail stores consisting of 241 stores in California, 44 in Texas, 33 in Arizona, and 17 in Nevada.

Dillard’s reported moderate growth in net income and sales during the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Compared to the same period a year earlier, net income increased 5% to $50.9 million from $48.5 million, while net sales climbed about 1% to $1.51 billion from $1.49 billion.