Finance & Capital Management

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores CEO Mike Duke on Friday called integrity the company’s “bedrock” value during a presentation at the chain’s annual shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Ark. The meeting was held against the backdrop of allegations of illegal payments made to facilitate growth in Mexico, which Duke addressed directly in the following remarks: “We're working to continually strengthen our compliance efforts around the world,” he said.

New York -- Nike Inc. is trimming its portfolio. The company announced it will sell its Cole Haan and Umbro brands to cut costs and focus on its core namesake brand.

Nike acquired Cole Haan, which specializes in casual and dress shoes, handbags and accessories, in 1988 for $80 million, plus the assumption of $15 million in debt. Cole Haan operates more than 180 stores throughout the United States, Canada, the Middle East and Asia.

Nike bought the soccer gear and apparel company Umbro in 2008 for $565 million.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores is expected to face scrutiny from shareholders at its annual meeting on Friday in the wake of allegations of bribery  in Mexico.

The allegations are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and government agencies in Mexico. Wal-Mart is also conducting an internal probe.
 

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings announced that Sears Canada has filed a Registration Statement on Form 20-F with the U.S. SEC in connection with the company’s previously announced plan to spin-off a portion of its interest in Sears Canada.

PLANO, Texas -- Ron Johnson, CEO of J.C. Penney, will answer questions from investors at the Piper Jaffray 32nd Annual Consumer Conference in New York City on June 5, 2012.
   
The question and answer session will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET and will be available via live webcast on jcpenney's Investor Relations page at http://ir.jcpenney.com.  Replays of the webcast will be available for up to 90 days after the event.
 

Pittsburgh -- American Eagle Outfitters announced that Mary Boland has been appointed executive VP, chief financial and administrative officer, effective July 9.

Boland’s responsibilities will include finance, investor relations, merchandise planning and allocation, strategy planning, and other administrative functions. She joins AEO from Levi Strauss & Company where she most recently served as senior VP of finance for Global Levi’s.
 

The trend of improving delinquency rates within Target’s credit card portfolio just keeps getting better, and in May the percentage of customers past due on their accounts sank to another new low.

Target’s more selective granting of credit and shoppers more judicious use of their cards sent the number of accounts 60 and 90 day past due down to 2.6% and 1.8%, respectively. Those figures are represented continued improvement from comparable April numbers of 2.7% and 1.9% that also set a new low and were a marked improvement from earlier in the year.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target reported a 4.4% increase in May same-store sales that was toward the upper end of a guidance range that called for a low-to-mid single-digit increase.

Same-store sales at Costco’s U.S. stores increased 5% during the four week period ended May 27.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Pier 1 Imports reported that sales for its first quarter ended May 26 increased 7.9% to $361 million from $335 million in the year-ago quarter. Comparable-store sales for the quarter were up 7.2%.

For the first quarter, the company is expecting  earnings per share are expected to be approximately 16 cents versus last year’s first quarter earnings of 12 cents per share.