Finance & Capital Management

By Christopher Demetriades, [email protected]

Net sales at WD-40 Co. increased 7% in the third quarter, as the company's multi-purpose maintenance products showed double-digit growth.

WD-40 sales were $93.1 million in the quarter ended May 31, compared to sales of $87.0 million in the year-ago period. Net income for the third quarter was $10.3 million, up 12%.

CINCINNATI and MATTHEWS, N.C. — Kroger, already one of the world’s largest retailers, is about to get even larger. The company plans to purchase all outstanding shares of Harris Teeter Supermarkets for $49.38 per share in cash. 

The merger agreement not only allows Kroger to expand its brands portfolio but also allows it to expand its market with a complementary base of 212 stores, of which 147 have pharmacies, in Southeastern and mid-Atlantic markets and in Washington, D.C.

Dallas -- Tuesday Morning Corp. reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rose 2.9% to $202.1 million. Same-store sales for the period ended June 30 increased 4.6%.  

The discounter Tuesday Morning Corp. said traffic climbed 6.2%. The average receipt fell 1.6%.

The retailer's full-year revenue was up 3% to $838.3 million from $812.8 million. Same-store sales rose 3.9%.  
 

New York -- Jones Group Inc. has tapped Citigroup Inc. to explore a possible sale, according to Reuters.
 
In April, Jones Group said that it would close 170 stores and cut 8% of its workforce after first-quarter profit was less than analysts’ estimates. The news comes just months after activist hedge fund

The company, whose brands include Stuart Weitzman, Jones New York, Easy Spirit, and Nine West, had a market value of about $1.2 billion as of July 5.

Department store executive and Target co-founder Douglas Dayton died Saturday of cancer at 88.

Dayton was the inspiration for the first Target stores and oversaw the development and early growth of the concept of an upscale discount store. Dayton served as Target's first president in 1961 and a year later he opened the first Target stores in the Twin Cities communities of Roseville, Crystal, St. Louis Park and Knollwood.

New York -- Belle Foods plans to close 13 stores by Aug. 3, including six in Alabama, according to a report by the Birmingham Business Journal. The shutters are part of a reorganization following the chain’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Of the 13 store closures, 12 are Food Worlds and one is a Piggly Wiggly.

Denver -- Natural Grocers has opened its third Nebraska store in central Omaha, Neb. It is the second Omaha store and the 89th store in the organic grocery chain.

The family-run chain, which went public in 2012, has locations across Colorado, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico, Montana, Kansas, Idaho, Nebraska, Arizona and Oregon.