Finance & Capital Management

Houston -- The Men's Wearhouse reported a net loss of $3.8 million for the quarter that ended Jan. 28, compared with a net loss of $14.1 million a year earlier, as it cut costs and increased prices.

The results beat forecasts, and the company said it expects 2012 income to be higher than expectations.

Revenue was $562.2 million, up from $542.1 million.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Hot Topic Inc. earned $9 million in the three months that ended Jan. 28, compared with a loss of $578,000 in the year-ago period, on reduced spending.

Revenue in the fourth quarter slipped 1% to $209.9 million, from $212.4 million. Same-store sales increased 1.3%.

New York -- DSW Inc. has opened on 34th Street in Manhattan, in the heart of New York's fashion district. The retailer also announced plans to open a store on the Upper West Side in early summer 2012.

At over 33,000 sq. ft., the 34th Street location is the one of the largest in the DSW chain. It has three floors of selling space. The DSW store at 79th and Broadway will also be very large, measuring over 32,000 sq. ft.
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New York -- Kohl’s Department Stores announced the opening of eight stores, bringing approximately 1,000 new jobs nationwide. The company now operates 1,134 stores in 49 states.

The new stores are located in seven states, including Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Of the eight locations, seven are small format stores with approximately 64,000 sq. ft. or less of retail space, providing greater real estate flexibility.

SECAUCUS, N.J. — The Children's Place Retail Stores is the latest retailer to report fourth-quarter sales that were negatively impacted by the unseasonably warm weather this winter. The company said that comparable-store sales for the quarter declined 2.7%, and net sales were up only slightly (0.9%) to $457.5 million from $453.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. 

Children's Place also reported a drop in income from continuing operations after tax from $32.7 million, or $1.24 per diluted share, to $24.2 million, or 97 cents per diluted share.

NEW YORK — Foot Locker is embarking on an aggressive strategic plan designed to elevate its performance for the 2012 to 2016 period. 

DALLAS — Kimberly-Clark has elected Tony Palmer, SVP and chief marketing officer, to the role of president global brands and innovation.

In his expanded role, Palmer will leverage the company's scale to build brands and drive growth for its businesses around the world.  He will partner with K-C's regional business leaders to achieve their business objectives.

YONKERS, N.Y. — After three consecutive months of improvement, the Consumer Reports Index for March slipped to 46.1, from 49.6 last month.

March's Consumer Reports Index measures overall consumer financial health and showed that the confidence of the American consumer is waning.

Further challenging consumer confidence, The Trouble Tracker Index increased slightly this month to 52.2 from 49.1 in February, and is now at its highest level since August 2011.

Target ranked 25th on Fortune’s listing of the 50 Most Admired Companies, which is the lowest level in the past six years. The decline could be viewed as troubling, but only if you buy into the notion that the list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations.

It is not, at least as far as retailers are concerned. In 2011 and 2010, Target was ranked 22nd, down from 2009 when it was ranked 19th and considerably below 2008 when it nearly broke into the top 10 with a ranking of 11th after a ranking of 13th in 2007.

Incoming Target CFO John Mulligan and outgoing CFO Doug Scovanner participated in a Target sponsored meeting last Friday at the New York stock exchange. The event gave Wall Street analysts an opportunity to get to know Mulligan, and the consensus is the guy is a strong replacement for longtime CFO Scovanner whose tenure ends March 30.