Finance & Capital Management

CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble third-quarter sales for 2013 rose 2% as net earnings per share rose 7%.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. will renovate libraries at more than two dozen schools in need across the country this year under a program that will also include book donations and technology upgrades, as well as the option to have a Target-supported food pantry built, the mass merchandise retailer said Wednesday.

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Tractor Supply Co. reported Wednesday that net income for the quarter ended March 30 rose to $44 million, compared with $40.3 million in the year-ago period.

Sales increased 6.4% to $1.09 billion from $1.02 billion in the prior year's first quarter. Same-store sales edged up 0.5%.

New York -- The Jones Group Inc. announced Monday that it will put into action a series of events designed to shore up profitability, the most significant of which includes shuttering 170 underperforming stores in the U.S. by mid-2014.

The stores identified for closure include 50 units previously announced in the fourth quarter.

Secaucus, N.J. -- The Children's Place said Wednesday that current CFO Michael Scarpa has also been appointed COO, effective immediately.

Scarpa will continue to oversee finance, information technology, distribution, logistics and wholesale, and will add store operations, store development and international to his current responsibilities.

Prior to joining The Children's Place, Scarpa was COO and CFO of The Talbots.

The Senate has voted unanimously to confirm former Walmart Foundation President Sylvia Mathews Burwell as White House budget director, according to a Reuters report.

The report went on to state that the 96-0 vote marks the first time the White House has had a fully confirmed budget director since January 2012, when Jack Lew, now Treasury Secretary, left the position to become Obama's chief of staff.

NEW YORK — The Jones Group Inc. plans to close 170 under-performing stores in the U.S. by mid-2014 as part of its efforts to shore up profitability.

The stores identified for closure include 50 units previously announced in the fourth quarter.

Jones, which owns the Nine West, Jones New York and Anne Klein banners among others, will emerge from the restructuring with a higher percentage of outlet stores in its portfolio, and some units will be converted to more viable sister banners.

New York -- Another Ron Johnson-appointee and former Apple executive has left J.C. Penney. Ben Fay, who was brought as EVP real estate, store design and development, has left the company, according to the Dallas Morning News. Returning to Penney in an advisory capacity is the chain's former SVP of property development, Tom Clerkin, who took early retirement from the company last year, the report said.