Finance & Capital Management

Pittsburgh — American Eagle Outfitters net income more than doubled as the company cut costs to offset a sales decline. Net income for the three months ended April 30 rose to $28.3 million from $10.9 million last year. Its results met analyst expectations.

Revenue decreasded 6% to $609.6 million,less than expected. Same-store sales fell 8%.

St. Louis — Brown Shoe Company Inc., which operates Famous Footwear stores, said Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings tumbled, despite rising revenue caused by higher costs.

The company earned $3.7 million, compared with year-ago earnings of $10 million. Excluding special charges for restructuring and other items, the company earned $7 million.

Revenue rose to $624.6 million from $597.7 million a year earlier. Revenue declined at the company's Famous Footwear and specialty retail operations, but wholesale revenue jumped 27%.

Birmingham, Ala. — Books-A-Million Inc. on Tuesday reported a first-quarter loss as revenue fell 11.1% in the face of growing competition from digital books. The chain posted a first-quarter loss of $3.5 million, compared with net income of $2 million.

Quarterly revenue dropped to $104 million from $117 million, a year earlier. Same-store sales fell 13.2%.

Conshohocken, Pa. — Ikea plans to install solar photovoltaic systems on six more of its locations in the Eastern United States. Pending governmental permits, installation will begin in late spring, with completion expected this fall.

Dallas — Alliance Data Systems Corp., a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data, announced it has signed a long-term extension agreement with Victoria’s Secret, a subsidiary of Limited Brands, Inc., to provide private-label credit card services.

terms of the extension, Alliance Data will continue to provide end-to-end private-label credit card services for the Victoria’s Secret credit card from account acquisition to customer service.

Final attendance numbers aren’t available yet, and while RECon 2011 may not have been the really, really big show it was in 2007, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual Las Vegas convention was clearly a big event.

Pre-recession, the show attracted in excess of 50,000 retailers, retail service providers and shopping center executives to view the latest and greatest projects coming out of the ground. This year’s May 23 to 25 iteration didn’t pull 50k, but best guesses put attendance at over 30,000. 

Topeka, Kan. — Collective Brands reported that first-quarter 2011 net earnings were $26.4 million, or 42 cents per share, compared with $54.2 million, or 83 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2010.

The company reported that net sales decreased 1.1% to $869 million. Same-store sales were down 7.4%. 

Anaheim, Calif. — Pacific Sunwear of California announced that net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 were $186 million, a decrease of 2% from net sales of $190 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2010. Total company same-store sales increased 1% during the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

The company reported a net loss of $31 million, or 48 cents per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 compared to a net loss of $31 million, or 47 cents per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

Optimism about economic expansion is on the rise among senior finance executives in the United States and around the rest of the globe, according to the annual American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor.  In fact, the level of optimism was the highest in the four years that the survey has been conducted, with three in four (75%) executives expecting modest to strong economic expansion over the next twelve months -- up from 71% in 2010. The U.S. figure was even higher at 79%, although most predict modest growth.

Shenzhen, China — Walmart will be looking to capitalize on compelling growth prospects in China under the leadership of new senior executives following the simultaneous departure of CFO Roland Lawrence and COO Rob Cissell.

Both men left the company to pursue other development opportunities, according to Walmart, leaving leadership of Chinese business in the hands of Walmart China president and CEO Ed Chan and Wal-Mart Stores Asia president and CEO Scott Price.