Finance & Capital Management

New York City -- Tiffany & Co. CEO Michael Kowalski received a pay package worth nearly $7.1 million for 2010, a 13% increase over 2009, according to a report by the Associated Press.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday showed that Michael J. Kowalski, 59, received a base salary of $958,957 and a performance-based bonus of nearly $1.6 million.
 
The bulk of his award came in the form of stock and option grants worth $4.4 million when they were granted.

New York City -- Blockbuster says a bankruptcy judge has approved Dish Network's $228 million offer for the chain, paving the way for a combination of the two companies.

Dish won an auction for Blockbuster's assets earlier this week. Judge Burton R. Lifland of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York approved the bid on Thursday.

According to Dish, the deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

Fourth-quarter sales at Bed Bath & Beyond grew 11.6% to $2.5 billion while profits grew 25% to $283 million for the period ended Feb. 26. On a per share basis, profits increased 30% to $1.12 in the fourth quarter, far surpassing the 97 cents consensus estimate of analysts. Equally impressive was the company’s 8.5% same-store sales increase as it occurred on top of a prior-year fourth-quarter comp increase of 11.5%.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. and WESTBOROUGH, Mass. -- The shifting of Easter to April this year impacted the warehouse club sector last month, as both Costco and BJ’s reported March comps that were negatively impacted by the calendar change. Without the benefit of Easter sales, both companies still managed to turn out respectable comps.

MONTREAL – U.S. discount-store operators should keep an eye on their Northern neighbors, as Canadian dollar stores continue to thrive. Anticipating their growth potential, Virginia-based Dollar Tree acquired Canada’s Dollar Giant Store in November 2010, adding 86 more stores to its repertoire and marking its first expansion outside of the United States.

MINNEAPOLIS --Same-store sales at Target declined 5.5% during March, in line with the company’s expectations for a down month due to the late arrival of Easter. The March decline is expected to be offset by strength in April with comps forecast to be in the teens.

NEW YORK -- Showing that luxury is experiencing measurable bounce in the recovering economy, the higher-end department stores led the same-store sales pack in March.

Saks outperformed the rest of the category, recording an 11.1% same-store sales increase during the month. Total sales rose 9.2% to $260.2 million, compared with $238.2 million in the year-ago period.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Sales at Rite Aid fell during the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011, according to financial results announced Thursday.

The 4,714-store retail pharmacy chain had sales of $6.5 billion for fourth quarter 2011, which ended Feb. 26, with a net loss of $205.7 million. Still, that was less than fourth quarter 2010’s loss of $208.4 million. For the fiscal year, sales were $25.2 billion, compared with $25.7 billion in fiscal year 2010. The year saw a net loss of $555.4 million, compared with $506.7 million in 2010.

MEMPHIS — Fred's on Thursday reported a 3% increase in sales for the five weeks ended April 2, reaching $188.8 million.

Comparable-store sales for the month rose 0.7%, versus an increase of 3.6% in the same period last year.

Former retail industry executive Austin Ligon was named to the newly created position of non-executive chairman of the board at Gazelle where he will play a more active role in development of the company’s consumer electronics re-commerce business.