Finance & Capital Management

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Big Lots has lowered its comparable-store guidance for its first quarter, and now expects them to be slightly negative compared with its prior guidance issued on March 2. The company's prior guidance estimated first-quarter comps would be up 2% to 4%.

New York -- Coach Inc. posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, benefiting from strong sales and improved margins. The company also announced that its board of directors has voted to increase its cash dividend by 33%.

Net income for the third quarter ended on March 31 was a better-than-expected $225 million compared with $186 million a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 16.6% to $1.11 billion, just above analysts’ expectations. Same-store sales in the United States rose 6.7%.

Cincinnati -- Macy’s will open a store in Sarasota, Fla., in fall 2014. The two-level, 160,000-sq.-ft. Macy’s will be an anchor of the new Mall at University Town Center, which is due to begin construction later this year.

Macy’s currently operates three stores in the Sarasota-Bradenton market – at Southgate Mall, Sarasota Square and DeSoto Square.
 

New York -- Canada’s Jean Coutu Group has sold 56 million of its approximately 234.4 million shares in Rite Aid, the company said Friday.

The Canadian retailing group said the $83.6 million sale, which amounts to a 23.9%% reduction in the number of Rite Aid shares the company owns, would reduce its stake in Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid to 19.85%. The Jean Coutu group still owns about 178.4 million shares in the 4,667-store chain.

Davenport, Iowa -- Von Maur Inc. will expand its women's specialty store concept, Dry Goods, with the opening of a 4,500-sq.-ft. location this fall at Orland Square Mall in Orland Park, Ill. The store will be the specialty store chain's third location in the Greater Chicagoland area and the seventh Dry Goods store overall.

The new Dry Goods will feature leading brands such as Free People, Hudson, Jessica Simpson, Joe's Jeans and Silver, among others. The store's decor will reflect the chain's vintage, turn-of-the-century aesthetic.

ORRVILLE, Ohio — J. M. Smucker has promoted one of its corporate officers.

The company said David Lemmon now would serve as VP and managing director of the company's Canada operations. Lemmon, who has been with the J. M. Smucker for 17 years, "has been instrumental in successfully implementing the company's growth strategy in Canada and helping the company achieve a leading market share position in several Canadian food and beverage categories," J. M. Smucker said.

Lemmon's promotion is effective May 1.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores confirmed that it is investigating its operations in Mexico for possible violations of the U.S. law that prohibits bribery overseas. The acknowledgement came in response to a lengthy article by The New York Times on Saturday that alleged the giant discounter first learned of allegations of "widespread bribery" by its workers in the country in 2005 and that top executives subsequently covered them up. 

Canton, Mass. -- Dunkin' Donuts announced the signing of a multi-unit store development agreement with three franchise groups to develop 25 new restaurants in Texas over the next several years. The locations include 16 units in Houston and nine in San Antonio.

Dunkin' Donuts' development throughout Texas is part of the company's goal to double the number of Dunkin' restaurants in the United States over the next 20 years.