Finance & Capital Management

New York — Ann Taylor Stores Corp. On Friday posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit on improved sales. The company, which said it will change its corporate name to Ann Inc. to better reflect its multichannel focus, also forecast strong first-quarter sales.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Lowe’s has joined the likes of Sears Holdings and Barnes & Noble in extending an invitation for a business partnership with online retailer affiliates.

“Lowe’s is committed to the communities where we do business,” said Gihad Jawhar, vice president of Lowes.com. “We sincerely hope businesses will consider Lowe’s as a partner.”

Chicago -- Jones Lang LaSalle said Friday that Cedric Thurman has joined the firm’s Corporate Retail Solutions practice. As senior VP, Thurman will focus on enhancing the firm’s ability to deliver profit-enhancing strategies to meet the retail industry’s growing demand for strategic outsourced real estate services.

Thurman is based out of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Chicago office, reporting to Lew Kornberg, managing director, Corporate Retail Solutions.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens has expanded Joseph Magnacca's role at the drug store chain by appointing him president of daily living products and solutions.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar will cut more than 100 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring. The cuts will occur in all divisions of the company, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. 

In a memo to employees, the company said the cuts will allow Family Dollar to make decisions more quickly and move faster to achieve its goals, according to the report.

The retailer is slated to open 300 stores in fiscal 2011, which began in September. It will renovate as many as 800 stores.

City of Commerce, Calif. — Discount store retailer 99 Cents Only Stores has received a proposal to take the company private from the company's founding family and investment firm Leonard Green & Partners LP for $19.09 per share, the Associated Press reported.

The offer would value the company at about $1.3 billion. According to 99 Cents, the purchasers would include the Schiffer-Gold family, which owns about 33% of its outstanding stock. David Gold is company founder and chairman, and his son-in-law Eric Schiffer is CEO.

Tarrytown, N.Y.-based DLC Management Corp. has launched the redevelopment of Wing Park Shopping Center in Elgin, Ill.

DLC has pre-leased the redevelopment to a pair of anchor tenants: Walgreens has signed a 75-year lease for a 14,820-sq.-ft. prototypical store with drive-through that will be built to suit, and the existing Family Dollar will be relocating and expanding into an 8,400-sq.-ft. space. The overall redevelopment is 80% pre-leased.

SALISBURY, N.C. — Delhaize America is emphasizing its private-brand assortments, the supermarket conglomerate reported in its earnings release.

Delhaize said it forged ahead with its New Game Plan, which includes "important price investments," and noted that its U.S. operating companies — which include such banners as Food Lion, Bottom Dollar and Hannaford — are reinforcing their private-brand assortments through the introduction of a new value line called My Essentials.