Finance & Capital Management

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. reported that its first quarter net income rose nearly 44%, beating expectations, to $346.6 million in the period ended Jan. 2. That's up from $241.5 million a year earlier. Although the company expects its base of customers to keep growing, it offered a tepid full-year forecast, saying higher commodity costs could eat into its profit.

Revenue rose nearly 8% to $3 billion. Same store sales rose 7%, driven by a 5% boost in traffic and 2% higher average transaction. The figure rose 8% in the United States and 5% abroad.

SEATTLE  -- Retail industry online sales ascended to new heights during the past holiday season and as Amazon.com’s fourth quarter results show it was a key driver of the growth.

The company’s fourth quarter sales increased 36% to nearly $13 billion and its full year sales increased 40% to $34.2 billion. North America fueled the increase with sales that were up in the U.S. and Canada by 45% to $7.21 billion. Profits grew at a slower pace with fourth quarter net income up 8% to $416 million and full year profits up 28% to $1.15 billion.

ITASCA, Ill. -- Jewel-Osco, a Supervalu-owned company, announced that Keith Nielsen, Jewel-Osco president, has informed the company of his retirement effective at the end of the fiscal year (Feb. 28).

Nielsen’s successor will be Brian Huff, SVP specialty retail for Supervalu. Huff will transition into the position beginning Feb. 7. All operations and business strategies will continue as normal.

Richardson, Texas -- Wingstop is expanding throughout the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The company, which has experienced more than seven years of same store sales increases, recently signed a development agreement to open 20 stores in the area over the next several years.

Business partners Rahim Kurji and Bidjaan Kassam have signed a 20-store development agreement and expect to open four locations in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., this year.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Borders Group said it has received a commitment from GE Capital, Restructuring Finance to provide a $550 million senior secured credit facility. Upon completion, the facility, including the obtaining of $125 million of additional junior debt financing via the conversion of vendor payables and/or external sources, will provide Borders with the financial flexibility and an appropriate level of liquidity to move forward with its strategy to reposition its business model and the Borders brand.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Lowe’s announced that Larry Stone, president and chief operating officer since 2006, will retire on June 2 -- his 42nd anniversary with Lowe’s. Stone has served in virtually every leadership position within store operations, merchandising and store environment during his career.

Atlanta -- First Data has entered into an agreement with Kohl’s Department Stores to provide payment processing services for the company’s private brand credit-card accounts.

The multi-year agreement calls for First Data to provide Kohl’s with credit-card processing, customer analytics, risk management services and automated customer service workflow tools. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Borders Group has secured a $550 million financial lifeline from GE Capital that will enable it to maintain operations, but there are plenty of strings attached, which stands to reason given GE has put half a billion dollar at risk.