Strategy

Palo Alto, Calif. -- HP Enterprise Services Monday announced Tops Friendly Markets, the New York-based supermarket chain with stores in New York and Pennsylvania, has signed a seven-year applications and infrastructure technology services contract valued in excess of $80 million that gives the retailer flexibility to transform its business processes to drive growth.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. on Monday lifted its earnings outlook for the year as fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 69% on continued growth in sales and margins.

The company reported earnings of $128.1 million in the latest quarter, compared with $75.6 million a year earlier. Net sales for the quarter ended Oct. 29 rose 10% to $3.22 billion and same-store sales increased 4.2%.

New York City -- Build-A-Bear is looking for a buyer and has approached private-equity firms, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported.

Barclays Capital is advising the company, the report said. The St. Louis-based chain, founded by Maxine Clark, opened its first store in 1997.

New York City -- Activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management raised its stake in Borders Group from 31.5% to 37.3% and is prepared to finance an offer by Borders to buy larger rival Barnes & Noble, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.

According to the statement, Ackman is prepared to finance an offer by Borders to buy all of Barnes & Noble’s stock in an all-cash transaction valued at $16 per share, which would amount to about $960 million, based on the shares outstanding.