Strategy

New York City -- The Talbots said on Tuesday that its board of directors has adopted a shareholder rights plan -- or a poison pill -- to protect its stockholders after a private equity firm disclosed it had acquired a sizeable stake in the company.

On Monday, Sycamore Partners LP revealed it had acquired a 9.9% stake in Talbots and said it planned to attempt to talk with the retailer about strategy and operations.

Reports put Talbots’ market value at $288 million, and suggest a buyout would exceed $400 million.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax reported Tuesday that it swung to a loss of $3.02 million in the quarter ended June 25, compared with net income of $11.8 million in the year-ago period.

Total sales dipped 0.3% to $1.648 billion from $1.653 billion, but beat Wall Street expectations of $1.63 billion. In the retail segment, sales decreased 0.7% to $767.3 million from $772.7 million. Same-store sales dipped 0.5%, but results were helped somewhat by stronger same-store sales in Mexico.

Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group announced Tuesday that its Premium Outlets division will expand four of its most productive Premium Outlet properties located in California, Florida, Illinois and Washington. 

Construction on these expansions is scheduled to begin in 2012, and total 450,000 sq. ft. of added space.

ACE Hardware CFO and EVP Dorvin Lively is leaving the Oak Brook, Ill.-based hardware co-op to  pursue other interests.

Lively joined Ace about three years ago and was promoted to EVP in January 2011. On an interim basis, Lori Bossmann will oversee the finance department, while the co-op searches for a new CFO.

Lively was a professional accounting fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board in the early 1990s. He later became a senior VP and corporate controller at Toys “R” Us before moving on to Maidenform Brands, and then to Ace Hardware in 2008.

Phoenix -- Cole Real Estate Investments announced Monday that it has signed leases totaling approximately 278,000 sq. ft. at Cole-related retail properties through the first half of 2011.

The leases consist of approximately 129,000 sq. ft. of new leases and approximately 149,000 sq. ft. in renewals, bringing the occupancy rate for Cole’s portfolio of more than 1,450 properties to 97.3%.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Winn-Dixie Stores announced that it expects to report net sales of approximately $6.9 billion compared with $7 billion for the prior fiscal year (which included an extra week), reflecting a 0.1% decrease in identical-store sales. Net loss from continuing operations is expected to be approximately $30 million or 54 cents per diluted share, compared with net income from continuing operations of $37 million or 67 cents per diluted share for fiscal 2010. 

Baltimore -- Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust announced that Reisterstown Plaza Associates LLC, one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, has signed a lease with Big Lots to occupy a 35,000-sq.-ft. location at Reisterstown Road Plaza in Baltimore.

The Big Lots is slated to open this fall and brings the center to more than 92% leased.
 

New York City -- Coach reported Tuesday that net income for the fourth quarter rose 4% to $202.5 million, compared with $195.5 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue surged 9% to $1.03 billion, edging Wall Street estimates. Same-store sales rose 10.1% in North America.

Coach’s performance is in line with overall strength in the luxury category. During the recessionary onslaught, the company pushed sales of handbags priced under $300, but said its average retail price of handbags is now inching back up.