Strategy

New York City -- Foot Locker on Thursday reported a profit for its third quarter on stronger margins for the retailer.

The company said it earned $52 million for the quarter that ended Oct. 30. That compares with a loss of $6 million during the same period year earlier, when the company also had $22 million in impairment charges.

Revenue rose 5% o $1.28 billion. Same-store sales were up 8.1%.

Milford, Conn. -- Don Fertman, chief development officer for the Subway sandwich chain, is the latest executive to go undercover on the CBS television series “Undercover Boss.” Fertman, a 29 year veteran of the restaurant chain, will be seen baking bread, stocking sandwich ingredients, slicing vegetables, taking inventories and serving customers, on the episode that airs Nov. 21, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

San Francisco -- Gap will open its first Italian flagship on  Saturday in the Corso Vittorio Emanuele shopping district of Milan.

The company said that it also plans to open an additional Gap store in Rome next year and a Banana Republic store adjacent to its Milan location "in the near future." The Milan Gap store spans three floors and 25,500 sq. ft. and will offer all Gap clothing collections.
 

New York City -- AnnTaylor Stores Corp.'s fiscal third-quarter profit rose, aided by better-than-expected sales growth. Net income surged to $24.2 million in the third quarter ended Oct. 30, compared with $2.1 million a year earlier.

Total sales rose 9.3% to $505.3 million, above analysts' expectations of $492.8 million.

Same-store sales increased 11.7% overall, with a 21.9% rise at the Ann Taylor brand and a 4.5% less expensive Loft chain.

Philadelphia -- Destination Maternity said its fourth-quarter net income tripled as cost-cutting measures paid off, even as sales in some categories fell.

The company earned almost $4.3 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, up from $1.4 million during the same period last year. Revenue rose slightly to $124.3 million, from $123.8 million a year earlier. Same-store sales fell 2.3%.

By Julius C. Dorsey Jr., [email protected] and Roy T. Bergold Jr.[email protected]

Aside from maybe the eccentric billionaire who on a whim decides to open a shop to sell hand-whittled tumbleweed sculptures, probably not many. For the rest of the owners and managers in the real world, sales and profits are the only reasons they’re in business.