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Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp posted a better-than expected 39% increase in quarterly profit, helped by increasing sales and a rise in membership fees.

Net income was $547 million in the fiscal second quarter ended on Feb. 17, compared with $394 million a year ago.

February 2013 marked a declining trend in number of inserts per market for the some retailers, but due to big increases at Macy’s (+48%) and Staples (+100%), the overall count of inserts per market across all retailers was actually up 4.3%. Home Depot (-50.0%) was the only retailer witnessing a major fall, whereas the other retailers showed only minor declines. Of the remaining retailers that did not see a decrease, five had no change in the number of inserts per market, while three (including Macy’s and Staples) increased.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores reported better-then-expected fourth quarter net income of $74.4 million, compared with $78.2 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue for the three months ended Feb. 2 increased 3.2% to $1.02 billion, missing the Street’s view of $1.04 billion. Same-store sales increased 1%. (Results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2012 are impacted by the inclusion of an additional week in each period, resulting in a 14-week and 53-week reporting period.)

CINCINNATI — Dunnhumby Ltd.,an analyzer of brand value for consumer goods and retail companies, has hired Lung Huang, formerly of Arbitron, as VP digital advertising for global partnerships. In this newly created role, Huang will lead the company’s efforts to expand their integrated suite of solutions across media - both offline (traditional TV and print) and digital (online, mobile, social), across the globe. He will be based in New York City.

LISLE, ILLINOIS — The Numerical Algorithms Group, Ltd., a provider of mathematical software components to industry and other organizations, has named Ken Kubat to the board of directors of its North American subsidiary NAG, Inc. The appointment is effective immediately.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco reported net sales of $7.58 billion for the month of February, an increase of 8% from $7.01 billion during the similar period last year.

For the twenty-six weeks ended March 3, 2013, the company reported net sales of $51.35 billion, an increase of 9% from $47.22 billion during the similar period last year.

Excluding the impact of fuel, Costco's total comps for the four-week period were up 6%. For the 26-week period, comps were up 5%.

Phoenix -- PetSmart Inc. reported a 31% increase in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit, helped by an extra week of sales. But its forecast for this year disappointed investors.

The company earned $134 million for the quarter ended Feb. 3, up from $102 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 15% to $1.88 billion from $1.64 billion, helped by an extra week of sales in the more recent quarter. Same-store sales rose 4.6%.

For the full year, PetSmart’s revenue rose 11% to $6.8 billion.

Arlington, Va. -- Sustainability teams in retail companies are growing, and reporting levels are gaining seniority, according to a new survey by the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

The report, RILA’s second Retail Sustainability Report, was done in sponsorship with Ernst & Young, The survey uncovered six significant trends, specifically that:

1. Sustainability teams are growing. Most companies surveyed have full-time sustainability teams. Teams are growing, and reporting levels are gaining seniority.