Data & Analytics

Dallas -- Zale Corp. on Thursday posted a better than expected second quarter profit as sales rose at its namesake chain and it cut selling and administrative costs. The company restated its forecast that it will return to profit for its current fiscal year, which ends in late July.

Net profit in the quarter ended January 31, 2012, rose to $41.2 million, compared with $28.8 in the year-ago period.

Revenues rose 1.1% to $671 million. Overall same-store sales increased 2.8%, with a 3.6% increase at Zales and Zales Outlets.
 

New York -- Walmart overcame a meager 1% same stores sales increase at U.S. stores to deliver better than expected fourth quarter profits on Thursday.

The company said total sales increased 3.9% to $127.1 billion compared to $122.3 billion last year. Without the benefit of a favorable currency exchange situation, sales would have increased a lesser 3.7% to $126.8 billion. Full year sales increased by 5% to $466.1 billion compared to last year’s total of $443.8.

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Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe’s announced that Lara Lee will join the company as SVP customer experience design, effective Feb. 25. She will report to Robert J. (Bob) Gfeller, customer experience design executive.
 
Lee joined Lowe’s from global design and innovation firm Continuum, where she served as chief innovation and operating officer.

Lee will be responsible for translating business strategies into integrated, multichannel experiences that deliver value to home improvement consumers.

 

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. said that its fourth-quarter net income rose 13% to $244 million, far ahead of expectations, helped by its customer loyalty program. Safeway said the program, which offers personalized discounts based on past purchases, is driving market share gains and profits.
 
Quarterly sales rose to $13.77 billion from $13.60 billion a year ago. Same-store sales, excluding fuel, inched up 0.8%.

 

New York -- The SPECS conference, presented each year by Chain Store Age, will debut a real estate track as part of the 49th annual event. Held in Dallas from March 17 to March 20 at the Hilton Anatole, SPECS will feature real estate workshops designed toward educating and informing the retail development executives who attend the SPECS conference.

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Managing and classifying enterprise data is the number one security and privacy area in need of improvement, and remains a major challenge for IT departments, according to a survey about IT risk factors for 2013 published by global consulting firm Protiviti.

The 2013 IT Priorities Survey found that IT executives are struggling to manage the wide variety of technology risk, regulatory compliance and performance challenges that now face them.

ROCKFORD, Mich. — Outdoor and sports apparel manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide reported that its consolidated fourth fiscal quarter revenue was $652.2 million, growth of 60.5% versus the prior year.

In the fourth quarter, excluding non-recurring transaction and integration expenses, earnings per share were 48 cents compared with the company's prior guidance of 12 cents to 22 cents per share.  

SAN FRANCISCO — Mobile shopping platform ShopSavvy has launched a revamped version of its QR Code Reader and Scanner application to give mobile-device users access to even more information about products and retailers an additional avenue to leverage a powerful technology.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. and BOCA RATON, Fla. — The office retail field narrowed Wednesday, as OfficeMax and Office Depot officially announced an agreement to merge into a single company. The combined company would have had pro forma combined revenue for the 12 months ended Dec. 29, 2012 of approximately $18 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, OfficeMax stockholders will receive 2.69 Office Depot common shares for each share of OfficeMax common stock.