News

London -- A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that retail sales in the U.K. fell a more-than-expected 0.8% (excluding fuel) in March compared to February, impacted by unseasonably cold weather and a still-sluggish economy.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Global commerce platform and payments leader eBay reported double digit growth in revenue and net income for the first quarter ended March 31.

eBay reported a revenue increase of 14% to $3.7 billion, and its net income, adjusted to exclude non-recurring expenses, increased 14% to $829 million, compared to the same period in 2012.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Key Mattel brands drove Mattel sales for the first quarter of 2013. 

Mattel's net sales for the quarter were $996 million, up 7% compared to $928 million last year, and net income increased dramatically to $38.5 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to last year's first quarter net income of $7.8 million, or $0.02 per share.

Dick Lynch has joined the SD Retail Consulting division of Hilco Trading as SVP of merchandising and strategy.

In his new role, Lynch will be responsible for helping retailers create shareholder value through process, organization and technology enhancements in the key merchandising and inventory management functions. He will also play a key role in assisting management, owners and lenders in shareholder value creation assignments.

SALT LAKE CITY — Online discount retailer Overstock.com reported a 19% increase in total net revenue for the first quarter, thanks to a 21% increase in average order size.  

Overstock.com’s total net revenue for the quarter was $312 million, up from $262 million for the first quarter of last year, even though the company reported a small decrease in the number of customer orders. Its net income for the quarter surged to $8 million, up from $2.7 million for the same period last year. 

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark will join the Boston business community to support The One Fund Boston, established by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to raise money for victims and families who have been affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy.

The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, the private foundation of CVS Caremark, will donate $100,000 to The One Fund Boston, which is also accepting online donations from the public at Onefundboston.org.

With 6,700 stores in 12 markets, Tesco is a formidable competitor globally, but Walmart won’t have to worry about competing with the company on its home turf.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — PepsiCo reported a net revenue increase of 1% to $12,581 billion from $12,428 billion for the period ended March 23. Its net income declined by slightly more than 1 billion to $1,085 billion from $1,133 billion. 

However, on a constant currency basis, revenue increased 4%. 

A Web site affiliated with noted television investment pundit Jim Cramer has reiterated its buy recommendation on shares of Walmart.

TheStreet.com rated Walmart A+ and said the company’s strengths can be seen in areas such as revenue growth, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and net income.

"We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow," according to the TheStreet.

Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams Co. reported a sales increase of 1.4% in the first quarter ended March 31, thanks to higher volume in the Paint Stores Group.

Net income increased 16% to $116.2 million.

The company's consolidated net sales increased 1.4% to $2.17 billion. The Paint Stores Group saw sales increase 4.0% to $1.17 billion in the quarter. The company pointed to higher architectural paint sales volume across all end-market segments. Comp-store sales for paint stores increased 3.2%.