Saturday, April 30, 2011
Iconic Bakery To Partner With Bloomingdale’s
Bloomingdale's and Magnolia Bakery today announced the companies' official partnership. Magnolia Bakery, renowned for its nostalgic, freshly made baked goods, will open in Bloomingdale's flagship store (1000 Third Avenue) in summer 2011.
With its long and cherished history Bloomingdale's is the epitome of New York style. Magnolia Bakery has similarly been woven into the daily fabric of New Yorkers' lives since opening in 1996. Magnolia Bakery's owners, Steve and Tyra Abrams, are excited to work with the Bloomingdale's team to offer the store's clientele, as well as all others, the renowned Magnolia Bakery experience of exceptional customer service and fresh, hand-made desserts. "The partnership is a perfect match of two brands that are completely in-sync with their values," said Steve Abrams, co-owner of Magnolia Bakery.
"Bloomingdale's is always looking for new ways to engage our shoppers and we are thrilled to partner with Magnolia Bakery to sweeten the shopping experience for all who walk through our doors," said Michael Gould, chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale's. Magnolia Bakery's street level shop will be accessible via Bloomingdales's mid-block entrance on Third Avenue, between 59th and 60th Streets. Magnolia will be open seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. The bakery will serve its full line of baked goods, including fresh breakfast muffins, cakes, pies, cookies, cheesecakes, pudding and cupcakes, as well as its beverage service, including Magnolia blend coffees, and Harney Teas. For a full list of items, please visit www.magnoliabakery.com.
Magnolia Bakery has four New York City locations, in addition to Bloomingdale's, as well as stores in Los Angeles and Bloomingdale's Dubai.
Macy's Biggest Bargain: Its Shares
Barron's
By Jack Willoughby
Here's a Mother's Day gift idea: Buy her a nice selection of Macy's shares before prices go up.
After a huge acquisition that racked up enormous debt, intense competition from Internet retailers and a recession that reached into its customers' wallets, the 153-year old retailer finally has begun to regain some former glory. Sales and earnings are up, and the company has started to free itself of a suffocating $9 billion debt load. A new sales-and-distribution strategy holds the promise of more good news to come.
If the improvements continue, the company could jump up a notch to recapture a long-lost investment-grade rating. "I believe it will happen," says Terry Lundgren, the 59-year-old CEO who's credited with overseeing Macy's turnaround. "It's just a question of when. We're doing the right things with our balance sheet."
Investors have already returned to Macy's aisles. Robert Olstein, founder of the Olstein Strategic Opportunities and Olstein All Cap Value Value funds, has purchased a large block of Macy's shares for both, impressed by the retailer's ability to generate $3 a share in free cash flow and the speed with which it is paying down debt. He says the shares, trading last week around $24, are worth 40, based on cash flow, other financial metrics and the quality of management.
Similarly impressed is Leah Hartman, an analyst with CRT Capital Group, who has a Buy on the stock with a one-year price target of 32. Macy's paid down $1.2 billion in debt in 2010, and Hartman expects it to continue to whittle it down. Another promising sign: The company reported a 4.6% increase in same-store sales for 2010, the first rise in four years and the biggest gain in over a decade.
Although the shares have bounced way off their bottom of 5.07 back in 2008, they're still reasonably priced. At last week's level, they trade at just 10 times forward earnings of $2.33 a share for the fiscal year ending January of 2012, well below the current market multiple of 13.7. Macy's is also attractive compared with its peers, which trade on average at 13.5 times earnings. "Macy's continues to be the cheapest name in the space," says Morgan Stanley analyst Michelle L. Clark. Although some analysts believe this is as good as it gets for the company, "I believe they're still in the early stages" of their turnaround, she says.
IT'S BEEN A PAINFUL PROCESS. In 2005, Macy's bought May Department Stores for $11.5 billion in cash and stock and assumed $5.8 billion in debt. It was a bold move to give a company with a quintessential New York-brand name a bigger national presence. The deal brought in regional merchandisers Filene's, Foley's, Kaufmann's, J.W. Robinson's, Meier & Frank and Marshall Field's, among others. The transaction helped push the retailer, which also includes 42 Bloomingdale's stores, toward its mammoth size of 850 stores. The following year, notes Lundgren, was the first in which the retailer actually qualified as a national advertiser on the TV broadcast of its Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
But sitting on some $9 billion in debt made Macy's vulnerable to the miserable financial and economic conditions of 2008 and early 2009. Revenue dropped from $26 billion in 2007 to $24.9 billion in 2008 and then to $23.5 billion in 2009. Following earnings per share from operations of $2.15 in 2007, the company posted $1.29 in 2008 and $1.41 in 2009. Last year the figure rebounded to $2.09 a share.
"You have to remember how serious things became back in 2008," says Lundgren in an interview with Barron's at Macy's famous Herald Square store. "Consumers were questioning their net worth. The world seemed to be coming to an end," he recalls.
So, as Lundgren puts it: "It was clear then that it was time to make the necessary changes. We couldn't afford to waste a recession."
His reorganization started in the spring of 2008, with two initiatives, OneMacy's and MyMacy's. OneMacy's encompassed the unification of core functions such as buying, marketing, merchandizing and planning in New York, and support functions such as human resources and finance in Cincinnati. Macy's cut the number of regional divisions, whose chiefs operated with a lot of autonomy and separate hierarchies, to four from seven the first year. It got rid of them entirely in 2009. In all, 7,000 jobs were eliminated and Macy's estimates it saves about $500 million a year overall from the reorganization.
In the regional units' place came MyMacy's, designed to provide a faster, clearer picture of what customers wanted and to improve response time by opening up communications between New York and 69 newly created individual districts. The idea, says Lundgren, is to be more responsive to customer needs. He put experienced buyers and managers out in the 69 districts, which included 10 to 12 stores each, rather than as many as 23 stores in the old system. The idea is to increase the flow of information between the head office and individual stores so they can adapt to changing demand more quickly. It also lets the company leverage the buying power that tens of billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of stores afford.
Previously, all of Macy's major suppliers had to deal separately with the seven regional chiefs and their staffs. CFO Karen Hoguet notes that prior to the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, Macy's was about to make a major deal with Ralph Lauren to design some of its wares around the games. But the transaction fell apart because not all the seven regional heads would sign on. More recently, for the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, a Ralph Lauren deal was struck with one telephone call. Says Hoguet: "We speak with a new, uniform voice."
Sometimes, this system has to cope with mysteries. Mike Dervos, senior vice president regional director in charge of Macy's upper Midwest region, recalled that one store found that it couldn't keep pace with demand for women's size 11 shoes. Macy's rounded up more of the shoes; it even created separate displays for them and then worked with suppliers to create new styles of bigger women's footwear. It followed up with queries to other Macy's stories in the same district to see if they had noted a similar trend. Today, 300 Macy's stores carry size 11s for women and suppliers have responded with more styles. No one knows for sure why this size has become more popular, only that Macy's responded quickly to one store's needs. "These days there's no such thing as rolling it out in every store, says Dervos. "Trends move from the local to regional to cross country," he says.
Suppliers seem to like the change and are adapting their own systems."With MyMacy's we meet with one buyer and have one discussion, instead of seven discussions with seven plans not necessarily reflecting customer desires," says Fabrizio Freda, CEO of cosmetics specialist Estee Lauder. "Now we can talk with local representatives who call on each store to help personalize the customer's experience and focus on the right assortment."
"In many ways, we've returned to the system that I was familiar with back when I was starting—where buyers really knew the stores they were overseeing and visited them regularly," says Lundgren, who's seen his own career come full circle at Macy's. In 1988, he was the president of Los Angeles' specialty-retailer Bullocks Wilshire, a Federated Department Stores unit that was sold off to Macy's. Lundgren found out from a reporter's query that he was being replaced by Macy's. He landed on his feet as head of Neiman Marcus and rejoined Federated in 1994 as chief of merchandising. Shortly thereafter, Federated bought Macy's and he became Macy's CEO in 2003.
Ultimately, Lundgren envisions Macy's operating like a kind of living organism that's constantly adapting to customer needs. He'd like to see all its stores' inventory linked, to better deal with the ebbs and flows of demand. "The idea is to employ all the resources available to satisfy customer demand. It's one thing to put an order in through a fulfillment center, quite another to put it through to another store and have the item delivered. That's what we're aiming for—floor to store," he says.
Macy's surely has a lot more firepower than any old-time retailer. "There's no way you can duplicate or even buy the level of experience or the nationwide reach of the network we've created," says Lundgren. "It functions much the way the old local retailers did back in the early days but with the power of a nationwide buyers. Our purchasing clout gives us access to the best brands at reasonable prices. More than 40% of our sales come from exclusive and limited distribution brands only sold at Macy's. We want to raise that number." Among them: the Martha Stewart Collection of housewares and home textiles designed exclusively for Macy's, and Tommy Hilfiger's family apparel and accessories.
IT'S A LITTLE EARLY FOR A FIREWORKS display.
Long-term debt remains high at 55% of total capital. Although Standard & Poor's recently raised its view of Macy's debt to positive from stable, it says it still wants "additional clarity" about the retailer's financial plans before making any changes (it rates Macy's debt BB+). David Kuntz, a director at S&P, says the company has at times been "fairly aggressive" in the use of its balance sheet, though it more recently has "worked to deleverage." Adds Kuntz: "Still we need a deeper understanding of their financial policy upon the achievement of an investment-grade rating for it to occur."
More important, the economy's course—and consumers' wealth—remains iffy.
"People are crazy if they think that retail is separate from the economy," says money manager Olstein. "There's a chance [of a second dip in the economy], but we don't think so." Rising food and gas prices are the latest threats.
While these are real risks, Macy's has some "margin of safety," says Nathan Snyder, portfolio manager with $3.7 billion-in-assets Snow Capital Management. The retailer has lots of room for improvement, says the value specialist. By his calculation, Macy's generated $152 per square foot in 2009, compared with Kohl's $190 per square foot and Target's $279. "There's lots of room ahead for meaningful upside, regardless of overall growth in sales," says Snyder.
Although many analysts are wary of old-line retailers like Macy's that are anchor tenants for shopping malls, Lundgren thinks they can excel if they do things right. "We are responsible for the big traffic. People don't come to the malls, because the Gap is there. We need to create a reason to go there," he says. "That's our responsibility." Special events—like the national flower show—or local visits by celebrities can create traffic. And, in addition to well-trained sales people, retailers need to use the Internet and current media both to attract and keep customers. Macy's, for instance, has been using video at its counters that includes features like interviews with popular make-up artist and cosmetician Bobbi Brown to personalize the buying experience.
It's up to retailers like Macy's to figure out how to get teenagers, who still gravitate to malls, into their stores.
Surprisingly, for the first time in more than two decades, the department-store share of the retail dollar is rising—ever so slightly. In 2010, it hit 2.5%, up from 2.4%, in 2009. To put that into perspective, 25 years ago the figure was 9%.
Small as it is, the increase has made consultants, like Craig Johnson of Customer Growth Partners, more enthusiastic about Macy's. "Macy's had the best spring quarter since the recession. And most of the benefits are in front of it," says Johnson. It "used to be your grandmother's store. Now it's appealing to a new generation of young shoppers," he adds. Just in time for Mother's Day.
RANKIN/BASS' WILLY McBEAN & HIS MAGIC MACHINE
c. 1965 RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS/RICK GOLDSCHMIDT ARCHIVES
Photos of Cute Outfits
 |
| Love this photo - she's not only fit but fashionable. Love the tulips, too. |
Heathered Grapeseed looks really nice with the Grapeseed Seabed print Speed Skirt.
The Pink Mist Scoop Neck - very delicately pink.
Poppy red
Today
Cos oversize sweater, Zara poppy orange-red pants,
Cos ziplock leather Clutch, OPI nailpolish, Akira western boots
Consumer Paychecks Edge Up
Wall Street Journal
By Conor Dougherty and Jeff Bater
Consumers' paychecks continued to inch up in March, but rising gas and food prices have individuals spending more on staples.
Americans' incomes grew 0.5% in March—and are up 5.0% from a year ago—as the economy has recovered and started adding jobs at a faster pace, the Commerce Department said Friday. They also had more to spend: Their after-tax income increased 0.6% from a month earlier.
But those gains were largely undermined by the recent run-up in prices. Consumer spending increased 0.6% in March, the report said, but was up just 0.2% when adjusted for inflation—less than half the 0.5% gain in February.
The saving rate—the amount consumers have left after taxes and monthly spending—held steady at 5.5% in March. The saving rate has been in a steady range of 5.5% to 6.0% for most of the past year, far higher than the mid-2.0% range where it sat before the recession.
Friday's data come on the heels of a report Thursday that showed U.S. gross domestic product growth slowed to a 1.8% pace in the first quarter of 2011 from 3.1% in the previous three months, in part because consumer spending slowed.
While the lower growth and spending mark a setback for the recovery, many economists say they believe the slowdown will prove temporary. The labor market is improving while companies continue to spend and invest.
Prices for food and gasoline have gone up sharply in recent months, but those prices tend to be volatile and many economists say the increases will moderate soon.
Futures markets are predicting gas prices will come down in the next few months, and Friday's income data showed prices excluding food and gas—a gauge of underlying inflation—increased just 0.1% in March, and 0.9% from a year ago.
Separately, consumer sentiment rebounded slightly at the end of April, according to a report released Friday, while inflation expectations remained steady. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index increased to 69.8 at the end of April from a preliminary April reading of 69.6 and 67.5 at the end of March.
By Conor Dougherty and Jeff Bater
Consumers' paychecks continued to inch up in March, but rising gas and food prices have individuals spending more on staples.
Americans' incomes grew 0.5% in March—and are up 5.0% from a year ago—as the economy has recovered and started adding jobs at a faster pace, the Commerce Department said Friday. They also had more to spend: Their after-tax income increased 0.6% from a month earlier.
The saving rate—the amount consumers have left after taxes and monthly spending—held steady at 5.5% in March. The saving rate has been in a steady range of 5.5% to 6.0% for most of the past year, far higher than the mid-2.0% range where it sat before the recession.
Friday's data come on the heels of a report Thursday that showed U.S. gross domestic product growth slowed to a 1.8% pace in the first quarter of 2011 from 3.1% in the previous three months, in part because consumer spending slowed.
While the lower growth and spending mark a setback for the recovery, many economists say they believe the slowdown will prove temporary. The labor market is improving while companies continue to spend and invest.
Prices for food and gasoline have gone up sharply in recent months, but those prices tend to be volatile and many economists say the increases will moderate soon.
Futures markets are predicting gas prices will come down in the next few months, and Friday's income data showed prices excluding food and gas—a gauge of underlying inflation—increased just 0.1% in March, and 0.9% from a year ago.
Separately, consumer sentiment rebounded slightly at the end of April, according to a report released Friday, while inflation expectations remained steady. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index increased to 69.8 at the end of April from a preliminary April reading of 69.6 and 67.5 at the end of March.
A Name for a Contractor, a Meatball Distributor, Perchance a Mall
By Cara Buckley
Published: April 29, 2011
The rechristening of the half-built Xanadu Meadowlands as American Dream@Meadowlands drew mixed reactions from businessmen who already have variants of the new title.
Although The New York Times is charging for some of their content, readers coming through links from search engines, blogs and LinkedIn will be able to read any article without restriction.
Click here to read the entire article at www.nytimes.com:
A Name for a Contractor, a Meatball Distributor, Perchance a Mall
RANKIN/BASS' THE BALLAD OF SMOKEY THE BEAR
c. 1966 RANKIN/BASS PRODUCTIONS/RICK GOLDSCHMIDT ARCHIVESNathan Niblock likes SMOKEY!
Friday, April 29, 2011
HBC Retail Concept Gets Reformatted For U.S. Expansion
By Marina Strauss
As he mulls taking Hudson’s Bay Co. public this year, the U.S. owner of the iconic department-store retailer is turning his attention to a risky but potentially lucrative specialty-store expansion.
Richard Baker, a Purchase, N.Y.-based real estate heavyweight, will roll out HBC’s Home Outfitters chain by testing two new upscale home-goods stores in New Jersey starting in late summer. If successful, he will take the concept – dubbed Lord & Taylor Home after his U.S. department-store chain – farther afield in the United States.
The strategy could face headwinds in the U.S. marketplace, where recession-battered consumers remain reluctant to spend and the housing market – which spurs home-goods purchases – is still under water for the most part. Nevertheless, the well-heeled shopper has recovered faster than others.
Mr. Baker knows better than most about gambling on U.S. home-goods merchandising. He was a minority investor in retailer Linens ‘N Things, which went into bankruptcy protection during the recession although it remained profitable in Canada. And he picked up the high-end home chain Fortunoff in bankruptcy only to see it collapse in the downturn.
Now he’s betting that the headway he’s made at HBC’s Home Outfitters and the Bay since he acquired their parent in 2008 will serve him well in new specialty ventures.
“We’ll incur these costs knowing there could be greener pastures,” said Fritz Winans, president of HBC’s specialty retail division. “Anything that we’re going to get into, we’re going to believe it’s going to have significant enough potential – otherwise we’re not interested in getting involved in it.”
After years of struggle, the parent company more than doubled its profit in 2010 from two years earlier, thanks to cost-cutting and re-focusing on more profitable areas while winding down others, a spokeswoman said. Expenses also were trimmed at Mr. Baker’s upscale Lord & Taylor department stores..
Still, Mr. Baker faces stiff competition in specialty home goods, particularly in the U.S. northeast where rivals such as Crate & Barrel are well entrenched, said retail strategist Anthony Stokan of consultancy Anthony Russell and Associates. “There are several significant challenges in introducing any large-scale retail concept in the American marketplace right now,” he said.
The U.S. housing market is still soft, prompting less need for consumers to buy products for their homes, Mr. Stokan said. And it’s tougher for a retailer to gain traction by launching a new banner rather than acquiring an established player, he said. Lord & Taylor has built a solid reputation as a revitalized fashion brand, but will need to work at becoming a destination for home goods.
Despite the challenges, Mr. Baker is eyeing specialty retailing opportunities for future growth. The company revamped Home Outfitters in the past year, adding high-end brands such as Nespresso coffeemakers and, soon, Ralph Lauren bedding. It recently introduced a pet department, including beds and bowls for Fido, in response to burgeoning demand in that segment.
Within driving distance of New York City, the two test home stores will carry pricier brands as well as less costly private labels. If they take off within about five months, the company will expand them in the U.S. northeast and eventually across the United States, Mr. Winans said. Some industry observers envision more than 100 U.S. stores eventually.
Beyond Lord & Taylor Home, Mr. Baker is discussing internally other specialty retail opportunities, among them adopting formats from other countries and launching them in Canada, Mr. Winans said. He’s looking at both acquisitions and fresh rollouts for North America.
Celebs in Lululemon - Giselle Bundchen
For readers who are new to this blog - Tom Brady in his lulu. Enjoy. ;-)
True Religion Surpasses Street Expectations in First Qtr
Posted Friday April 29, 2011
From WWD.COM
True Religion Apparel Inc. late Thursday posted first-quarter gains in both income and sales, exceeding its targets for the period.
For the three months ended March 31, net income attributable to True Religion was up 7 percent to $9 million, or 36 cents a diluted share, from $8.4 million, or 34 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts, on average, expected earnings per share of 26 cents.
Sales rose 20.4 percent to $93.8 million from $77.9 million, with a comparable-store sales gain of 7.4 percent. By segment, the firm’s U.S. consumer direct business rose 37.6 percent to $53.4 million, and represented 56.9 percent of total sales. Sales for the wholesale operation fell 13.6 percent to $20.9 million, hurt by softness in women’s premium denim in the department store channel. Sales in the international segment gained 34 percent to $18.5 million.
Jeffrey Lubell, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We are off to a good start for 2011 as we exceeded our net sales and profitability targets for the first quarter of the year.”
He told analysts on a conference call that the company’s initiatives include growing its domestic retail store base, expanding its international business and improving the U.S. wholesale segment.
“Our business continues to generate positive net cash even as we invest for future growth. We ended the quarter with $156 million in cash and we carry no debt,” he said.
While the company faces a “substantial increase in cotton prices,” Lubell said the company has made the “appropriate investments in our infrastructure to support our business so we can continue to generate cash flow to fund our strategic initiatives.”
At the end of the quarter, the firm operated 96 stores in the U.S., four stores in Japan, one store in the U.K., two stores in Germany and one store in Canada.
VF First-Qtr. Net Up 22.7%
by Vicki M. Young
Posted Friday April 29, 2011
From WWD.COM
VF Corp. Friday reported double-digit increases in first-quarter income and revenues and raised its 2011 profit and sales guidance.
For the three months ended April 2, income attributable to VF rose 22.7 percent to $200.7 million, or $1.82 a diluted share, from $163.5 million, or $1.46, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 11.9 percent to $1.96 billion from $1.75 billion, which included an 11.9 percent rise in sales to $1.94 billion from $1.73 billion.
Excluding onetime benefits totaling 11 cents a share, EPS was $1.71, 10 cents better than the $1.61 expected, on average, by analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.
Eric Wiseman, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “During the quarter, we achieved higher revenues and operating income across all businesses, with exceptionally strong international growth as we continue to extend the reach of our brands to consumers around the world.”
The company raised 2011 guidance, stating that it now expects earnings of $7.25 a share, up from earlier forecasts of between $7 and $7.10. In addition, revenues are expected to rise 10 percent in 2011, up from previous guidance of an increase of 8 percent to 9 percent.
In the first hour of trading Friday, VF shares fell $6.24, or 5.7 percent, to $102.42, apparently on concerns about the firm’s inventory position. According to its quarterly statement, inventories stood at $1.18 billion, 24.3 percent above the year-ago level of $952.2 million.
Posted Friday April 29, 2011
From WWD.COM
VF Corp. Friday reported double-digit increases in first-quarter income and revenues and raised its 2011 profit and sales guidance.
For the three months ended April 2, income attributable to VF rose 22.7 percent to $200.7 million, or $1.82 a diluted share, from $163.5 million, or $1.46, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 11.9 percent to $1.96 billion from $1.75 billion, which included an 11.9 percent rise in sales to $1.94 billion from $1.73 billion.
Excluding onetime benefits totaling 11 cents a share, EPS was $1.71, 10 cents better than the $1.61 expected, on average, by analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.
Eric Wiseman, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “During the quarter, we achieved higher revenues and operating income across all businesses, with exceptionally strong international growth as we continue to extend the reach of our brands to consumers around the world.”
The company raised 2011 guidance, stating that it now expects earnings of $7.25 a share, up from earlier forecasts of between $7 and $7.10. In addition, revenues are expected to rise 10 percent in 2011, up from previous guidance of an increase of 8 percent to 9 percent.
In the first hour of trading Friday, VF shares fell $6.24, or 5.7 percent, to $102.42, apparently on concerns about the firm’s inventory position. According to its quarterly statement, inventories stood at $1.18 billion, 24.3 percent above the year-ago level of $952.2 million.
Liz Claiborne Pressured to Sell Assets
From WWD Issue 04/29/2011
Wall Street is pushing William L. McComb, chief executive officer of Liz Claiborne Inc., to sell something — be it Kate Spade, Liz Claiborne, Mexx or a wholesale business.
And he just might. McComb’s spent four years structuring the company so its businesses, including Kate Spade, Lucky Brand and Juicy Couture, were “cleavable”— but said the timing is not yet right.
At the company’s investor conference in New York Thursday, McComb was pressured to unlock some of the value in the relatively small but fast-growing Kate Spade business, which many see as the most promising piece of Claiborne’s portfolio.
A conference attendee asked McComb: “What is stopping the company from highlighting some portion of that value [in Kate Spade], whether it’s a small portion of a sub-[initial public offering], spinning to shareholders, something like that so everybody can benefit? People need to understand there’s a lot of operational risk in this strategy and the more you wait the more risk you take.”
McComb quipped that it was more of a statement than a question, but went on to say, “It’s something that we look at and we talk about and we consider. If we felt it was wobbly we might take advantage of it right now. But I think a year from now you might thank us for holding off and doing it a year from now. I’m not saying it’s a 10-year project. I’m not saying it’s a five-year project.”
On Mexx, Claiborne’s largest and most troubled business, McComb said the company was looking at options to “de-risk,” perhaps through a joint-venture ownership structure that would move the business outside the U.S. public company.
On a conference call Wednesday afternoon, an analyst asked if J.C. Penney Co. Inc. might buy the Liz Claiborne brand this year, speeding up the timetable for a potential sale envisioned in Claiborne’s licensing deal with the retailer. “I’ve had a lot of people ask that question,” McComb said, leaving it open as a possibility.
If the company were to sell off a business it would be able to shrug off some of its financial obligations — it has $133.5 million in borrowings coming due over the next year and more than $500 million in long-term debt.
Photos of the Latest
Pink Mist CRB shown with the Pink Mist Inspire Crops.
Your Best Breath Wrap in Coal shown with an Aurba No Limit Tank.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)