Sales Growth

NEW YORK -- Retail sales growth in the week after Thanksgiving fell to 3.1 percent, the slowest rate in four years, as consumers delayed holiday purchases to wait for discounts. A longer shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas contributed to consumers' delays, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and UBS Securities LLC said yesterday. Their survey showed that 25 percent of shoppers finished most of their purchases by Sunday, down from 32 percent the previous two years.

It's no longer taboo to spend money lavishly if sales of high-end goods are any indicator. And that bodes well for retailers this Valentine's Day. A resurgence in spending by the luxury consumer is expected to benefit stores that sell accessories, jewelry and apparel. And even the average shopper may be inclined to splurge for a day typically associated with pricier gifts. Men, who outnumber women 2-to-1 in buying for the holiday, are expected to spend $150 to $200 on average.

JP Foodservice Inc. of Columbia saw its stock jump more than 5 percent yesterday after a strong quarterly earnings report, driven by sales growth four times faster than the pace the company had predicted after going public in late 1994.JP Foodservice, a restaurant supply business that used to be part of Sara Lee Corp., said it earned $1.4 million on sales of $295.8 million during the three months that ended March 30, compared with $1.5 million in the same period last year. The quarter is the third in the company's fiscal year.

Harley-Davidson Inc. Shares declined $2.68, or 6.8 percent, to $36.95. The biggest U.S. motorcycle maker was cut to "sell" from "hold" at Citigroup Inc., which said slower U.S. sales growth may hurt earnings.

What are your expectations for my shares of Kellogg Co.? It is a longtime holding. - C.M., via the Internet The world's largest cereal-maker has powerful brands and a knack for introducing successful products. Special K, Pop Tarts, Eggo, Keebler cookies and crackers, Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes and Fruit Loops are among its famous products. It also regularly serves up new items, such as Special K with Red Berries. Second-quarter profits increased 13 percent on North American and European gains, with sales rising 9 percent.

ZAANDAM, Netherlands - Royal Ahold NV, the world's largest food distributor, said yesterday that sales growth slowed in the third quarter as U.S. consumers spent less in grocery stores. Shares of the Dutch company fell 8.1 percent. Sales rose 5.8 percent to 16.4 billion euros ($16 billion), helped by the $2.2 billion acquisition of Alliant Foodservice, said spokeswoman Annemiek Louwers. That's slower than the 7.3 percent gain in the second quarter and 22 percent in the first. The United States accounts for about 60 percent of the sales of the Dutch owner of Landover-based Giant Food Inc. and U.S. Foodservice of Columbia.

ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Dell Computer Corp. shares fell 9.7 percent yesterday after the biggest direct-seller of personal computers reported its second straight quarter of slowing sales growth.Shares in Dell fell $4.25 to $39.8125 in trading of 65.1 million shares, making it the most active U.S. stock. The shares are still up 9 percent on the year, while well below the record $55 reached Feb. 1. Yesterday's drop slashed about $1.55 billion off the value of Chairman Michael Dell's holdings.The company said sales for the first quarter that ended April 30 rose 41 percent, less than the year-ago quarter's increase of 51 percent and slower than the 54 percent growth Dell averaged in the previous eight quarters.

Power-tool maker Black & Decker Corp. said profit jumped 51 percent in the third quarter, led by double-digit sales growth in its DeWalt line of professional products. Net earnings rose to $112.5 million, or $1.37 per share, in the quarter that ended Sept. 26, from $74.4 million, or 95 cents per share, in the third quarter a year earlier, the company said yesterday. Excluding discontinued operations, the company had quarterly earnings of $111.3 million, or $1.35 per share, compared with $73.2 million, or 94 cents per share, a year earlier.

DELL COMPUTER Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings report last week sent rumbles through the stock market as the company reported weaker-than- expected sales. Although Dell's quarterly sales rose 38 percent to $5.2 billion, they marked the first time in two years that the company had reported sales growth of less than 50 percent. On Wednesday, shares in Dell tumbled $7.1875 to $81, dragging down a number of other PC maker and technology stocks, as well as the Dow Jones industrial average. Do disappointing sales at the No. 1 direct seller of personal computers for business portend a slowdown in sales throughout the PC industry?

Dutch food giant Royal Ahold NV reported yesterday that sales growth essentially stalled in last year's final quarter, but Maryland-based subsidiaries Giant Food Inc. and U.S. Foodservice Inc. will almost certainly be spared from promised divestitures, an analyst said yesterday. "Giant [in] Landover is good, since things were very, very good in terms of U.S. retail," said Mia Kirchgaessner, a global retail food analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC in New York. "U.S. Foodservice wasn't as good as it could have been.

SEATTLE -- Starbucks launched its first national television advertising campaign yesterday to drive more people into U.S. stores, which saw a 1 percent falloff in traffic last summer. U.S. sales still rose 19 percent, partly because of a 9-cent price increase on coffee drinks, according to Starbucks Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings released Thursday. The first-ever traffic decline has executives worried, and they announced several broad initiatives: conducting a prime-time TV campaign between now and Christmas, having district managers spend more time in stores and cutting back on the variety of drinks they serve.

Warm weather left most retailers with racks full of clothing at the end of the third quarter, but sports apparel company Under Armour saw its business climb. The Baltimore company, which makes clothes that wick sweat from the body to control temperature, reported yesterday strong sales and earnings for the three months that ended in September, widely beating Wall Street expectations. Under Armour Inc. recorded sales growth in all categories of its core compression market. And it was helped by newer products, such as outdoor wear and golf apparel.

What are your expectations for my shares of Kellogg Co.? It is a longtime holding. - C.M., via the Internet The world's largest cereal-maker has powerful brands and a knack for introducing successful products. Special K, Pop Tarts, Eggo, Keebler cookies and crackers, Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes and Fruit Loops are among its famous products. It also regularly serves up new items, such as Special K with Red Berries. Second-quarter profits increased 13 percent on North American and European gains, with sales rising 9 percent.

Mark W. Sneed, a food-s@sun reporter/EPervice veteran who brought triple-digit sales growth as president of Phillips Foods Inc., died yesterday morning of a heart attack at his Riva home. He was 50. "He was just a great leader, and he was the real backbone of the company," Phillips' chief financial officer, Dean E. Flowers, said yesterday. Mr. Sneed grew up as the eldest of four children in Ashland, Ky., according to news reports.

Word that red wine is good for you has been around ever since 60 Minutes famously aired a report on "The French Paradox" in 1991. The CBS television newsmagazine examined the question: How could the French eat all that fatty, egg- and cream-rich food and not suffer the kind of heart disease we Americans do? Regular consumption of red wine was part of the answer, the show declared. Red wine sales shot up dramatically. Ever since, scientific studies have emerged linking consumption of red wine with good health and aging.

NEW YORK -- Retail sales growth in the week after Thanksgiving fell to 3.1 percent, the slowest rate in four years, as consumers delayed holiday purchases to wait for discounts. A longer shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas contributed to consumers' delays, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and UBS Securities LLC said yesterday. Their survey showed that 25 percent of shoppers finished most of their purchases by Sunday, down from 32 percent the previous two years.

Seattle-based Starbucks Corp., which reported slower-than-expected sales growth for July, saw its stock weaken yesterday for the second time in a week.Yesterday's 12 percent drop to $41.875 a share reflects concerns about the gourmet coffee retailer's ventures to extend its brand, rather than signaling a slowdown in consumers' consumption of specialty coffee drinks, analysts said."The businesses they're going into that are not retail store-oriented are ramping up a little more slowly than expected, and the costs associated with them are greater than expected," said Andy Barish, an analyst with BancAmerica Robertson Stephens in San Francisco.

Dutch food retailer Royal Ahold NV's profits plummeted 54 percent in the fourth quarter, but the company's two Maryland-based subsidiaries - Giant Food Inc. and U.S. Foodservice - continued to lead the company's growth in the United States. For the fourth quarter, net income at the world's third-largest supermarket operator fell to 169.5 million euros ($149 million), or 17 cents a share, from 370 million euros, or 46 cents a share a year earlier. Companywide sales rose 11.6 percent in the fourth quarter to 16.8 billion euros ($14.

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said yesterday that it will reduce the amount of new spending on stores by about 75 percent next year, sending its shares to their highest level in 19 months. Capital expenses will increase by as much as 4 percent next year, with the United States "approximately flat," down from the 15 percent to 20 percent forecast globally this year, the Bentonville, Ark., company said yesterday in a statement. Some analysts and investors say Wal-Mart expanded too fast as sales growth slowed.

LONDON -- Royal Ahold NV, the owner of Giant Food supermarket chain and Columbia's U.S. Foodservice, said yesterday that its sales growth stagnated in the second quarter as competition with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co. intensified. Revenue was 10.5 billion euros ($14 billion), compared with 10.4 billion euros in the quarter last year, the Dutch company said. Increased discounting and a wider product offering at rival chains are hurting its U.S. businesses, which account for two-thirds of sales, the company said.